A Calabrian regional recipe typical of the city of Cosenza. The packaged potatoes are often found combined with onions, we went to the source and we offer you the original traditional recipe which includes only two ingredients: potatoes and lard.
Ingrediants
- 1 kg of potatoes
- 400 g of lard
The recipe for mpacchiuse potatoes, the real ones, involves the use of lard. We want to propose them to you following the tradition but, it is understood, that you can also prepare them with extra virgin olive oil. They will be less correct according to tradition but lighter. Lard is a fundamental ingredient in some preparations of our gastronomic tradition but it is a fat of animal origin to which we are no longer used and, although we do not feel like demonizing an episodic consumption, we share a natural propensity to use less heavy fats and, basically, of vegetable origin.
However, retracing the paths of our history, for once, especially if we follow a healthy diet, can be useful for understanding flavors and textures that are now obsolete. Packaged potatoes are a good example; made with oil, perhaps, they would be ordinary fried potatoes. It is precisely the lard, together with a cooking method that does not expect them to be shot, to guarantee their characteristic, mpacchiusa, or sticky.
The original recipe wants them cooked in an iron pot and, possibly on the grill; we are satisfied with a lively fire, more widespread than embers in our kitchens.
The amount of lard is important, we admit, to achieve the perfect result. The potatoes to use are those of Sila and probably the sticky effect is also accentuated due to the type of potato. Not being particularly available, we used them good but from Abruzzo.
OTHER TASTY RECIPES: Crispy pan-fried potatoes, Caramelized potatoes, Lyonnaise potatoes
How to prepare: Packed potatoes
- Execution
- easy
- Preparation time
- 5 min
- Cooking time
-
30 min
- Portions
-
4
How to prepare: Packed potatoes
To prepare mpacchiuse potatoes, first wash them and peel them with a potato peeler. Then cut them into slices that are not too thin. In a pan, preferably made of iron, melt and heat the lard.
Add the potatoes and cover, allowing to cook for 15 minutes. After this time, uncover and continue cooking, without turning them, possibly shaking the pan to move them but without turning them or they will lose their ‘sticky’ characteristic.
Cook for about another 15 minutes; the potatoes must be cooked, partially browned but not fried, stuck together. We drained them on a sheet of absorbent paper to remove some of the grease, but it is probably an action that was not done in tradition. Complete your mpacchiuse potatoes with salt and rosemary.
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