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Potato Pancakes
2 large potatoes. 1 egg. 1/3 C flour. Mrs. Chas. Greenwood. 1/2 t baking powder 12 1/8 t pepper 2/3 t salt Grate potatoes coarsely; add flour, egg, seasoning and baking powder, mix thoroughly and drop by spoonfuls onto a hot griddle. Flatten slightly, brown on both sides and serve as desired. 2 C flour 4 t baking powder
The ingredient list here has been mangled in transcription, and the quantities that survive do not entirely agree with one another. Treat it as a sketch of a well-known method rather than a set of measurements to follow literally.
- The ingredient listThe printed page was checked and the quantities are as given here. The ingredients are split across two short columns, so the flour and baking powder appear at the end: 2 cups flour and 4 teaspoons baking powder, with 1/8 teaspoon pepper and 2/3 teaspoon salt for seasoning.
- The missing potatoesNo potato quantity is given anywhere in the surviving text, and the egg is listed without a number. For 2 cups of flour, a workable batter needs a substantial amount of potato -- on the order of a couple of pounds grated; anything much less and the result is closer to a plain flour pancake.
- Grate coarsely, and drainThis is the hinge. Coarsely grated potato throws a great deal of water, and if it is not squeezed out in a towel the batter loosens as it stands and the cakes steam rather than brown. Squeeze, then mix, then cook without delay.
- DiscolorationGrated raw potato greys within minutes. One modern remedy is to grate directly into the beaten egg, which slows the browning.
- Baking powder in a potato cakeFour teaspoons to 2 cups of flour works out to 2 teaspoons per cup, at the upper end of the proportions common in older recipes. With a modern powder, halving it gives ample lift and less of a chemical aftertaste.
- The griddle"A hot griddle" here means a well-greased one over medium-high heat. Raw potato needs long enough to cook through, so flatten the spoonfuls as the recipe directs and give them several minutes a side rather than chasing colour quickly.
Potato pancakes arrived in the American Midwest with German, Polish and Jewish immigrants, and by the time this book was compiled the dish had crossed over into general American home cooking without much sense of its origins remaining attached to it. It was understood as a griddle cake, and the generous hand with baking powder reflects an era in which commercial leavening was heavily advertised and applied enthusiastically to almost everything that went on a griddle. Church and charity cookbooks like this one were compiled by subscription, each contributor sending in a favourite over her own name, which is why the measurements are so often shorthand for something the writer already knew by heart and never thought to spell out.