Potato Funcakes

Potato pancakes are fun to make. You throw a bunch of stuff in a food processor and then fry it. There is nothing not to love. Here is a batch I made up in the Chicago branch of TFK. You will need:

6 potatoes
1 medium onion
salt, pepper
2 eggs
1/4 cup of flour or something  like that

First, you gotta peel the six potatoes:

I used organic ones because apparently regular potatoes are grown in soil that contains chemicals which cause death, asphyxiation and pregnancy.

Once they are peeled, grate 'em on up w/ a food processor. Sometimes you gotta chop 'em into bits to fit them down the shoot. Don't worry about that, they just get all shredded up in there anyway.

You can grate them by hand too but that is no fun so try to make someone else do it if that's your only option. Possibly if you used non-organic potatoes you will have a mutant child around w/ some extra hands to get it done quickly.

Put the shredded potatoes into a bowl or other bowl-shaped container. Shred up and onion and put it in there too along w/ a good sprinkling of pepper and a bunch of salt.

Fun chefs add the salt and pepper to taste and this is the time to taste it before you put in the raw eggs. Raw potato will not hurt you. Raw eggs probably won't either but who wants to eat a raw egg? If I had to guess I use about a teaspoon of pepper and salt both. Once you get it tasting nice and salty peppery, add two raw eggs and a couple tablespoons of flour and mix it on up, pouring off any extra liquid that might have collected first.

It should look about like this:

Use about a quarter cup of flour or a little more or less depending on texture. I guess it would be a little thicker than a standard pancake batter as you have to spoon it into the frying pan. I guess it is about the same as chocolate chip cookie batter. You can put this stuff in the fridge for a bit but it starts to turn gray pretty quickly. If you get a little bit of grayness, just mix it in and nobody will ever know. If a bit of liquid forms around the sides just pour it off.

Now for the fun part. Fry 'em on up! Best to start w/ the pancake mix at room temperature.

You can use any kind of oil or fat really. I am using olive oil in this case because I had a bunch left over that I fried falafel in a while back. It is really easiest if you use a lot of frying oil and then save it for reuse later. If you don't overcook, the water escaping from the cooking pancake prevents the oil from absorbing in too much and they will not make you fat. Make sure to at least get a very good coating over the whole bottom of the pan. On my stove, I turn it up to high for fastest browning but watch the oil doesn't smoke. Burnt oil is gross.

Spoon in a generous spoonful for each pancake. You can break them up easily if they are too big. I press them to a about a little less than I half inch thick w/ a spatula. It takes longer to fry than you'd expect. About five minutes on each side. Again, watch and use your judgment so they don't burn. Stoves are tricky things. Sometimes, they will sneak up on you and burn your potato pancakes.

They turn out nice and golden brown but look yellow because I am no kind of food photographer:

Eat 'em up w/ some apple sauce or sour cream for breakfast or serve them along pork and kraut like I did. That is some fun eatin'.