Rösti

Ingredients

• Waxy potatoes — boiled the day before1 kg
• Clarified butter60 g
• Smoked bacon — optional100 g
• Onion — optional1
• Grated Gruyère — optional100 g
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Boil the potatoes in their skins for twenty minutes, to the point where a knife meets resistance. Cool them completely and leave them overnight in the fridge.

   25 min

2. 2

   Peel them and grate them coarsely straight into a bowl. Do not rinse and do not squeeze.

   8 min

3. 3

   Season, and if you are using them, fold in the fried bacon and onion and the cheese.

   5 min

4. 4

   Heat half the butter in a pan, spread the mixture in an even layer and press it once with the spatula.

   3 min

5. 5

   Fry over medium heat for twelve minutes without touching it. Shake the pan now and then: the rösti should slide as one piece.

   13 min

6. 6

   Cover with a plate, invert it, add the rest of the butter and fry the second side for ten minutes.

   12 min

About the dish

The potatoes are boiled in their skins to half-done and left overnight in the cold. In that time the starch retrogrades and the grated mass holds together instead of collapsing.

They are grated coarsely and not rinsed. The starch on the surface is the glue that binds a rösti; washed away, it leaves a cake that falls apart.

Press it with the spatula once, at the very start. Pressing later squeezes moisture out and the crust softens from within.

Worth knowing

• — Freshly boiled hot potato will not do. Only yesterday's cold ones: they grate into shreds instead of smearing.
• — The pan should match the portion. In a large one the rösti comes out thin and dries before it browns.
• — For the first twelve minutes the cake is not touched at all. Every interference breaks the crust that is forming.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

420 kcal

Protein

8 g

Fat

22 g

Carbs

48 g

More from Switzerland

• Cheese fondue — Gruyère and Vacherin melted in white wine with starch. The acidity of the wine keeps the cheese from seizing.