History
Reibekuchen are the Rhenish potato pancakes, called Rievkooche in Kölsch. Brauhaus Sion lists three Reibekuchen with black bread, butter and apple compote at €11.40 as a Thursday dish. The Cologne Christmas market on Roncalliplatz names Reibekuchen with apple sauce among its stall specialities, and the Rievkoochbud kiosk is listed by koeln.de as selling only Reibekuchen.
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Common allergens: Gluten, Eggs
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 1kg floury potatoes, peeled
- 1 large onion
- 2 eggs
- 3 tablespoons plain flour
- 1 teaspoon salt, black pepper
- 1 teaspoon caraway seeds (optional)
- 500g lard or 500ml sunflower oil for frying
- Apple sauce (unsweetened) and Rhenish Rübenkraut (turnip syrup) to serve
Method
- Grate the potatoes and onion finely on a box grater into a sieve over a bowl. Press to squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
- Let the squeezed liquid stand 3 minutes so the starch settles. Pour off the water, scrape the starch back into the potato.
- Mix the potato with eggs, flour, salt, pepper and caraway to a thick batter.
- Heat 1cm of lard in a heavy cast-iron pan to 185C (a drop of batter should bubble immediately).
- Drop heaped tablespoons of batter into the pan, flatten with the back of the spoon to roughly 10cm wide and 1cm thick.
- Fry 3 minutes per side until deep golden and crisp at the edges. Lift to paper towels.
- Plate while still very hot. Serve with apple sauce on one side and Rübenkraut on the other.
Tip from the editors. Hot fat is essential: the batter should sizzle at once, or the pancakes turn soggy. Lard gives the traditional flavour; sunflower oil also works.
Where to eat reibekuchen (rievkooche)
Reibekuchen (Rievkooche) in Cologne
Brauhaus Sion ★ 4.4
Brauhaus Sion at Unter Taschenmacher 5-7 serves food with Kölsch in the historic centre of Cologne. It is about five minutes on foot from the main station.
Rievkoochbud ★ 4.1
Cologne Christmas Markets ★ 4.4
Cologne Christmas Markets is a market at Roncalliplatz, 50667 Koln.
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