Döppekuchen – Rheinland Potato Flan

Döppekooche/Döbbekooche is a form of potato cake made of grated potatoes, finely minced onions, eggs and spices and cover in sausage pieces or strips of bacon, which is baked in a cast-iron pot (a döppe) like a cake (kuchen) and served in slices. The resulting potato-onion-egg mix is then baked in the oven for about 2 hours until it forms a crust, considered to be the best part of he dish. Purists insist that the dish should not be stirred during the baking period in order to keep the crust intact, however, it is also acceptable to stir it so as to distribute the crust throughout the dish.

Ingredients:

For the Döppekuchen
1.5 kg floury potatoes, peeled and grated
100 g bacon
2 onions, peeled and finely sliced
2 eggs
1 pinch grated nutmeg
Salt
White Pepper
A knob of butter

For the Apple Sauce
400g apples
Juice of ½ lemon
1½ tbsp sugar
A little butter and salt, to serve

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C.
2. Grease a baking dish (approx 25cm diameter) with a little of the butter and cover the bottom with bacon slices. Put the grated potatoes in a colander and press out and drain the excess liquid into a bowl. Leave it to drain for about 10 mins.
3. Mix the potatoes, eggs, onion and nutmeg and season to taste with salt and white pepper. Put the potato mixture into the baking dish and bake for about 1hr 45mins. If the surface starts to go too dark, cover loosely with foil for the remainder of the cooking time.
4. While the potato cake is cooking, make the apple sauce: Peel and dice the apples. Put in a small pan with the juice of ½ lemon, 2 tbsp water and 1½ tbsp sugar. Heat gently until the apples are really soft, then squash with a spoon. Add a little butter and salt to serve.
5. Take the cake out of the oven, turn it out of the dish and serve in slices with the apple sauce.