We’re still in the mood for German food after last month’s trip!
Apparently, we brought part of the Bavarian family table home with us. A package of weisswurst from a German deli was all the encouragement we needed to plan a Sunday supper of sausages, grilled vegetables and these crisp, lacy potato pancakes.
I went in search of the perfect approach. I’ve made potato pancakes before from several different recipes, and while they’ve all been good, including this recipe here on the blog, I wanted something a little different.
Jacques Pépin to the rescue! I found his mother’s recipe for “Potato Lace” in an old cookbook called Mom’s Secret Recipe File. It’s a collection of recipes made by the mothers of famous chefs and contributed by the chefs themselves.
Jacques is now 90 years old, so he must have enjoyed his mother’s potato lace, or potato pancakes, in the 1940s and ’50s. I’m glad the recipe was included in the cookbook because it became a guiding star for me. I made it my own, as I always do, but it provided the scaffolding.
Modern Tools Have Their Place: Use a Food Processor
Jacques’s retelling of his mama’s recipe requires grating the onion and potatoes by hand on a box grater, using the side with the tiny perforated points for the onion and the regular grating side for the potatoes.
No.
My friends, although I’m a huge fan of Jacques Pépin and homemade food, and I love to chop, I draw the line on this one. It’s a food processor recipe for me, or it doesn’t get made. Hand-grating an onion on the pokey-out side of a metal grater is an invitation to weep, snivel and scrape your knuckles.
Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com
Recipe: Crispy and Lacy Potato Pancakes
Total time: about 1 hour; Makes about 16 potato pancakes, serving 8
Have a food processor at the ready.
Ingredients
- 1 medium to large yellow onion
- 2 russet potatoes, about 2 lbs.
- 2 large eggs
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- 1 cup vegetable oil, preferably canola
Instructions
Gather all the ingredients.
Add the 2 eggs, 3 tablespoons flour, ½ cup parsley, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon white pepper and ½ teaspoon black pepper to a bowl, preferably glass or stainless steel to prevent discoloration. Whisk until thoroughly combined.
Peel the onion and grate it in a food processor using the finest grating disc. Transfer the grated onion to a dish and drain off the juice.
Peel the potatoes and shred them in the food processor using the larger grating or shredding disc.
Put the grated potatoes in a clean kitchen towel. Twist the towel with one hand while pressing on it with the other to extract the liquid. Twist and squeeze hard over the sink. Removing the excess moisture helps the pancakes become airy and crisp.
Add the drained onion and squeezed potatoes to the egg mixture and stir until evenly combined.
Heat ¼ cup of the oil in a skillet over medium heat until shimmering. For each potato pancake, spoon about ½ cup of the mixture into the skillet. Immediately spread it with a spatula so the pancake is thin and flat, with irregular, jagged edges that will become crisp and lacy. Cook over medium to medium-high heat for about 3 minutes per side, until crisp and dark golden brown. Use a large spatula to turn the pancakes. Add more oil as needed while cooking the remaining batches.
Transfer each batch to a platter lined with paper towels. Keep warm while you finish cooking the remaining pancakes, but avoid tightly covering them with foil, which can trap steam and soften the crisp edges. Serve immediately.
Here’s my messy plate from the moment the pancakes were ready that night.
And here’s that beautiful German-inspired meal, served again the next day for a photo shoot.
Notes
- While we love these potato pancakes as a side dish, they could easily become the main course of a vegetarian meal. Top them with sour cream, more parsley, green onions or even a fried egg.
- Purists may choose sour cream, but my friends, I will NOT judge you if you pick ketchup instead. Or a little Tabasco. Or go bigger with green onions and shredded cheddar. For a traditional German pairing, serve applesauce on the side. The sky is the limit!
- Are you wondering, “Why potato pancakes in the summer?” It’s a good question, but hey, what better accompaniment to grilled meat than a crispy potato?
- Jacques Pépin bemoaned that the pancakes don’t reheat well and encouraged immediate consumption. I’m all for eating them right after frying, but he was wrong about reheating being second-rate. We’re empty-nesters here at Glover Gardens, and this recipe made a boatload, or perhaps a potato-truck-load, of pancakes. We successfully reheated them in the toaster oven at 450℉ for about 7 minutes. Chef’s kiss!
- When to serve this marvelous dish:
- As a side dish for dinner
- With barbecue of almost any kind
- As part of brunch
- In a “Ladies Who Lunch” meal, with smoked salmon, capers, sour cream and a small salad
Join Me in the Kitchen
Make Jacques’s mom’s potato pancakes the Glover Gardens way. You won’t be disappointed!
Bavarian Family Table
This recipe was inspired by the German-food mood that followed us home after our family visit to Bavaria. Explore more stories and meals from the trip in the Bavarian Family Table series.
© 2026, Glover Gardens
