Breakfast Cakes - Potato Pancakes

I wasn't intending to make something out of the cook book again until next week, but Sarah suggested that we have sourdough pancakes for dinner.  As I mentioned last time though, Audreytoo is in pretty sorry shape.  She needs some TLC before I try to do anything with her.  We did have a few potatoes in the pantry that needed to be eaten, so potato pancakes were on the docket.

I was going to do Sour Milk Pancakes or Griddle Cake first, but we needed to use up potatoes.

I'm not going to spend as much time on prep and process here.  Potato pancakes couldn't be much easier.  As I pulled down my food processor, I began to wonder about how I am making the Ladies' recipes.  I had already peeled my russet potatoes and was about to shred them.  I guessed that there probably weren't any (or at least very many) food processors in the early 1950s, so I put aside the food processor and got out our grater (this is a great design, by the way).  Before I finished grating the first potato though, I had also grated the tip of one of my fingers.  Upon reviewing the recipe, I saw that finger tip was not on the list of ingredients, so I switched to the food processor.

Great grater, but hard on the finger tips if you're not careful.

Much better.  Yes, those are train tracks on the floor.  What fun is a house if you don't have to play dodge toy everywhere you go?

According to the Wikipedia (I love Wikipedia!) page, the first food processor was made by a German company called Starmix in 1946.  So it is conceivable but rather improbably that any of the Ladies had one of these new gizmos.  The first commercially available food processor in the United States was the Cuisinart, which appeared in 1973.  It's development was a result of cooperation between an American and a Frenchman who sought to reduce the amount of time that went into food preparation.  The rest, as they say, is history.

And knowing is half the battle

I had less concern about using a vegetable peeler when I was preparing the potatoes. To be honest, it didn't even occur to me that the peeler might be a post 1951 invention until after I started looking into food processors.  I remember my grandmother peeling potatoes with a paring knife when I was young.  A couple websites mention that vegetable peelers were invented in the 1800s.  Zena Swiss also has a peeler that predates our Ladies' cook book by a few years that was apparently so great that it was featured on a postage stamp.  All this is good 'cause I don't want to peel vegetables with a paring knife.

It must be a good peeler, I suppose.

This all brought me to ponder whether or not I should use the methods and tools that would have been used in 1951.  I am certainly not going to go out and buy new/vintage kitchen tools.  Maybe what I'll do is at least try to do things how it would have been done (by hand rather than with an electric mixer, for example), but as long as what I do produces substantially the same result, I won't feel bad about using newer technology.

Preparation

As mentioned, this is a pretty simple recipe.  Shred potatoes (I then rinsed them to get rid of a lot of the starch), mix everything together, and fry them.  Easy peasy.

Not holding together, and sticking

Mostly, at least.  The first two cakes I put in the pan really stuck, and didn't hold together very well.  So I added a little more of the batter and a couple tablespoons of flour to thicken it up a bit.  That worked better.

Tasting and Reaction

Bland bland bland.  Wow, these were bland.  I am thinking that this is going to be a trend with the cook book.  When I met Sarah, she owned three seasonings:  salt, cinnamon, and dried and ground savory.  She has grown to like spices a lot more over the years.  She doesn't need things as spiced-up as I do, but she didn't hesitate in letting me know that these were bland.  We put apple sauce on them, and I put some special hot sauce from Lopez Island, WA on mine as well.  The flavor wasn't quite right for potato pancakes, but it gave a little zing, which helped.

Awesome sauce.

We also had bacon instead of sausage links like the recipe suggested.  I've never been a big fan of links.

Bacon makes everything better.

Final Thoughts

On a scale of one to amazing, I give these potato pancakes a 'meh'.  I'll stick with my no recipe potato pancakes that I make.  Here it is, to the best of my recollection.  As I don't use a recipe, amounts of ingredients are added until things look about right.

Aaron's Potato Pancakes

• Russet potatoes
• Green onions, white and light green parts chopped
• 1 or two cloves of garlic, minced
• Eggs, lightly mixed
• Some milk, less than the volume of eggs
• A few tablespoons of flour
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Paprika to taste
• Pepper to taste
• Cayenne pepper to taste (c'mon, give it some heat)
• Maybe there's more, I don't remember.  Add things beyond this that you think you'll like

Shred, thoroughly rinse, and drain potatoes.  Toss with the green onions and garlic.  In a small bowl mix all the other stuff.  Stir the other stuff into the potato mixture until well combined.  Fry in a well-oiled non-stick pan until brown on each side.  Serve hot with homemade chunky applesauce.

Next time:  Cakes, specifically Scripture Cake!