Casserole: Polish "Potato Babka"
Subject: Polish "Potato Babka"
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
From: RJ (baranick at localnet.com)
Date: Thu, 19 May 2005 14:46:23 -0700
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I'm trying to bake up Moms recipe, but it's not turning out right.
She called it "Potato Babka" (potato loaf)
Saute chopped bacon with lots of onion.
Mix with grated potatoes.
Add egg and some flour.
Bake in a loaf pan or a lasagna pan (one + hour at 325)
Serve sliced, with sour cream....
Whenever I try the recipe, the loaf turns a dark brown color. (not at all appetizing)
I KNOW Moms crust was a crisp, light golden color.
Could it be the local potatoes ? Any hints ? suggestions ?
From: aem (aem_again at yahoo.com)
Date: 19 May 2005 15:00:04 -0700
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You're positive she baked this, rather than making cakes and frying them?
Potatoes will discolor badly if just left out, so my guess is that your loaf doesn't mix up well enough to coat all the potatoes with the egg and flour, and it's the 'naked' ones that discolor. Are you squeezing excess water out of the grated potatoes before mixing with flour and egg? Easy way to do that is to pile them up in a clean dishtowel, wrap it around and then squeeze very well. Getting them as dry as possible might improve the mixing/coating, possibly solving the problem. Or not, I haven't ever tried to bake this kind of thing so I'm just guessing. -aem
From: barry_grau at yahoo.com
Date: 19 May 2005 15:26:25 -0700
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If I remember right baka is a breadlike loaf that is baked. My Aunt Ida always had a couple when my father and I went to visit on Sundays. Good stuff, but she didnt put bacon . Im not sure about oniion -- it was a long time ago.
Aunt Ida would slip me a dollar and say "Dont tell your Uncle Anczel."
-bwg
From: Monsur Fromage du Pollet (invalid at invalid.null)
Date: Fri, 20 May 2005 01:16:24 GMT
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aem wrote:
> Are you squeezing excess water out of the grated potatoes before
> mixing with flour and egg? Easy way to do that is to pile them up
> in a clean dishtowel, wrap it around and then squeeze very well.
> Getting them as dry as possible might improve the mixing/coating,
> possibly solving the problem. Or not, I haven't ever tried to
> bake this kind of thing so I'm just guessing. -aem
The salad spinner kinda replaces the towel method.
From: aem (aem_again at yahoo.com)
Date: 21 May 2005 17:30:51 -0700
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Monsur Fromage du Pollet wrote:
> The salad spinner kinda replaces the towel method.
My salad spinner works great on greens, but here you want to get rid of more than the surface water. Squeezing the grated potatoes in a towel will do that. -aem
From: parrotheada1a (parrotheada1a at comcast.net)
Date: 20 May 2005 03:56:07 -0700
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You need to add some kind of oil to the recipe. My mom & aunt added bacon grease. Made my cholesterol go to the moon I'm sure, but nobody ever cared about that in the 60's- 70's. A good substitute for bacon grease is adding a packet of GOYA ham seasoning, along with a cup or so of canola oil. Much healthier. You should also grease the pan sides.
From: Shaun aRe (shaun_are at zenlunatics.co.uk)
Date: Fri, 20 May 2005 12:25:15 +0100
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parrotheada1a wrote:
> You need to add some kind of oil to the recipe. My mom & aunt added
> bacon grease. Made my cholesterol go to the moon I'm sure, but nobody
> ever cared about that in the 60's- 70's. A good substitute for bacon
> grease is adding a packet of GOYA ham seasoning, along with a cup or so
> of canola oil. Much healthier. You should also grease the pan sides.
I would have thought "Sauté chopped bacon with lots of onion." might cover that?