Hasselback potatoes

Do you want to surprise your housemates or friends with a delicious potato? But would you like something different than the classic boiled potatoes, fries, or baked potato? Then it's time for Hasselback potatoes! Soft and creamy on the inside, crispy like chips or fries on the outside. Moreover, they are very easy to prepare. Let's start with the recipe. Later in this article, we will delve deeper into the history of this unique potato preparation.

How to make Hasselback potatoes?

To prepare Hasselback potatoes, it is best to use medium-sized potatoes. Plan on two potatoes per person. It may seem like a lot, but believe me, everyone will eat them with great pleasure.

Cutting the potatoes

Typical of Hasselback potatoes are the incisions made at a distance of a few millimeters from each other. But we don't cut the potato all the way through. This is actually the most difficult part of the whole operation. But we have a good trick for that.

But potatoes have an amorphous shape. So first we cut a very narrow piece of the potato from one side. This creates a flat surface on which the potato is stable when cutting.

And now we have to cut it about three-quarters of the way through. Everywhere equally deep and preferably not completely cut through, because then the potato is ruined. That's why I always place the potatoes between two wooden spoons. Then you can make the incisions up to the wooden spoons. Make the incisions a few millimeters apart.

The seasoned butter sauce for Hasselback potatoes

Next, we make the butter sauce with which we will season the Hasselback potatoes. You can of course season to taste. But below you will find my favorite combination.

And one more tip for optimal flavor. Don't use finely ground herbs, but rather coarser herbs that you then grind in a mortar (if you have one). The end result will be slightly rougher and you will taste everything better. Don't have a mortar? Then of course you can also use finely ground herbs.

In that mortar, for example, I put coarse sea salt, peppercorns, coriander seeds, garlic, and fresh rosemary. Depending on the audience, chili flakes or a chili pepper are also added. That's for those who love to have spicier food.

After we have ground everything in the mortar, we mix the herbs with the melted butter.

Baking Hasselback potatoes

After these preparatory steps, the hard work is already done. Now we place the prepared potatoes in the oven dish. And then we brush them with the butter sauce.

Then everything can go in the oven for half an hour at 200-220°C. After half an hour, we take them out of the oven. They will have opened up a bit by now. Now we brush them again with the spicy butter sauce. The aromas will now also penetrate through the cuts into the inside of the potato.

Then they can go back in the oven for another half hour. They will now be spicy and crispy on the outside. But on the inside, they will still be soft like mashed potatoes. Delicious!!!

Where do Hasselback potatoes come from?

By now, you may have understood that Hasselback does not refer to the latest potato variety. But it has everything to do with this unique preparation method.

But who came up with this idea? And where and when? Questions we would love to clarify for you.

As with many recipes, it is not clear when they originated or who first prepared them. This is also the case here. But the origin is very clear.

Everyone agrees that the origin of this unique and noble potato recipe is in Sweden. In the Swedish capital Stockholm, there is a Hotel/Restaurant Hasselbacken, a name with a tradition in the Swedish restaurant scene. And indeed, it is this restaurant that is credited with the name "Hasselback potatoes".

We write 1953. The restaurant Hasselbacken is also a training restaurant for young chefs. And one of those young chefs, Leif Ellison, came up with this preparation method for the first time. And it was an immediate success. Delicious in taste, with a mixture of crispy on the outside, soft and creamy on the inside. And then there is, of course, the eye, which also eats along. Hasselback potatoes also look particularly noble and beautiful. No wonder this preparation method has conquered the world in no time.

Or do we need to go further back in history?

But was Leif Ellison really the first to make Hasselback potatoes? Or did he also get his inspiration elsewhere? In any case, it is certain that the Hasselbacken restaurant was the catalyst that made this preparation method known to the general public. And also gave its name to the preparation method.

But "every poet is a thief", meaning everyone gets his inspiration from somewhere. Some sources claim that Hasselback potatoes are inspired by a recipe for oven-baked potatoes from the Swedish "Prinsessornas kokbok" (The Cookbook of Princesses) from 1929, written by Jenny Åkerström. However, my Swedish is too limited to verify this.

Sources and additional literature

• Hasselback potatoes - Wikipedia.
• Prinsessornas kokbok : husmanskost oc helgdagsmat (Worldcat).
• The history of Hotel Hasselbacken (Hasselbacken.com)
• Rediscover a culinary classic: what are Hasselback potatoes? (Center of the plate).

More surprising.Hasselback

Of course, Hasselback potatoes are the perfect side dish. But now you need some inspiration for dishes that go along with them:

• Duck with Hasselback potatoes.
• Pork medaillons wrapped in farm ham.
• Slowcooking Sylvester duck.
• Scallops with blood sausage.

And as you can imagine, other ingredients are meanwhile also prepared in the Hasselback way. Here you can find some examples:

• Hasselback chicken.
• Honey and almond Hasselback pumpkin (Donna Hay)
• Hasselback tomato Caprese (Tablespoon).
• Harissa hasselback courgettes with butter bean and tahini dip and dukkah (Great British chefs).

If you speak Dutch, you can find the Dutch version of this recipe on gerechtenweb.blog.