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Draniki (Grated Potato Pancakes with Smetana)

Draniki (Grated Potato Pancakes with Smetana) reads richness 5.6, herbaceous 3.8 and allium 3.6 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Belarusian main, about 34 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 4.2 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 1.6 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 3.6 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 1.8 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 6.0 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 4.3 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Richness 5.6 · Herbaceous 3.8 · Allium 3.6 · Salinity 3.6 · Sourness 3.6 · Funk & Ferment 3.0 · Umami 2.8 · Earthy 1.6 · Sweetness 1.6 · Warm Spice 1.5 · Nutty 1.5 · Bitterness 1.3 · Floral 0.9 · Heat 0.6

What's in it (10)

• potatoes — 1200 g
• onion — 110 g
• egg — 100 g
• all-purpose flour — 15 g
• salt — 7 g
• freshly ground black pepper — 3 g
• sunflower oil — 92 g
• lard — 50 g
• sour cream — 200 g
• dill — 20 g

Time & effort: about 34 min (29 min active) · effort: medium

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 83.9 kcal, 3.1 g protein, 3.4 g fat, 10.9 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains dairy · Contains egg — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (6 steps)

1. Grate the potatoes on the fine side of a box grater, not in a food processor, 15 minutes, and grate the onion straight in among them as you go. A processor emulsifies the potato into a pale slurry; a box grater leaves it shaggy and stringy, and you can see the difference in the ragged lace edge of a fried dranik. The onion is there partly for flavour and partly because it slows the browning of the raw potato.
2. Let the grated mixture stand 5 minutes, then tip off the clear liquid that has risen, 2 minutes, but do not wring the potatoes out in a cloth. Scrape the white starch that has settled at the bottom of the poured-off liquid back into the bowl; that starch is the binder.
3. Stir in the egg, flour, salt and pepper, 2 minutes.
4. Heat the sunflower oil with the lard in a heavy frying pan over a confident medium-high heat. Drop in spoonfuls and press each to about 8 mm thick. Fry 4 minutes a side, 8 minutes in total, until deep brown and crisp at the edges. The mix of oil and lard is not fussiness: lard alone burns at this heat and oil alone gives no flavour.
5. Drain on a wire rack rather than kitchen paper, 2 minutes, or the undersides steam and go limp.
6. Serve immediately with cold smetana and dill. Draniki are a meal in Belarus, not a side dish: eaten for supper with a bowl of machanka to dip into, or for breakfast with nothing but sour cream. Potato reached Belarus in the eighteenth century and reorganised the whole cuisine around itself, which is why there are dozens of dishes like this one and why they belong here rather than under a Polish or Russian heading.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Vareniki (Вареники) — Russian
• Cacik — Turkish
• Pelmeni (Пельмени) — Russian
• Loaded Baked Potato Bar with Broccoli and Cheddar — American
• Southern Squash Casserole with White Beans — Southern

Keep reading: what richness, herbaceous, allium mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.