Follow your nose at any Luxembourg fair and it will lead you here. Gromperekichelcher, literally little potato cakes, are fried to order at the Schueberfouer, the vast summer fair that has filled the capital since the Middle Ages, and at every Christmas market stall worth its glass mugs. They come in threes, too hot to hold, with apple sauce for dipping. The name takes a moment to learn; the fritters take no time at all to finish.

They are exactly what a race crowd needs: cheap, filling, eaten standing up and gone before the safety car comes in. At home they are equally good alongside a bowl of Bouneschlupp, which is how many Luxembourg families serve them.

The fritters

Ingredients

• 2 lb (900 g) floury potatoes
• 2 medium onions
• 2 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons fresh flat leaf parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• about 1 cup (240 ml) sunflower or canola oil

Method

1. Grate the potatoes on the coarse holes of the box grater, or with the grating disc of a food processor. Grate the onions on the same holes.
2. Pile the potato and onion in the middle of the clean towel, gather the corners, and twist over the sink, squeezing as hard as you can, until hardly any more liquid drips out.
3. Tip the potato and onion into the bowl. Add the eggs, flour, parsley, salt, pepper and nutmeg and mix well with your hands or a fork.
4. Pour oil into the skillet to a depth of about 1/4 inch (6 mm) and heat over medium high heat for 3 to 4 minutes.
5. Scoop a heaped tablespoon or about 1/4 cup of the mixture, lower it carefully into the oil and press it flat with the back of the spatula to about 1/2 inch (1 cm) thick. Fry 4 or 5 at a time, leaving space between them, for 3 to 4 minutes on each side.
6. Lift the fritters onto the rack or paper towels and sprinkle at once with a pinch of flaky salt. Keep them in the warm oven while you fry the rest, stirring the mixture each time because liquid collects at the bottom. Add a little more oil between batches if the pan looks dry.

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