Mountain Hut Potato Cakes
Instant potato, sugar, and a lot of butter, fried into cakes in the same pot you rehydrated them in.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 3.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 149
- protein
- 8 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 14 min
- water
- 180 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Dessert
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Instant mashed potato flakes | 1/2 cup | plain, not the buttery-flavored kind |
|---|---|---|
| Powdered whole milk | 2 tbsp | |
| Sugar | 2 tbsp | half in the dough, half over the top |
| Butter | 1.5 tbsp | ghee keeps longer than butter above freezing |
| Salt | a pinch | |
| Cinnamon | 1/4 tsp | optional |
Method
- Boil 180 ml of water. Pull the pot off the heat and stir in the potato flakes, milk powder, 1 tbsp of the sugar, and the salt.
- Let it sit two minutes. It should be stiff enough to hold a shape on the spoon. Add flakes a pinch at a time if it slumps.
- Scrape the dough onto a lid or a clean bag and wipe the pot out. Melt the butter over low heat.
- Press the dough into two or three flat cakes and lay them in the butter. Four minutes a side on low, and don't move them until the edge looks set.
- Slide them out, dust with the rest of the sugar and the cinnamon, and eat them hot.
The original is hut food: potatoes, butter, sugar, a pan, and a long walk behind you. Real potatoes need twenty minutes of boiling and a pot of water you have to carry or filter, so this version starts from flakes. They rehydrate into a dough stiff enough to hold a cake shape, which boiled potatoes only do after you mash and cool them.
The butter is not a garnish. It is the frying medium and most of the calories, and it is what puts a crust on the outside so the cake doesn’t fall apart on the spatula. Low heat matters — sugar in the dough browns fast, and a hot pot gives you a black skin over a raw middle.
Packing
Potato flakes, milk powder, half the sugar, and the salt premix into one bag at home. Butter or ghee rides in a screw-top jar, and the topping sugar goes in a corner of the same jar bag.
Variations
- Skip the sugar and add pepper and dried chives for a savory side next to sausage.
- A spoon of jam on each cake makes it a dessert without carrying anything else.
https://blog.giallozafferano.it/kissthecook/la-cucina-di-montagna