Today is the Potato Pancake Day! Poles have been eating potato pancakes for over 400 years. Compared to the rest of Poland, potato pancakes appeared a bit earlier in Silesian Voivodship. In fact, they began to play an increasingly important role in the European cuisine only in the 19th century.
Many countries in Europe and the middle east have standard recipes for potato pancakes and each is based on slightly different ingredients, depending on the origins. Some recipes in various countries go back to the middle ages.
The role of pancakes
Potato pancakes are associated with different European cuisines, including Irish, German, Austrian, Dutch, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Czech, Hungarian, Jewish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, and Polish cuisine. Frankly speaking, we may assume that every cuisine has adopted similar potato pancakes over the years.
Potatoes, the main ingredients of the pancakes are the main reason for the significant role of this dish in many countries. They are rather cheap and easy to store. In the past, every social class could afford them and adjust the recipes to their preferences. Potato pancakes are served savoury or sweet, on their own or with extras such as cheese or sour cream. In poor families, bread was often substituted by potato pancakes because they are fast and easy to make.
In Poland, every type of potato pancakes is appreciated. For example, the jurors and the audience of the Małopolska Festival of Taste 2011 chose the potato pancakes from Andrychów prepared by ladies from rural housewives circles and it qualified to the semi-finals in Wadowice. Eventually, the pancakes won the “Like Mom’s” award at the festival.
Check the Polish recipes ⤵️