Woah Nellie!
What happens overnight in the kitchen stays in the kitchen!
by Mary Jo David
Winner, winner, chicken dinner! Well—not exactly a chicken dinner, but something that could maybe go with a chicken dinner. This month’s 100-year-old recipe is Nellie Maxwell’s “Potato Pancakes (Russian)” from the May 3, 1924, edition of the Stockbridge Brief-Sun. And I daresay, it has been one of her best so far.
I don’t recall being this enthused about a Nellie recipe since I started this column. So why was this recipe such a standout? It’s not really because the potato pancakes tasted so delicious—although they were good. Rather, this recipe is a winner in my book because Nellie’s “Potato Pancakes” cooked up exactly how they should—brown and crispy on the outside with soft centers. And from experience, I can tell you this is not always easy to achieve with potato pancakes.
Interestingly, the recipe has you peeling potatoes and letting them stand overnight. I assumed this was to dry out the potatoes a bit so the pancakes wouldn’t be too wet. But upon grating them the next day, the potatoes still produced quite a bit of moisture. Frankly, I had my doubts these would fry up to be crispy, but I continued to follow the recipe as written. And as an aside, I highly recommend you don’t show anyone the potatoes after they’ve sat out all night; they are not attractive!
Once the potatoes were grated, I added the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Then I beat the egg and added it to this potato mixture and stirred well. Meanwhile, I heated oil in a frying pan on the stove. I was tempted to use a nonstick pan, but since Nellie probably didn’t have this option in 1924, I decided a nonstick pan would be cheating. Plus, it’s been my experience that a non-nonstick pan (i.e. a regular stainless steel pan) is better for crisping.
Besides not mentioning how much salt and pepper to use, Nellie also didn’t specify a quantity for the milk. I took a guess and added about 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper, and two tablespoons of milk. With no help from Nellie, I figured the best temperature for the oil was one that would cause a sizzle when I dropped a tiny bit of batter into the pan. I heated the oil over medium heat until it reached that point.
The batter was quite wet, so I did my best to form rough pancakes in my hand and let each slide out of my hand and into the pan. I was as surprised as anyone to find the pancakes held together while frying. As they sizzled in the pan, the outsides began to look like crispy hash browns—YES! I fried the pancakes for three to four minutes per side, depending on the size of the pancakes in the batch.
Before I began to fry the second panful, I decided to make an adjustment to the recipe. I don’t like to waste food, and I wasn’t convinced the potato batter was going to have enough flavor with just salt and pepper. So, to the remaining batter, I added about 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese and 1/2 teaspoon each of garlic powder and onion powder. I’m very glad I did; the pancakes in the second batch tasted much better than those in the first.
The recipe yielded three batches of about four pancakes each. After placing them on paper towel to drain, they were ready to serve. While they were not bursting with flavor, if you’re a potato pancake or hash browns fan, you’ll be pleased with the outcome of this recipe.
The proof is in the pancake. After trying one with a dollop of sour cream, my husband remarked that the potato pancake was “pretty good,” and added, “I think I’ll start putting sour cream on my hash browns.” This was not exactly the result I was hoping for!
