By Liane Arno
IT IS our tradition every Saturday morning to have a cooked breakfast. We get the Age newspaper delivered only on the weekends and spend a slow morning in our PJs feasting on food and facts (or fantasy if we read too much about what world politicians are musing at the time).
Recently I picked up some smoked salmon marked down at the supermarket and decided to have, rather than our usual of bacon and eggs, rösti.
Rosti originated in Switzerland and was, and remains, a common breakfast dish of farmers and in particular those who speak German as their predominant language. So much a part of the culture is this dish that the geographical line in Switzerland that marks the division between the predominantly French speaking part and the German speaking part is called the Röstigraben: literally the 'rösti ditch'.
IT IS our tradition every Saturday morning to have a cooked breakfast. We get the Age newspaper delivered only on the weekends and spend a slow morning in our PJs feasting on food and facts (or fantasy if we read too much about what world politicians are musing at the time).
Recently I picked up some smoked salmon marked down at the supermarket and decided to have, rather than our usual of bacon and eggs, rösti.
Rosti originated in Switzerland and was, and remains, a common breakfast dish of farmers and in particular those who speak German as their predominant language. So much a part of the culture is this dish that the geographical line in Switzerland that marks the division between the predominantly French speaking part and the German speaking part is called the Röstigraben: literally the 'rösti ditch'.
There is nothing to making rösti – just grate some potatoes – squeeze out the excess water – mix in about a tablespoon of melted butter for each medium sized potato – chuck in some salt – fry in a shallow fry pan for about 10 minutes – flip onto the other side – and consume.
But there are a few little tricks.
The first is to use clarified butter to fry. You can either use ghee, where it has been done for you, or you can clarify butter yourself. This is to get rid of any milk solids which can cause burning. And the reason to use butter rather than oil (other than the fact that olive oil has a low burning point) is because butter is evil and therefore good to eat. All you need to do is to warm up the butter (which is easiest done in the microwave) and you will see some white small lumps float to the surface and some sink to the bottom. Filter them out by whatever means suit you and you are left with pure butter fat (which by the way is now lactose free so good for the lactose intolerant).
The second trick is the flip (or not as the case may be). I used to make an unholy mess when I first started trying to flip the rösti with a spatula until I read somewhere that the easiest way is to pop a breadboard on top of the frypan, tip it onto that – then slide it off the breadboard with the uncooked bit now on the bottom into the now empty frypan.
And the third trick which we learned by going to the iconic Swiss Club of Flinders Lane (believe it or not established in 1899) is to chuck a couple of anchovies on top of the eggs for an extra dash of saltiness.
En Guete!!
But there are a few little tricks.
The first is to use clarified butter to fry. You can either use ghee, where it has been done for you, or you can clarify butter yourself. This is to get rid of any milk solids which can cause burning. And the reason to use butter rather than oil (other than the fact that olive oil has a low burning point) is because butter is evil and therefore good to eat. All you need to do is to warm up the butter (which is easiest done in the microwave) and you will see some white small lumps float to the surface and some sink to the bottom. Filter them out by whatever means suit you and you are left with pure butter fat (which by the way is now lactose free so good for the lactose intolerant).
The second trick is the flip (or not as the case may be). I used to make an unholy mess when I first started trying to flip the rösti with a spatula until I read somewhere that the easiest way is to pop a breadboard on top of the frypan, tip it onto that – then slide it off the breadboard with the uncooked bit now on the bottom into the now empty frypan.
And the third trick which we learned by going to the iconic Swiss Club of Flinders Lane (believe it or not established in 1899) is to chuck a couple of anchovies on top of the eggs for an extra dash of saltiness.
En Guete!!