Rösti is the grated potato cake served with Zurich-style veal, fried eggs or a salad. Done right, it's golden and crisp outside, soft inside, and flips in one piece. Done wrong, it sticks, falls apart or stays pale. Here's how to make it.
Cooked the day before, or raw?
Cooked the day before is the classic method: boil the potatoes in their skins without overcooking them, leave them overnight in the fridge, then peel and grate them. They hold together well and give a soft rösti.
Raw is quicker. Grate them, then squeeze them hard in a tea towel to get out as much water as possible. The rösti will be crispier, but needs a little longer to cook.
Either way, use waxy potatoes, and grate them on the coarse side.
For two, in a 24 cm pan
- 600 g potatoes
- 30 g butter and 1 spoon of neutral oil
- Salt, pepper
The cook
- Empty pan, medium heat, until the water drop test works. Then the oil and half the butter.
- Season the grated potatoes, then spread them in the pan as an even cake about 2 cm thick. Press lightly with a spatula.
- 10 to 15 minutes untouched, on medium, until the underside is golden. Give the pan a shake: when the cake slides as one piece, it's ready to flip.
- The flip: put a plate wider than the pan over the rösti, turn the whole thing over in one move, then slide the cake back into the pan, golden side up.
- The rest of the butter around the edges, and another 10 to 15 minutes on the second side.
The heat: medium, not high
On high heat, the outside burns before the centre is hot. On low heat, it never browns and turns greasy. Medium, and time: that's the whole secret.
The three mistakes
Wet potatoes. The water makes them boil instead of browning, and stick to the base.
Flipping too early. Until the cake slides in one piece, the crust hasn't formed: it tears.
A cake that's too thick. Beyond 2 to 3 cm, the centre stays raw. For four, make two rösti rather than one giant one.
What to serve it with
The classics: Zurich-style sliced veal or a cordon bleu. But also a fried egg on top, melted cheese, caramelised onions or a simple green salad. For potatoes in pieces rather than a cake: crispy sautéed potatoes.
A long cook on medium heat, with a crust that forms and then releases by itself: that's what a well-preheated stainless pan does. The pan we film with is 304 stainless with no coating, in 22, 24 and 28 cm, with the 25-recipe book free.
