perfect rosti ... how?

Tonight it was, technically, my turn to cook dinner. But the Francophile felt inspired by the two salmon cutlets I'd brought home from the fish shop, and he cooked up a very nice meal of panfried salmon resting on rosti, with blanched snow peas, slices of avocado, and a mustard/honey vinaigrette.

The potato cakes were simply made from grated raw potatoes, with most of the moisture squeezed out by hand, a splash of oil and a shake of paprika to bind them together, hand-shaped into two patties, and fried in olive oil. The result was quite ok but we thought it a bit oily.

Can anyone who has had success making rosti share their method?

We wondered, for instance, if you could leave out the binding oil, and just shape the grated potato and drop it into the hot oil in the pan. Or, alternatively, what would happen if we baked them in a hot oven rather than pan frying. Any and all suggestions welcome. The overall result was a tasty and pleasant meal, with potential to be improved further.

(The wine: Leo Buring Eden Valley riesling, 2008 (Eden Valley, South Australia). A steely, subtle riesling, good acids, a dash of lime, a hint of honeysuckle.)

Your instincts are good- putting oil into the potato is a sure-fire way of having them soak up even more of the frying oil. When I make them, I grate the potato and very quickly toss it with the seasonings and get it into the pan before it has time to start weeping. Speed is the way to go- this way, the potatoes retain lots of moisture, so get a nice tender interior and repel oil.

Drop potatoes in boiling water for abt 10 min or until point of knife can be inserted abt 1" w/o meeting resistance. Drain. When cool enough, peel, cover w/plastic wrap, refrigerate for at least 1 hr. Just before frying, grate the potatoes. Toss w/a little salt.

In nonstick skillet w/sloping sides over mod heat, melt some oil/butter (2:1) until a drop of water sputters and evaporates instantly. Drop in potatoes, spread w/spatula. Fry uncovered 8-10 min uncovered until brown to your liking. Flip over using a plate and brown other side (6-8 min). Slide onto serving plate.

Sometimes I add chopped onions.

Works perfectly.

Instead of oil I have used a little cream as the binder. In the pan I use butter instead of oil.

I don't put oil in the potatoes. They should be freshly grated, and I fry them with very, very little oil, maybe as much as a teaspoon per patty. I like to use bacon grease for that because of the taste. I use russet potatoes - I'm not sure what kinds you have handy Down Under.

John

[Jenise]

Instead of oil I have used a little cream as the binder. In the pan I use butter instead of oil.

Further to that, a method I read about on a Canadian cooking site (a Canadian cooking show chef that Bill Spohn has the total hots for) but have not yet tried described tossing the grated potatoes with sour cream and forming haystacks which are oven baked on cookie sheets. If the result really ends up looking just like the picture, then this could be the ultimate (and you can make enough for a dinner party!).

I'm part Swiss and so I am aware of Rösti (pronounced not unlike the surname of Salman Rushdie) as the National Dish of Switzerland.

I've always finished Rösti in the oven although I can imagine that they would work only on top of the stove.

And yes, no oil in the mix.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rösti

F

Thanks for the suggestions. We'll try them out and see what works well for us.

Matilda

Here is my version of Rösti.........

Ingredients: 1kg potatoes, 1-2 shallots

Slideshow: http://berlinkitchen.com/berlinkitchen/Slideshow_Rösti.html

Note: copy the link, as it doesn´t work becauce of the "ö"

no oil - butter.

I also asked a friend who lives up the road, who does a food segment on the local radio. She suggests that the potatoes should always be parboiled, cooled, and then grated.

Martin, the pictures are great as usual.

But rereading this topic -- if I were in my Francophile mode I would call that a "potato galette" -- and I've made those several times from a Julia Child recipe. Clarified butter is used because regular butter would burn black and give a scorched burnt flavor.

I also realize that I am a little unclear on the difference between Rösti and the galette. I think to be a galette it has to be thin and it has to use butter. I sometimes finish both in the oven. I think that in my mind (for some reason) Rösti potatoes are in a thicker cake.

I suppose that also addresses the question of whether to par boil the potatoes. If you make a thin cake like the one Martin shows, it is probably a big waste of time to boil the potatoes first. Everything will get done in one step. But if you are making a thicker potato cake, there is indeed a little danger that the potatoes on the inside will not get completely done by the time those on the outside have gotten dark and crunchy. So a little par-boiling makes the dish fool-proof. But it is not always necessary.

Oven finishing also helps to cook the inside of the cake, and helps to keep it piping hot until you are ready to serve.

The discussions below in French and German point out that normal potato pancakes (Kartoffelpuffer) use flour and or eggs to bind the potatoes whereas Rösti potatoes are held together only by the potato starch. Everyone also brings up the Latkes or potato pancakes which have become part of certain Jewish holidays.

F

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rösti

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rösti

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galette_de_pommes_de_terre

Further to that, a method I read about on a Canadian cooking site (a Canadian cooking show chef that Bill Spohn has the total hots for) but have not yet tried described tossing the grated potatoes with sour cream and forming haystacks which are oven baked on cookie sheets. If the result really ends up looking just like the picture, then this could be the ultimate (and you can make enough for a dinner party!).

Hey, Coop is enamored with her as well!

Do you have the url for the recipe? Sounds interesting. The potato recipe I like from Laura is this one http://www.foodtv.ca/recipes/recipedetails.aspx?dishid=8369