Teacher, where is the rösti pit?
(Quelle: CC BY-SA 3.0)
The Rösti ("Röschti" - with a long "ö" and "sch" instead of "s"); was originally a simple farmer's breakfast. A flat flatbread made of grated potatoes, cooked unpeeled the day before, fried in hot fat in a pan until crispy. So a leftover meal. Sounds easy, but it is not. The more widespread the recipe became, the higher the expectations of the result became. Finally it found its way into top gastronomy. An excellent restaurant has its own rösti chef. To make the perfect rösti you need knowledge of potato types and their storage. It takes the right pan, a heavy cast iron pan. The right fat mixture is also essential. If the fat does not reach the required temperature, the rösti will not work. An insider tip was to mix lard with fried butter. And of course you need a “rösti raffle” so that the potatoes can be grated into the right small strips.
(Quelle: cuisipro)
Classic rösti, belongs in every Unterländer household
It was not a problem for the farmers to make rösti, they had the utensils and the knowledge. Of course, normal housewives in post-war cities did not always have the right
type of potato and the necessary pan. Rösti was the exception in everyday life for people in Zurich. As a holiday meal, however, it was a cantonal specialty: “Zürcher Geschnetzeltes with Rösti”.
In 1968 the Hero company brought the first ready-to-use rösti onto the market. Canned rösti worked in every pan. The product was gratefully accepted and soon no one knew what else rösti could taste like. Hero Rösti was the epitome of male culinary art. If the housewife wasn't there, Mr. Swiss proudly fed himself with rösti and fried eggs, with a piece of fried meat cheese or bacon. Such food is bursting with calories and a down-to-earth attitude and is also feasible for the inexperienced.
If you want to make your own rösti, floury-boiling high-temperature potatoes must be used. In the basic recipe, the peeled and grated potatoes are fried in hot fat with a little salt. Layer the potatoes loosely about 2 cm high. Do not turn them until they are really crispy. The Rösti is traditionally turned in portions with a wooden spatula. You shouldn't stir the potatoes. The more you stir and fry the rösti, the less there is left, the potatoes decimate. Hitting the ideal point between crispness and juicy inner life is an art. In top gastronomy, rösti is often served as a single portion. It's nice to look at, but it's not a real rösti that is cooked whole in a pan and only then divided between the plates.
And where is the Röstigraben now? In Switzerland, the Röstigraben is the name given to the border that shows the difference in mentality between German speakers (the Röstiessern) and the non-speaking population in Switzerland, which mainly comes to light when voting.
-Ana