Grant Crilly is the Executive Director and cofounder of ChefSteps. Grant is a classically trained chef and, prior to ChefSteps, he worked on the award-winning cookbook series Modernist Cuisine and cooked at various restaurants, including L’Astrance in Paris, Busaba in Mumbai, and Mistral Kitchen in Seattle.

Grant Crilly

In Germanic Switzerland, rösti literally means “crisp and golden,” but it commonly refers to a dish of shredded potatoes sauteed on both sides until—you guessed it—crisp and golden. If you’re unfamiliar with this dish, well, it’s about twice as good as the best hash-brown potatoes you’ve ever tasted. Our pomme rösti has a crisp surface and a tender, decadent center. Originally eaten as a breakfast unto itself in the canton of Bern in Switzerland, the dish is now more commonly served as an accompaniment, often to egg or sausage dishes. Swiss versions of the dish are modified regionally to include extra ingredients such as bacon lardons, onion, or cheese—all delicious additions to the traditional recipe, which consists of only potatoes, butter, salt, and pepper. Rösti is so deeply ingrained in Germanic-Swiss culture, in fact, that the Swiss jokingly refer to the line between Germanic and Latin Switzerland as the Röstigraben, meaning the “rösti ditch,” distinguishing the discrete French and German culinary influences in those regions. In this simple recipe, we saute the shredded potatoes first, then finish them in the oven. The result is an extra-crispy outer layer with a soft, buttery center. You can mix in extra ingredients with the potatoes for different variations.

Pomme Rösti