Back to the salty theme. I’m German and I grew up eating potato klebas. In Norwegian they’re called potato klubbs, but we always call them potato klebas. And one time, and they’re very time-consuming and my aunt and my mother made them. And I’ll read you the recipe: It’s two cups all-purpose flour, one half teaspoon salt, one quarter teaspoon baking powder, one quarter teaspoon black pepper, four potatoes – four cups of potatoes peeled and grated, two tablespoons grated onion, eight ounces cooked ham cut into one-inch cubes, two tablespoons – er two teaspoons of salt, and one cup melted butter.
You mix the flour, the salt, the baking powder, and pepper, and put it in a bowl. Place the potatoes and onions in a large bowl and stir in the flour mixture until thoroughly blended. Use floured hands to knead the potato mixture in a bowl until it takes on the quality of stiff bread dough. Add additional flour if the dough is too sticky. Pinch off tennis sized balls, a tennis-size piece of dough and shape it into a cube around a cube of ham completely covering the ham to form the ball. Repeat with remaining dough and ham cubes. Set aside any extra ham. Fill a large pot with water, add two teaspoons full of salt and any extra ham and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Carefully slide the balls into the boiling water a few at a time. Loosen any sticking to the bottom of the pot. Simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, remove with slotted spoon and drain on a plate. Serve with hot melted butter.
Well, my aunt and my mom made it when I was about nine years old and I sat there watching them grate potatoes, grate the onions, and they made a huge amount. This was um, one recipe but they must have tripled it. So they were there for hours making potato klebas. And my mother instead of reading a half teaspoon salt, read a half cup of salt. And she poured the salt into the potato klebas. They were very salty, but they were still very good. But you added the ham, and it made it even saltier. I just remembered that after I had got done talking with you.