"French" Potato Pancakes

Funny story, I grew up in an aggressively French Canadian family. The following is a list of some of the things I thought were inherently French -

Red Hair

Freckles

Kielbasa

Perogies

and Potato Pancakes.

Yup! All the things I loved most from my childhood turned out not to be French at all. In fact, though my family might come from France, they come from a region settled years ago by the Celts who just never left. Hence the red hair and freckles that are prevalent in my family. And now, here is my Grandmothers recipe for "French" Potato Pancakes

Ingredients

Four Large potatoes

One onion, grated

One whole egg

Two tablespoons of Corn Starch, Optional

Oil, for frying

Salt, Pepper to taste

Ingredients

Directions

Grate the potatoes. Place the grated potatoes into a colander and allow to drain while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Grate your onion and set aside.

Beat your egg with a fork.

Mix the potato, egg, salt and pepper.

Add the corn starch here if needed. See the notes for why this ingredient can be used or not.

Heat the oil in a pan.

Take a quarter cup of the pancake batter in the oil until golden brown. Flip and cook on the other side.

Serve with sour cream.

Notes

The reason I thought these foods were all French is that my French grand mother made a lot of what I now know as Ukranian and Polish foods. During the second world war, my grandmother worked in a factory making bullets by hand. There were many women in those days who took on jobs that before the war had normally been performed by men. But since the majority of the men were off fighting in the war, and the bullets still had to be made, the factories started filling in the job vacancies with women like my grandmother.

She worked alongside many other women and at lunch time, she pulled out the sandwiches she brought from home and watched as the other women brought food my grandmother had never seen before. The women she worked with shared their recipes with her and she gave them some traditional French recipes. And ever since then, she made the recipes they shared with her. I wonder, is there is somewhere out there a woman who grew up in a Polish house thinking that my grand mother's recipe was a traditional Polish mashed potato and cheese recipe?

I didn't clue in that perogies were not in fact french until I was about seven or so and a relative asked me if I liked french food and I proudly proclaimed that my favourite French food was perogies. I was finally told the truth once the laughter died down.

If your potatoes are very moist you may want to squeeze any excess liquid out when you place them in the colander. If the potatoes are too wet your pancakes can turn out soggy and have a hard time holding together.

You can also use mashed potatoes if that is what you have on hand. I have had this recipe both with grated and mashed potatoes. And, the only difference is the texture. With mashed, the pancakes have a smoother texture.

If the mixture is too runny after adding the egg, add the corn starch as a binder. If the potatoes have drained enough, the starch can be omitted. Do not add too much more than what the recipe calls for or there will be a bit of a starchy aftertaste.

For larger pancakes use a third of a cup. I would not use much more than a third of a cup of the batter as any larger than that and I have always had a hard time with the centre of the pancake not cooking.