potato pancake

Potato pancakes, latkes if you like. The success of nice crispy potato pancakes with tender interiors is to rid the shredded potato of surface starch by rinsing. The squeeze-dried, spun-dried, towel-tried, however-dried rinsed shredded potato is combined with a mixture of egg with flour and seasoning. In so doing the cook replaces the surface starch of the potato that tends to oxidize with a wheat starch that is mixed with egg. The aim is to combine just enough seasoned egg-flour mixture to season the potato and cause the individual shredded strands to cohere, and nothing more because then one would be entering the world of potato-flavored pancakes and not seasoned caked hash browned potatoes. It's a balancing act. 

For one large Idaho russet potato

* peal and shred the potato into a bowl of cold water. Shred or dice 1/2 onion. Include with the potato. Let it soak while the cohering mixture is prepared.

* 1 egg

* 1 tablespoon A/P flour

* 1/8 teaspoon salt

* 1/16 teaspoon black pepper

* 1/16 teaspoon cayenne pepper 

* whatever herb or spice your heart desires or your imagination allows in whatever amount your common sense dictates. 

* A Cuisinart is brilliant at shredding potato * brrrrrrap! * Done. Just like that. Otherwise hand shred. Lift the rinsed potato out of the chilled water into a strainer, a colander, or a potato ricer (don't worry, it won't mash because the potato is not cooked) Then spread onto a paper towel and dry further. Combine with the egg-flour mixture until lightly coated. It the combined potato-egg-flour mixture is dripping wet, then there is too much mixture and the potato pancake will turn out eggy. Maybe you want that. If the aim really is an eggy pancake type result then consider including a teaspoon of baking powder to build air bubbles into the interior. 

Fry in a tablespoon of vegetable oil or fat at medium-high heat. Set on a rack or on paper towel to drain or serve immediately.