In Switzerland, they eat a lot of potatoes. Every time I’ve visited, I’ve eaten a lot of potatoes, too. I remember joining friends for a simple farmhouse supper in the countryside. We had boiled potatoes and green salad from the garden. It was a fine meal.
You’ll find potato salad, potato gratins and mashed potatoes in Switzerland, but the most famous Swiss preparation is rösti (pronounced roosh-ti). It is considered a national dish, though it is most popular in the German-speaking regions of the country. Made from grated potatoes, rösti resembles American hash browns, but fried in a skillet like a thick, crisp potato pancake and cut into wedges.
Rösti can be served as a side or as a main.CreditAndrew Scrivani for The New York Times
In restaurants, rösti is available for every meal, often enhanced with ham, bacon or cheese, or served with sausages or slices of pan-seared liver. The classic rösti mit ei has a fried egg on top. Rösti can also be served as a side dish. Whatever main course you order, it is not unusual for a waiter to ask, “Would you like that with noodles, potato gratin, steamed vegetables or rösti?”
There are differing opinions about the best way to make rösti. Some cooks grate their potatoes raw. Others insist the potatoes must be boiled in advance and refrigerated, preferably overnight, before grating. (I believe in boiling; the texture is better.) The type of potato is another point of contention. Should it be floury or waxy? My choice is always a yellow-fleshed, so-called salad potato, such as Yukon Gold or German Butterball.
Up in the Swiss Alps, many a skier chooses rösti for a hearty mountain lunch. Zermatt, the ski resort with some of Europe’s highest peaks, offers the chance to have rösti while admiring the view of the Matterhorn.
One of the finest restaurants in Zermatt is Zum See, run by Max and Greti Mennig and their family. You can arrive by foot or on skis, but you won’t get in without a reservation. The menu is old-school fine dining: oysters on the half-shell (served nestled in a pile of snow), fresh pasta topped with morel mushrooms and sweetbreads, perfectly sautéed Dover sole.
It was there that I was served this posh version of rösti, adorned with Scottish smoked salmon, sour cream and a poached egg.
