Widespread and Wonderful
Potato pancakes are a well known and savoured dish throughout Europe and further points around the world. The presence of the potato pancake in eastern European cuisine likely dates back to the early 19th century, once the potato had become an established crop in the eastern reaches of the continent after being brought to Europe from South America in the 16th century.
With as common a crop as the potato is, it’s no surprise that a myriad of potato pancake variations, based on national or personal tastes, have come into being over the centuries.
The Czech variation, the bramborák, reflects Czech culinary traditions by incorporating a high degree of garlic into the mix. Other standard ingredients of the Czech bramborák include marjoram and caraway.
Some regional variations of the bramborák incorporate saurkraut or smoked meat into the recipe.
Enjoying the Czech Bramborák
The Czech spin on the potato pancake is a simple affair designed to be served up hot, straight from cooking with no further embelishment. This fact makes it a very good example of street food in the Czech lands as every festival that features food stands will have at least one stall selling bramboráky with an abundance of the snacks in various stages of frying or draining.
Potato pancakes in the Czech style are also something you can do at home without a great deal of fuss.
This link at Czech Gastronomy will take you to a Czech style recipe to try yourself.
For something a bit different, this link will take you to a recipe for Slovak style potato pancakes.
Beyond Prague 