There is nothing like a crispy potato pancake, especially silver dollar sized ones since they produce the best ratio of soft center and crispy bits. They are a bit of a pain to make so they are definitely more of a treat than a regular occurrence but not actually that complicated - if that makes sense. And a word to the wise: ALWAYS make way more than you think you will be able to eat. There is nothing worse than not having quite enough of a good thing, especially once that you may not have until the following year!
4 large potatoes, peeled
Salt
olive oil and butter as needed, duck fat - my old friend - if you have it
Fill a large bowl with cold salted water.
Grate the potatoes on the large side of a box-grater. Put the grated potato in the salted water and leave for 10 minutes, stirring from time to time. This will remove some of the excess starch (which can cause the pancakes to be sticky - gloopy - rather than crispy).
Drain the grated potato well and then place in a mound in the center of a clean tea towel. Roll the tea towel up and wring out as much of the liquid from the potatoes as you can. Then spread the tea towel flat, salt the raw potato well and fluff everything up with your fingers.
Place 1/4 cup olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter (or duck fat) in a large skillet over medium heat. Heat until the butter/duck fat has melted and the oil is sizzling.
Working in batches, so as not to crowd the pan, drop equal amounts of potato into the pan and flatten into pancakes. You can use an ice cream scoop if you want to be precise or you can eyeball it as I did.
Cook the pancakes for 3 minutes on one side without disturbing them and then gently flip them with a spatula. Allow to cook on the other side for 2 minutes. Repeat. Add more oil and butter/duck fat as supplies get depleted, and turn down the flame if the pancakes start to brown too quickly.
Potato pancakes should be kept warm on a paper towel lined baking tray in a 350 degree oven while you are cooking the various batches. Serve at once when you have used all of the grated potato, lightly sprinkling the pancakes with finishing salt before decanting them from the baking tray onto your serving dish.
I served these with bowls of sour cream and pickled herring but smoked salmon or salmon roe instead would be delicious as well.