Taste of Home: Saure Scheiben (German Sour Potato Slices)

A little while back, this guy ate potatoes for 60 days straight to promote the health benefits of potatoes.  His name is Chris Voigt, I looked it up.  He blogged about it here.  He talked about eating potatoes "every possible way -- boiled, baked, mashed, grilled, roasted, juiced, blended, fried, etc." but, while he finished the stunt, it was reported that he apparently did get tired of eating potatoes in the end.

Growing up in Germany, we ate potatoes a lot.  When I read Chris definition of "every possible way" I was sort of amused.  There are so many more ways to fix potatoes than most people probably realize.  I bet that my mother could cook at least 30 days worth of different potato dishes - without repeating herself even once.


Unfortunately, I never really learned to cook from my Mom.  My brother helped her with the cooking while I could not be bothered.  As a matter of  fact, I proudly proclaimed that "anybody who can read can cook" and left it at that. (Obviously, I proclaimed it in German:"Wer lesen kann, kann auch kochen.")  Was I ever wrong!  My brother is a great cook, by the way.  I'm still a work in progress.

For today, I wanted to attempt "Saure Scheiben", which essentially translates into "sour slices". It's a regional potato dish I really like.  I found a recipe for it here but I was unable to find an English translation for it.  It didn't sound too difficult, so I figured I'd attempt it.

First I put some potatoes in a pot to boil them.  I can in fact boil potatoes.

I diced a small onion and weighed out the amount of butter and flour needed for the recipe. Then I started a pot of bouillon.  While the bouillon was cooking, I sautéed the onion in the butter until it was just getting some color.

It was when I added the flour that things started to go horribly wrong.  It started to get really brown as soon as I added it - and I could not get it mixed with the butter fast enough.  In a panic, I dumped the bouillon into the pan - and ended up with lumps! Big old lumps in my sauce!  Bummer!

Well, it's not the first time I ended up with lumps in a sauce.  So, back to my trusted little colander to strain out the lumps...   I poured the sauce through the colander (spilling about half of it on the stove...) and used a whisk to try to break up the lumps.  What a mess!  (Should have taken pictures at this point, but I was otherwise occupied...)

Once the lumps were out, I added the vinegar, the bay leaf and a clove to the pan and cooked the sauce for a few more minutes.  Finally, I peeled the boiled potatoes, cut them into slices and added them to the sauce.

Voila, Saure Scheiben.

It wasn't quite as good as I remembered them. The potatoes could have used a little more salt, maybe a bit more bouillon - and there was the little lump incident. So there is room for improvement - but it was OK - and even my daughter thought that it was good enough to eat.

I'll pair it with sausage for dinner tonight.

Recipe:


German sour potato slices
(the following amounts are approximate since this recipe is still "in progress")
1000 g potatoes (I think I used more...) 
60 g flour  
60 g butter 
1 onion 
1 liter bouillon 
1 dash Salz 
1 dash Pfeffer 
2 bay leaves 
1 clove 
3 Tbs white vinegar


Wash and boil potatoes (approx. 25 min)
Dice the onions and sauté in butter.  Add flour and allow to brown a bit.  Add bouillon to make a gravy.  Add bay leaves, clove and pepper.  Simmer for 15 minutes.  Remove Bay leaves and clove.  Add vinegar to taste. 
Cut potatoes in slices and add to the gravy. Serve hot.