Emperor's Crumbs » flour

Valeria’s Potato Torte (Cake)

Valerian — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 18:23:39 +0000

There is not a mistake in the title – yes, it is Valeria. Valeria was my grandmother, who I never met, but I was named after her. Everybody in the family remembers her as an amazing cook and queen of Hungarian recipes. During the war (WWII), she ran a small workers’ kitchen, and her cooking is still remembered by those who outlived her. The problem with my grandmother’s recipes is that she wrote them for herself. She did not write a lot about how to prepare this cake, at which temperature to cook it, how long to cook it, what kind of cake pan to use. I tried to check online and asked some friends but when I mentioned the ingredients, they said “no flour? you must be missing a page!”. So I looked into early twentieth and late nineteenth-century cookbooks, and there it was. Potato torte, at least 4-5 versions. Mr. Kugler (a Hungarian pastry celebrity from the early twentieth century) explains a lot about the cake, but my questions were still unanswered. It seems that since then this recipe has been forgotten. So we had to experiment and bring it back. The main difference between my grandmother’s and Mr. Kuglers recipe is that my grandmother wrote it during or right after war, so she used a limited range of ingredients. Her version of the cake is great not only for people with gluten intolerance but for people watching their fat intake and for people who watch their wallets. A great cake for hard economical times.

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Valeria’s Potatoe Torte

This is the cake part of the recipe. We used Russet potatoes, which worked great. The recipe calls for three eggs, but our eggs were small so we used 4. You can experiment with the filling. We tried to mix cocoa and chocolate into the potatoes and we layered that with chunky cherry preserves. The results were ok but not great. I think the original filling is more suitable. You can also try any ordinary buttercream frosting but then forget about the cake being good for people watching their weight! You can also eat it without filling like a coffee cake. In that case add some vanilla and more walnuts.

Ingredients for the cake

½ pound floury potatoes

3 large eggs

½ cup sugar

½ cup walnut halves

Ingredients for the filling

½ pound potatoes

Up to ½ cup sugar

½ cup walnuts halves

rum

1 Tbsp butter

Method

1. Cook the potatoes until soft, then mash them or put them through a ricer.

2. Let them cool a bit, but while they are still warm add the egg yolks, sugar, and ground walnuts. Mix well.

3. Beat the egg whites to form soft peaks, and gently fold into the previous mixture.

4. Pour it into 2 nine- inch round pans and bake it at 350F for 20-25 minutes. You wll see that the top is getting a bit golden.

5. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then turn out from the pan and frost as desired.

The recipe for filling:

Cook the potatoes until soft, mash them in a medium bowl, beat in the other ingredients. Enjoy!

Potato Pancakes (Crepes) – Zemiakove placky

Valerian — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:59:22 +0000

My mum used to make these amazing Slovak potato pancakes. She would come home during her lunch break and make lunch for us, so it would be waiting for us when we came home from school. She made sure there was some soup and a main course. By the time we would get home, Mum was back at work, but she always left a note about what she cooked and how much we can have — with three hungry boys she left nothing to chance. I still remember that we could have 5 pancakes each.

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Potato Pancakes – Zemiakove placky

This traditional Slovak recipe is delicious as a snack or as a main course after a substantial soup.

Ingredients

Makes enough for 3-4 people

2 pounds/1 kg whole potatoes

1 egg

4-5 cloves of garlic

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp majoram – optional

1 cup/240 ml milk

6 tbs flour

3/4 tsp salt

Boil the potatoes in a large pot of salted water until you can just pierce them with a fork. Drain and let them cool for a minute or two.

Peel the potatoes and grate them on a fine grater.

Add egg, smashed garlic, pepper, salt, majoran, milk and the flour. Batter should be a thick liquid.

Preheat a crepe pan or a nonstick pan to medium low heat. Grease it and add about a ladle’s worth of batter. Fry 4 minutes on each side.

Enjoy

Method

Pork Chops for Finicky Kids

Valerian — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:58:36 +0000

I don’t know why is this different then wienerschnitzel or a grilled pork chop, but it is. I thought this meal is only special to me; as a kid I used to request it all the time, and it was always my dad who cooked it for me. But I grew up and this pork chop became forgotten. Until one day I made it again.

You should know that our son does not eat, but rather he lives off the dust particles he breathes in. One day when I had been chasing the kids all on my own, I decided to refuel myself with my dad’s pork chops. After I managed to convince my (at that time 3 year old) son to try it I was shocked. He ate it. My first though was that everybody gets hungry after eating only dust particles for 2 years, right? Well, after a week I made it again, and it was eaten again. And he still keeps eating it.

The recipe is simple:

get a pork chop, pound it flat, salt it, sprinkle flour over it, tap it to shake off the excess flour. Fry it on a non-stick pan with a little oil (like 2-3 tbsp).