Leitrim-Style Pan Boxty
Bacstaí san Fhriochtán·(bock-stee sahn reek-tawn)
The Evening Tea: Quick Potato Comforts
Pan boxty isn't some precious weekend project requiring endless patience, but a Tuesday night workhorse engineered to stretch yesterday’s leftover mash with today's raw potatoes. The non-negotiable secret to that fierce crust means taking a box grater to humble Russets, wringing the raw potatoes completely dry and recovering the pure white starch that settles in the bowl. Mix with buttermilk, get a hot cast-iron skillet smoking on the stove, wait until the butter foams, and drop the batter.
Ingredients
- Russet potatoes1 lb
- leftover mashed potatoes2 cup
- all-purpose flour1 cup
- baking soda1 tsp
- kosher salt1 tsp
- cultured buttermilk3/4 cup
- Irish butter3 tbsp
Method
- 01
Grate the raw potatoes and aggressively wring them dry.
Using the medium holes of a box grater, shred the raw peeled potatoes onto a clean, lint-free dish towel. Gather the corners and twist fiercely over a medium bowl to wring out as much liquid as humanly possible, then place the dry shreds into a large mixing bowl.
- 02
Salvage the native potato starch.
Set the bowl of extracted potato liquid aside for 15 to 20 minutes until a dense, white starch settles at the bottom. Carefully pour off and discard the reddish water, then scrape that precious white starch directly into your dry, grated potatoes.
- 03
Combine the raw shreds, mashed potatoes, and dry ingredients.
Add the cold leftover mashed potatoes to the bowl, breaking them up with your hands or a fork to mix evenly with the raw shreds. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and kosher salt, then sprinkle this over the potato mixture and toss to coat.
- 04
Mix in the buttermilk to form a heavy batter.
Pour in the buttermilk and stir gently with a wooden spoon until a thick batter forms that is loose enough to just fall off the spoon. Do not overmix, or the gluten in the flour will make the pancakes tough.
- 05
Fry the boxty in a hot, buttered skillet until deeply golden.
Heat a heavy cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat and melt a generous knob of butter until foaming. Drop heaping spoonfuls of the batter into the pan, flattening them slightly to a half-inch thick, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes per side until the exterior is profoundly crisp.
Notes
Use cold, day-old mashed potatoes.
Cold leftover mash is vastly superior to fresh because the starches have retrograded and firmed up, making the batter significantly easier to handle in the pan.
Let the batter rest for a better texture.
If you're rushed on a weeknight, you can make the batter the night before; resting it in the fridge overnight helps the pancakes hold their shape and deepens the flavor.
Substitute standard milk if necessary.
If you lack buttermilk, simply use whole milk mixed with a teaspoon of white vinegar, or substitute plain milk and swap the baking soda for baking powder.
From Cook Irish-American Food.