Crisp grated-potato fritters from Trentino, a mountain staple most closely tied to the Val di Non. Raw potatoes are peeled and coarsely grated, bound with just a little flour and salt — and nothing else in the plainest version — then dropped in spoonfuls into hot oil or lard and pressed flat into thin cakes that fry golden and lacy. Drained and salted, they are eaten hot, crisp at the edges and tender in the middle, with speck and alpine cheese, with cured meats and beans, or, in the sweeter habit, with jam or lingonberry. They turn up as a side, a snack, or aperitivo food on a board of mountain salumi.
Tortei di patate — also written tortel di patate in local dialect — belong to the cucina povera of Trentino, the thrifty mountain cooking built on potatoes, which became a staple of the Alpine valleys after the crop spread through Europe from the late 18th century. They are most strongly identified with the Val di Non, the apple-growing valley in the province's northwest, where they remain a fixture of village festivals and family tables. As a humble farmhouse dish there is no single founding recipe or date on record; the constant is the method — raw grated potato fried crisp — and the plainest traditional fat is lard. The dish belongs to the broad Alpine and Central European family of grated-potato cakes rather than to any one inventor.
Straight from the pan, a tortel is shatteringly crisp and lacy at the thin edges where the grated strands have browned, and soft, almost creamy in the middle. The flavour is plainly of potato and frying fat, salty and clean, with a faint sweetness from the browned starch — lard gives a rounder, more savoury edge than oil. Against salty speck or a sharp mountain cheese the contrast is the point; with jam or lingonberry it tips sweet-savoury. It must be eaten hot and fresh: left to sit, it goes leathery and loses the crisp, and a tortel fried too thick stays raw and gummy inside.
Crispness comes from getting moisture out of the grated potato and frying it thin. Raw potato is mostly water around a lattice of starch; coarse grating opens up surface area, and many cooks squeeze or let the gratings drain so the cakes brown rather than steam. In the hot fat the surface water flashes off and the exposed starch undergoes the Maillard reaction and caramelisation, building the golden, lacy crust, while the interior cooks through to tender. Pressing the spoonful flat keeps the cake thin so the centre cooks before the edges burn. Only a little flour is used — just enough to bind the loose strands; too much makes the fritter dense and bready instead of lacy and light.
Variations
The plainest Val di Non recipe is potato, flour and salt fried in lard or oil, but cooks vary it freely: some add grated onion, a beaten egg or a little milk to the batter for a softer cake. The fat is traditionally lard, with seed oil the modern stand-in. What changes most is what it is eaten with — savoury, with speck, pancetta, mortadella and alpine cheeses, or with beans and vegetables as a light supper; sweet, with jam or lingonberry. It is a cousin to the wider Alpine and Central European grated-potato cakes such as the Austrian and German Kartoffelpuffer and the Swiss rösti, which share the raw-grated, pan-fried method.
On the Palate
Where Tortei di Patate sits in the Italian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
7 steps · 30 min
- 18 min
Peel the potatoes and grate them coarsely on a wide-hole grater.
- 24 min
Squeeze or drain off the excess liquid so the gratings are no longer wet.
Watch outSqueeze the grated potato really dry until it stops dripping — wet gratings steam in the pan and go soggy instead of frying up crisp and lacy.
- 33 min
Toss the grated potato with salt and just enough flour to bind, mixing lightly.
- 44 min
Heat a generous layer of lard or oil in a heavy pan until hot.
- 53 min
Drop in spoonfuls and press each flat with the back of the spoon into a thin cake.
Watch outPress each spoonful flat and thin with the spoon back — a thick cake browns the edges before the middle cooks and stays raw inside.
- 66 min
Fry until the underside is golden and lacy, then turn and brown the second side.
Watch outFry until the underside is deep golden and lacy-crisp before you turn it — flip too soon and it hasn't set, so it falls apart in the pan.
- 72 min
Lift onto paper to drain, salt while hot, and serve at once with speck and cheese or with jam.
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