Culinary Smackdown – My Part of Our Entry for Battle: Oktoberfest

As I mentioned in yesterday's installment, Cindie and I had originally planned to make sauerbraten for this month's Smackdown, then switched to sausages. One of things I like best about a sauerbraten dinner is potato pancakes topped with the gravy that's made by adding sour cream to the boiled sauerbraten marinade. When we changed our main dish to sausages, Cindie suggested hot German potato salad as a side. It would have made an excellent pair, but I'm glad I stuck to my guns about going the pancake route with our potatoes. I thereby avoided blogger jinx, as Jen from Our Good (Food) Life has the German potato salad covered with her Battle: Oktoberfest entry :)

I adapted the Joy of Cooking recipe for potato pancakes a bit, primarily by doubling it (because these go like, er, hotcakes) and adding a little more onion. At Cindie's suggestion, I also threw in some baking powder (unmeasured) in the hopes it would help them puff up a little more. Turned out I didn't add enough to make much difference. Joy says its smaller recipe yields about twelve 3-inch cakes; some of mine were larger and I'd guess we ended up with maybe 20.

Aside to Cincinnatians accustomed to ginormous potato pancakes like Izzy's makes: These are much smaller and thinner, but very tasty nonetheless, and practical to make in a home kitchen :)

4 cups coarsely grated/shredded peeled Idaho potatoes (Instead of grating them on a box grater as I have always done, we used a food processor with the large shredding blade, and it worked like a charm. The size it produced was produced was perfect, and it saved a lot of hassle – and time – which is especially good since you don't want the potatoes to oxidize and turn brown.)

1 small onion, grated (This I did use a box grater for, although you could use the small shredding blade on a food processor. You want the onion to end up pretty small, and the onion juice produced when you grate rather than chop it helps the onion flavor permeate the pancakes.)

some lemon juice (to forestall oxidation)
5 eggs
1/4 cup flour
salt
pepper
some baking powder (optional)

1/3-1/2 cup vegetable oil and/or butter

The shredded potatoes are going to give off a lot of liquid. So you want to roll them up in a clean dish towel and wring them out to get rid of as much moisture as possible. You may want to do this in batches. I would not recommend trying this with paper towels – they won't stand up to the amount of moisture you're trying to remove. What my mom always referred to as a "tea towel" (not a fuzzy towel) works best.

Spritz potatoes with lemon juice after you wring them out, then combine in a bowl with the flour, eggs, salt and pepper, and eggs. You'll have better results if you beat the eggs lightly to combine the whites and yolks before adding them to the potato mixture.

Heat the oil or butter (we used a combination of oil and lard, because we had some!) in a large skillet to medium-high heat and drop the potato mixture by spoonfuls into the skillet. You may want to flatten them a bit with the back of your spatula.

Fry until the bottoms are crisp and golden brown, about 3 to 5 minutes, then flip once and cook until the other side is browned and the pancakes are cooked through.

If you'd prefer to bake rather than fry, check out this post from my friend Sam over at My Carolina Kitchen. I love the smoked salmon, crème fraiche, and caviar her husband topped them with too!

I had one more side dish up my sleeve: caramelized onions. While Cindie loves kraut with her wursts, onions reduced to melty sweetness are my favorite accompaniment. There are basically two things you need to make caramelized onions: a lot of onions, and a lot of patience.

Start by thinly slicing way more onions than you can imagine you'll need (I used 5 or 6). Add them to a large skillet with some oil, butter, or bacon grease. Stir to coat the raw onions, and I find it helps to get them softened if you put a lid on the skillet at the beginning of cooking. Add salt and pepper (thyme is a great addition too).

Remove the lid and cook over medium to high heat to let the moisture evaporate, turning every few minutes. Do not be afraid to let them get brown. That's what you're going for!

During this process you will find that even if you started with so many onions they practically toppled out of your skillet, they will shrink dramatically (not quite as much as spinach, but close). It's all good. Keep turning, reducing, and tending to your lovelies. (You can always add some beer, wine, broth or water if they seem to be getting too dry.) Let them go darker and darker until you end up with a gooey jam-like onion essence. You may be surprised at how sweet they become when concentrated.

Aside to Jen: I liked the onions with Lobsta Bakes' seadog even better than with the kraut, because I thought they let the smokiness of the seafood sausage shine. But kraut with my cheddarwurst made me happy, too :)

All in all, despite our now-expected Smackdown spillage (the most memorable of which was when Cindie dumped our platter of Lobster Thermidor on the floor); this time the hot slaw casserole tipped over in the oven) . . .

. . . and two tired cooks, plus one grumpy husband, we ended up with a satisfying meal.

We filled our plates, everybody had seconds on the potato pancakes, we cleaned up, and then everybody crashed, which is what I'm ready to do now.

Thanks again to Stephie for hosting this month's Culinary Smackdown, and to Jen for joining in the fun. Off to Stephie's place to see if there are any other entries even later than mine :)

P.S. to the usual Smackdown peeps, I know a lot of you have been traveling, swimming, hiatus-ing, or otherwise occupied, but if you have any suggestions for future Smackdown themes/ingredients, please share your ideas in the comments.

Thanks!
eggy

FRIDAY FISH FINDS: IZZY'S FRIED COD SANDWICH

When I decided to dive into fish this Lent, it was partly to prod myself into cooking more fish. Which I've been doing to an extent. But I also wanted to make a point of trying some specialty items offered by others this time of year. Knowing this evening wouldn't lend itself to cooking (must pack and be ready to leave for Louisville by 8:30 tomorrow morning), I opted for the fried cod sandwich from Izzy's at lunch instead. I've been going to Izzy's since my father introduced me to it the second time we moved to Cincinnati, when I was in sixth or seventh grade. A long, narrow hole-in-the-wall, with tubs of pickles and sauerkraut on the formica tables, the original upper Race St. location of the deli was presided over by the cantankerous Izzy Kadetz himself. You never got a check; when you finished eating, you went up to Izzy at the cash register and just told him what you'd had. If you ordered carryout, he'd always try to chide you into ordering a drink. "That's where I make my money," he'd complain. Even now, with Izzy himself long gone and the operation moving to multiple, sparklier locations, the staff wears T-shirts that read: "Hurry back - got rent to pay." Izzy's built its reputation on overstuffed corned beef sandwiches and even larger potato pancakes, which come with every sandwich, half or whole. A half is usually plenty for me, although lately I've decided it's a better value to buy a whole for lunch, then reheat half of both the sandwich and the potato cake for dinner. (Must pace oneself.) My favorite is the Spicy Delight - pastrami, Swiss, and sliced onion on rye with a relish of black and green olives, garlic, and roasted red pepper. It had always struck me as surprising that the fried cod sandwiches of this German-Jewish deli, served only on Fridays during Lent, were wildly popular. But today I decided to pass up my beloved Spicy and give one a try. Wildly popular indeed. Anticipating it would be difficult to get a seat, I called ahead for carryout. After being put on hold for three minutes, I phoned back and managed to avoid being put on hold again by pointing out that fact. "Give us 20 minutes," I was told. When I arrived at the Main St. store at the appointed time, the line was out the door and I had to politely elbow my way inside to make my pick-up. The Izzy's on Main is always busy at lunch, but I've never seen it this crowded. Although I'm not usually a big fan of breaded fish, this was fried cod I was happy to eat. The thick chunks of flaky fish spilled out over the edge of the accompanying rye, and the breading on the cod had a bit of kick to it. I was under the impression that the standard way Izzy's served this sandwich was not only on rye bread but also with cheese. Not so - I guess many people just order it that way. Mine came cheese-less and with a modest smear of tartar sauce. A lot of fried goodness on that plate, and I'm still full nine hours later. So not only do I not need to cook tonight, I don't need to eat. The better to regain my appetite for the dining marathon to come this weekend in Louisville. Must pace oneself . . .