Rösti: The Beginning

It's another snowy day in Seattle and you, if you're anything like us, are undoubtedly holed up in your drafty apartment wondering what could possibly keep you warm and sated on a day like this. Well, we'll tell you, it's rösti.

Rösti is a Swiss-German dish composed quite simply of potatoes: grated, seasoned and then fried pancake-style, with a very crisp outer crust and a soft-but-not-mushy center. Although I hate to make any comparisons, rösti is basically the best hashbrown you've ever had, only better.

We first came across rösti at Lark, John Sundstrom's gem of a restaurant on First Hill. There, rösti is a mainstay of the small-plates menu where Sundstrom serves it topped with clabber cream, or for the high rollers, a quenelle of paddlefish caviar. Lark's rösti is without equal in Seattle and definitely worth the price, but we soon discovered that our demand for rösti surpassed our ability to shell out twenty bucks every time we got a craving (which, for the record, is about every other day).

We'll be the first to admit that we've not yet mastered the fine art that is rösti, but this is what we do know. Start by heating a pan (a beginner should use nonstick, but a well-seasoned cast iron pan is more traditional) with a good amount of oil--think several tablespoons. Peel, grate and season enough potato to make an approximately half-inch thick pancake; you can use any old potato, russets are fine, but we prefer the color and sweetness of yukon golds. Once your oil is very hot, carefully spread the grated potato in your pan in an even layer and turn the heat down to medium-low. Now, walk away. Don't even think about touching that rösti, you want it to develop a crust. After 10 to 15 minutes, lift a corner of the rösti to check the color: it should be a dark golden brown. Once this color is achieved, gently remove the rösti from the pan, heat another glug or two of oil, and flip your rösti back into pan, repeating the walk-away process until both sides are beautifully browned. Cooking may take around 30 minutes, but remember, rösti requires patience and dedication.

This little foray into the world of rösti is only the beginning of what for us will probably be a lifelong journey approaching the ideal of Rösti. It will involve lots of potatoes, fat and quite likely a trip to some swiss ski chalets where we'll chomp on rösti next to a roaring fire. But for good rösti, we'll do it.