Perfect potato pancakes: Secrets to avoid greasy results
Potato pancakes have a genuine taste in European tradition, but how do you keep them from being greasy while ensuring their crispiness? Here are a few tried-and-tested methods to help you achieve perfect pancakes.
Potato pancakes have been immensely popular for centuries. There's nothing better than a plate of hot, crispy pancakes straight from the pan. However, frying them for many people leads to excessive oil absorption, negatively affecting their taste and lightness. What can be done to prevent the pancakes from being greasy? Try these tricks.
How to fry pancakes so they don't absorb oil?
Before frying the pancakes, we must choose the right potatoes for their preparation. For this dish, type B potatoes, which are all-purpose and work best, are used. These potatoes contain a lot of starch, making them excellent for pancakes. Also, remember to use older potatoes for pancakes. New potatoes contain a lot of water, making them much harder to fry.
What to fry potato pancakes in? The choice of fat plays a crucial role in frying potato pancakes. Many people choose vegetable oil, but an alternative can be lard, which works better for frying at high temperatures. Frying pancakes in lard results in a golden colour and crispiness.
The frying temperature is also very important. Pancakes should be fried in well-heated oil, allowing for quick surface sealing and reducing oil absorption. The optimal thickness of the pancakes is another factor that affects effective frying — not too thin, so they don't burn too quickly, but also not too thick, so they aren't raw inside.
What can be done to prevent the pancakes from absorbing the oil? The following tips will help you fry perfect potato pancakes:
- Grate the potatoes and squeeze out the water, making frying easier and preventing oil absorption.
- Add a tablespoon of distilled vinegar to the batter and mix thoroughly. This will not affect the taste of the pancakes but will limit oil absorption.
- Place the batter in well-heated oil. If the oil is too cold, the batter will absorb it.
- You can also add alcohol to the batter. Like vinegar, it won't change the taste of the potato pancakes but will make them absorb less oil.
After frying, it's worth placing the pancakes on kitchen paper, which will absorb any remaining excess oil. This simple trick will make potato pancakes less calorific while retaining the desired taste and texture.
