In the photo, there are two men – one about 60, the other 30 – a young woman and a child of about six all sitting on carved chairs at a table. Behind them is a window with thin, green curtains framing a clear view of a mountain. Three carved spoons hang on the wall, as does a painting similar to the view. Both men are wearing jackets over checked shirts; the woman is in a pink twin-set with a matching hairband underpinning her bouffant; and the child is in what seem to be dungarees.
On the table are glasses for water and wine, bread in a basket and two platters. One is covered with slices of salami, cheese and a heap of beans, and on the other is a small mountain of fried egg-sized tortei di patate, or potato fritters. The child has one in his hand, and is smiling. In fact, everyone is smiling. The picture is on page 67 of a 1971 magazine, Benvenuti a Trento (Welcome to Trento).
According to the Confraternita della Torta e del Tortel de Patate, the Brotherhood of Potato Cakes and Fritters (which has its headquarters in Trentino, a region at the top of Italy, where the city of Trento is situated), three things matter when making both a large torta or many little tortei. First, the type of potato; they suggest kennebec, an all-purpose white potato developed in Maine in the 1940s. Second, the grater, which should have large holes. And third, the pan, which should be copper.
I was out before I was in. I don’t have kennebec potatoes or a copper pan. I do, however, have a box grater with big holes, the sort of holes that produce defined shards of carrot and apple for coleslaw, cucumber for yoghurt and apple that then goes miserably brown in yoghurt. So I grated, squeezed, added salt and started to shape the fritters. It was clear almost immediately that the gratings in my hand were not going to turn into those flat, consistent patties that were making the child smile. But I pressed as best I could and fried them anyway. As they fried, the potatoes escaped my shaping and turned into crisp sea urchins. Which were fine to eat, but not good enough for a platter.
The Trentino/Alto Adige tourist website I Love Val di Non mentions the Brotherhood, as well as one Nonna Maria, “a trusted cook who has never disappointed anyone; family, guests or friends, both Italian and foreign who has sat at her table”. I feel more at ease with Nonna Maria than I do with the Brotherhood, although they are probably part of the same marketing board. However, the big holes on her grater are completely different from those on mine. Hers produce a coarse mush, the consistency I associate with horseradish. While she says she squeezes excess water out, it is still quite wet, so she adds flour, too: two tablespoons of flour to a kilo of potatoes are her proportions. She uses a tablespoon to lift the thick, batter-like mixture into a nonstick pan in which she has heated just a little oil. She uses the same spoon to swirl the top and to flatten the mixture a bit. I find that they need a bit of help with a spatula; they need to flip easily, so you can fry the other side, too. They look like rösti crossed with a fat, golden pancake. It pays to blot briefly, on kitchen towel, before lifting them on to a serving plate and sprinkling with salt.
Another picture, on the wall of a restaurant called Maso Finisterre in Trento, calls them tortello di patate, and each one is served on its own small wooden board, along with some salami from Trentino, their own cheese, cappucci (which I assume is pickled cabbage) and beans. Meanwhile, at one of that same restaurant’s tables sit a Sicilian man, an English woman and a child who is holding a potato fritter and frowning. No one can be bothered to bargain. The man and the woman divide the rest of the fritters between them, then they smile.
Potato fritters (tortei di patate)
Prep 10 min
Cook 15 min
Makes About 16
3 large all-purpose white potatoes (about 1kg)
2 tbsp plain flour
Salt and pepper
Olive oil, for frying
Salami, cheese and pickles, to serve
Peel the potatoes and grate them on the large holes of a box grater, ideally one of those that creates a coarse mush, rather than defined shards. Squeeze out the excess water as best you can.
In a bowl, mix the grated potato with the flour, salt and pepper.
Heat a little oil in a nonstick pan. Lift one heaped tablespoon of the potato mixture into the pan, using the spoon to flatten the top slightly, and leave to fry. Use a spatula to lift a corner to check that the underside is golden, then flip and fry on the other side.
Lift on to a plate lined with kitchen towel to blot, then transfer to a platter. Sprinkle with salt and serve at once with slices of cheese, salami and pickles.
