The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Taste of long-ago home
Crispy potato pancakes a thrifty, tasty recipe from Mentor cook’s German childhood
Basics often were hard to get after World War II in Germany when Helga Stang was a girl. Her mother would feed her five children by making potato pancakes with 10 pounds of potatoes.
“Sometimes she’d do work for a local farmer and get paid with a bag of potatoes,” Stang recalled.
“A barrel full of herrings sometimes showed up at the grocers, but It would be hard to get meat.”
Her mother had to be very frugal.
“My brothers would eat five potato pancakes, but I could never eat more than one,” she recalled.
The Mentor woman brought the potato pancake recipe with her when she came to this country in 1957 with her husband and their baby daughter. Helga and late husband Hanz first settled in Willoughby, where Hans, a talented old-country cabinet-maker, quickly found employment. He learned English right away and tried to teach the language to his young wife, but their daughter was speaking the language before she was.
Eventually, he established his own cabinetmaking business and hired a few employees.
“When I made potato pancakes, I’d always make extra and send them off to work with Hans,” Stang recalled.
Although the men ate them cold, sometimes sprinkled with a little sugar and cinnamon, she prefers them hot from the pan.
In the years following, Stang earned a following for her excellent cooking.
By then, the couple had moved to Mentor and, after adapting to differences in American ingredients, Stang began sharing her dishes with others and teaching about baking to those who asked. With the help of a friend, who corrected her stumbling English, she authored and selfpublished a small cookbook framed around the baked goods she’d learned to make in Germany.
“It’s been many years, but I still hear from people who bought that cookbook,” she said.
She’s been a widow since Hans’ death in 2009, and for several years was overwhelmed with grief and stopped baking. She no longer teaches baking or sells her handiwork, but she still bakes for friends and shares her recipes.
“If anyone has a problem baking my recipes, they can always call me,” she says. (Her number is 440-2556643.)
“I use russet potatoes for the potato pancakes because they have the right starch and water content, so (they) fry up with crisp edges,” she said.
Russets also are known as Idaho baking potatoes. Idaho produces good potatoes because of its high altitudes and soil composed of volcanic ash and trace minerals.
Russets, which require long, warm summer days and cool nights, also grow well in Washington and Maine.
Making potato pancakes is labor-intensive, and they’re best served right after they are fried.
“If you’re making them for dinner at 6, it’s a good idea to start around 4 p.m.,” she said.
Although the potatoes can be peeled, placed in water and left to soak overnight, once they’re grated, the recipe must be assembled and cooked. They can be held in a 200-degree oven while the rest of the pancakes are being made.
Once the potatoes are grated, the water must be squeezed out of them before mixing them with flour, onions and eggs. Some home cooks spread them in a kitchen towel which is then twisted to release the moisture. But Stang presses them into a fine sieve and uses the back of a wooden spoon to squeeze out the water.
“Once they come into contact with the air, the potatoes will start to turn gray,” she said. “But it doesn’t affect the taste, and once they are fried, they become a nice crisp brown.” Discoloration can be prevented by adding a tablespoon of vinegar to the mixture.
She prefers to cook her potato pancakes in Filippo Berio extra light olive oil, which has a high smoking point. But corn oil also can be used for frying.
Her recipe makes a dinner on its own or a side dish with a pot roast or pork roast. She always serves potato pancakes with a side of applesauce.
Making potato pancakes is labor-intensive, and they’re best served right after they are fried.