Polish Placki Ziemniaczane (Potato Pancakes with Sour Cream and Sugar)
Thin, crisp Polish potato pancakes from finely grated potatoes drained in a tilted bowl, fried by the spoonful and served the two classic ways, with sour cream or a sprinkle of sugar.
Placki ziemniaczane are grated raw potatoes with onion, eggs, a little flour and salt, fried in oil or lard, and served right away so they stay crisp; in Wielkopolska, Warmia and Mazury they are called plendze, from the German Plinse, and they are on Poland's Ministry of Agriculture list of traditional products (Polish Wikipedia:). They go both ways: savory with goulash, sour cream, mushroom sauce or cottage cheese, or sweet with sugar, sugar and sour cream, jam or apple purée (Polish Wikipedia). Folded over goulash, the pancake becomes placek po węgiersku, "Hungarian-style", a signature dish of the mountain inns of Podhale (Kwestia Smaku:). English Wikipedia says potato pancakes often replaced bread for 19th-century Polish peasants.
Why it works the kitchen science
Drain without squeezing
Tilting the bowl lets the juice run off while the finely grated potato stays fine and wet enough to spread thin, which is what makes these crisp rather than thick (Kwestia Smaku).
Mix at the last moment
Stirring just before frying keeps the onion, egg and flour from drawing more water out of the potatoes as they sit.
Step by step
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 200°F with a wire rack in a rimmed baking sheet. Finely grate the potatoes straight into a large, wide, shallow bowl. Don't stir.
- Step 2
Tilt the bowl slightly and leave it about 5 minutes so the juice runs to one side. Hold the potatoes back and pour off the juice, then press them against the bottom of the bowl and pour off more.
- Step 3
Add the flour, grated onion, eggs and salt, but don't mix yet.
- Step 4
Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add oil to about 1/8 inch deep. When the oil reaches about 350°F, stir the batter, then drop heaping tablespoons into the pan and spread each into a thin pancake.
- Step 5
Fry 2 to 3 minutes, until golden, then flip and fry 2 to 3 minutes more.
- Step 6
Drain on paper towels, sprinkle with flaky salt and hold on the rack in the oven while you fry the rest, adding oil as needed.
- Step 7
Serve hot, with sour cream and sugar on the side for everyone to choose.
Polish Placki Ziemniaczane (Potato Pancakes with Sour Cream and Sugar)
Serves 4 · about 24 small pancakes · 50 min total
Pancakes
- 2 1/4 lb (1 kg) potatoes, peeled
- 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1/2 medium onion, finely grated
- 2 large eggs
- 4 pinches salt, plus flaky salt for finishing
- Vegetable oil (canola), for frying (about 1/8 inch deep)
To serve
- 1 cup thick sour cream
- 2 tbsp sugar
Method
- Heat the oven to 200°F with a wire rack in a rimmed baking sheet. Finely grate the potatoes straight into a large, wide, shallow bowl. Don't stir.
- Tilt the bowl slightly and leave it about 5 minutes so the juice runs to one side. Hold the potatoes back and pour off the juice, then press them against the bottom of the bowl and pour off more.
- Add the flour, grated onion, eggs and salt, but don't mix yet.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add oil to about 1/8 inch deep. When the oil reaches about 350°F, stir the batter, then drop heaping tablespoons into the pan and spread each into a thin pancake.
- Fry 2 to 3 minutes, until golden, then flip and fry 2 to 3 minutes more.
- Drain on paper towels, sprinkle with flaky salt and hold on the rack in the oven while you fry the rest, adding oil as needed.
- Serve hot, with sour cream and sugar on the side for everyone to choose.
Adapted from Kwestia Smaku, "Placki ziemniaczane", doubled from about 12 pancakes to about 24. The tilted-bowl draining method, the amounts and the 2 to 3 minutes per side are Kwestia Smaku's; the site suggests serving with mushroom sauce, goulash, ajvar, or sugar and thick sour cream. The 4 servings, the oil depth, the 200°F holding oven and the serving amounts are ours. Kwestia Smaku. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
Tips
- Spread each spoonful thin; thin placki crisp all the way through.
- Kwestia Smaku's quick mushroom sauce is the other classic: sliced mushrooms browned in butter and finished with cream.
- For placek po węgiersku, make one large pancake in a 9-inch pan, fill it with hot goulash, fold it in half and top with sour cream.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Sugar or sour cream. Folklore: Poles argue it at every table, but Polish Wikipedia lists both, and sugar with sour cream together.
- Polish monks ate potato pancakes in the 17th century. Disputed: English Wikipedia says they were a staple of 17th-century Polish monasteries, citing a pilgrimage-route recipe page; Polish Wikipedia does not mention it, and potatoes were not yet common in Poland then. Do not use.
- Placki and Belarusian draniki are the same dish. Disputed: Polish Wikipedia lists draniki as a relative; Belarusian draniki are often thicker (Belarus's portal calls them "thick potato pancakes").
- Placki are a traditional Polish product. Documented: Polish Wikipedia notes entries on the Ministry of Agriculture's list of traditional products.
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