Mama’s Potato Cakes

This is a recipe I’ve wanted to bring you for almost three years but am just now getting to it today. The reason I have waited so long for Mama to do this post is because nobody makes potato cakes like my Mama . These things are so good they’re almost sacred. Knowing how much I love hers, I wanted her to be able to show you how she does it. Here is what she says about them:

This was my Mama Reed’s recipe.  She was a wonderful grandmother who worked hard all day long and never let anything go to waste.  She must have made extra potatoes because I can’t see her having enough left over to feed 10 kids plus herself and Papa Reed.  Kids usually love these so I would think they would eat 3 or 4 at least and probably more since half the kids were boys and worked on the farm.  After my mama and daddy got divorced Mama Reed had me help her with supper everyday and then Daddy and I would eat there.  I see now that she was doing this in order to teach me how to cook and I am so grateful for it.

I have so many of her recipes in my head that I need to write down.  Now I am thinking about making roast beef hash like she showed me and ham hash like Granny made.  Guess I need to lay out that ham bone that had so much meat on it and start chopping ham! If y’all don’t mind, I’ll come back and do a post on those one of these days, too.

Note to Christy: Did you know that I learned how to cut up a whole chicken thanks to Mama Reed and if I was really hungry I could catch it and wring it’s neck, then pluck it and singe the little pin feathers off it!  Now that’s something not everyone knows how to do!!

You’ll need: Flour, Leftover cold mashed potatoes*, Eggs.

Whatever flour you have on hand (self rising or all purpose) is fine for this but you really really really really ~insert about ten more “really”‘s here~ need to use real mashed potatoes. Save those instant ones to thicken your stews with and use in the crust on my taco casserole recipe.

We gotta make these puppies up right!

To your mashed potatoes, add egg and mix up really well. Then add flour. Stir it up really well with a fork until well blended like this. It will be very thick and sticky.

You can also add some finely diced onion at this point as well if you like but Mama leaves that out because this is one of the grandkid’s favorite things to eat and they aren’t that big on onions. Kids are weird this way – give ‘em ten years or so and we think they’ll come around!

Heat just a little bit of oil (about two tablespoons, it doesn’t take much) in the bottom of a skillet and place over medium  heat for two to three minutes, or until hot.

This is important because if you don’t heat your oil first, your potato cakes will be greasy.

Scoop out heaping spoonfulls of potato mixture into the hot oil.

Dip the back of your spoon into the oil and then press down with it onto the potato cakes to flatten them a bit.

Fry until browned and then carefully flip them over and brown on the other side.

This photograph is a bit shaky but that is probably because a slew of grandkids ran through the kitchen as Mama was taking it. Between Austin, Jake, Lane, and Elle, her house stays hoppin’! On those occasions that we go to visit and throw our kids into the mix, it’s a wonder Mama’s walls are still standing!

Mama’s Potato Cakes

Ingredients

• 2 cups cold leftover mashed potatoes
• 1 whole egg
• 1/4 cup flour (all purpose or self rising)
• 2 T. finely diced onions, optional

Instructions

1. Mix egg into mashed potatoes with a fork until well blended. Add flour and onions (if using onions) and mix well. Mixture will be very stiff.
2. Pour approximately 2 T. oil into skillet and heat over medium heat.
3. Scoop out heaping tablespoons of mixture into hot oil. Dip back of spoon into oil and mash potato mixture to flatten to about 1/4 inch thick. By dipping the back of the spoon into the oil, the spoon will not stick to potatoes making flattening them much easier. Fry until browned and then flip and continue to brown patty on other side.
4. Remove to paper towel lined plate to serve.
5. Note from Mama: I do not use onions in my potato cakes since my grandmother never did. It is strictly personal perference. But if you do, make sure to dice them fine so that they will cook in the short amount of time it takes for patties to brown.
6. *Makes about ten potato cakes

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To read more about Mama Reed, check out these posts:

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Posted by Christy Jordan on May 23 2011. Filed under Side Dishes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry