Potatoes with Bacon

Five ingredients, one skillet, twenty minutes. This is German home cooking stripped to the essentials. Pre-cooked potatoes sliced and fried in lard with smoked bacon and onions until golden, then finished with a generous stir of sour cream that melts into the hot fat and creates a rich, tangy coating.

Using pre-cooked potatoes is the key to getting crispy edges in a short cook time. Raw potatoes would need much longer in the pan and tend to stick. Boiled and cooled potatoes have a drier surface that crisps up fast when they hit the hot lard.

Lard is traditional here and it matters. It handles high heat without smoking and adds a savory richness that butter or oil can’t replicate. Combined with the rendered fat from the bacon, every potato slice gets coated in smoky, porky flavor.

The sour cream goes in at the very end, off the heat or over very low flame. It adds a cool tanginess that cuts through all that richness and ties the dish together.

Kitchen Tips

• Cube the bacon small so it renders evenly and distributes through every forkful of potatoes.
• Don’t stir the potatoes too often. Let them sit in the pan long enough to develop a golden crust before flipping.
• Add the sour cream off the heat and stir gently. High heat will cause it to break and look curdled.

Variations

• Add a teaspoon of caraway seeds with the onions for a more traditionally Central European flavor.
• Sprinkle chopped fresh chives or dill over the top before serving.
• Use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream for a lighter, tangier finish.