Garlicky potato pancakes fried in lard, juicy smoked pork neck, and delicately sweet-and-sour sauerkraut make up the honest Kaplická cmunda. Returning the settled potato starch to the batter ensures extra crispiness, while a splash of hot milk helps keep the pancakes light in color.
The whole meal takes about 45 minutes to prepare. First, we make the batter and sauerkraut, then heat and sear the meat, and finally fry thin potato pancakes. The preparation requires a bit of practice when frying, but each step is simple and uses commonly available ingredients.
What You’ll Need
For the Potato Pancakes:
- Type C potatoes, suitable for grating,
- eggs,
- a little hot milk,
- garlic,
- marjoram,
- salt,
- pepper,
- plain flour,
- lard for frying.
For the Smoked Meat and Sauerkraut:
- slices of marbled smoked pork neck,
- fermented sauerkraut,
- sugar,
- salt.
The original recipe doesn’t specify exact quantities, so adjust them according to the number of servings and the desired consistency of the potato batter.
Step-by-Step Preparation:
1. Grating the potatoes: Grate the potatoes, salt them, and let them sit for a while to release their water. Pour off the liquid into a separate bowl, but don’t discard it yet.
2. Returning the starch: Let the poured-off liquid stand until the white potato starch settles at the bottom. Carefully pour off the water and return the settled starch to the grated potatoes. This step helps make the pancakes crispier.
3. Finishing the batter: Add eggs, a little hot milk, plain flour, garlic, and marjoram to the potatoes. Season the mixture with pepper and more salt if needed, then mix thoroughly. The milk helps prevent the grated potatoes from turning gray and keeps the batter lighter in color.
4. Stewing the sauerkraut: Rinse the sauerkraut lightly so it doesn’t lose its distinctive tang. Then stew it with sugar until soft and season with salt to taste. The final flavor should be sweet and sour to nicely balance the strong garlic in the pancakes.
5. Boiling the smoked meat: Place the slices of smoked pork neck in water and simmer for a few minutes. This heats the meat evenly and removes some of the excess salt.
6. Searing the pork neck: Remove the boiled slices and briefly sear them in a pan. Let them develop a nice golden color and a delicate crust, but don’t fry them too long so they stay juicy.
7. Frying the potato pancakes: Heat lard in a pan and fry thin pancakes from the prepared batter. Let them turn golden and develop crispy edges on both sides. Fry in batches so the pancakes are easy to flip and cook through evenly.
8. Serving: Top each finished pancake with a generous portion of sweet-and-sour sauerkraut and add a golden slice of smoked pork neck. Serve the cmunda hot, while the pancakes are freshly fried and crispy.
How to Keep Potato Pancake Batter Light and Crispy
A little hot milk slows the oxidation of grated potatoes, so the batter stays lighter even if it sits for a while. For crispiness, it’s also important to return the starch collected from the drained potato water. Don’t throw it away after settling, but add it back into the batter.
Fry the pancakes in lard, which gives them their characteristic flavor and crispy edges. Make the pancakes rather thin so they cook through well and turn evenly golden on the surface.
What Kind of Smoked Meat to Use
Smoked pork neck is ideal because it stays juicy but isn’t too fatty. You can also use smoked pork belly or shoulder. Briefly boiling the meat before searing helps heat it through and reduces any excess saltiness.
Why Is This Dish Called Kaplická Cmunda?
Legend has it that serving potato pancakes with smoked meat and sauerkraut became famous in the town of Kaplice, and from there spread under this name throughout the country. It’s a hearty South Bohemian version of potato pancakes, enriched with meat and sweet-and-sour sauerkraut.
