Rakott Krumpli: Hungarian Layered Potato Bake

Under the steam, egg and sausage in layers

When you open the oven door, the first thing that reaches you is not cheese but the tang of sour cream and the smoky scent of sausage. A little red oil seeps from between the potatoes, and the egg white catches the cream. Rakott krumpli is not a showy dish. But when it comes to the table at midday on a cold day, it has the strength to make you feel no other big main dish is needed.

When making it in a home kitchen, three things give pause: how to replace Hungarian kolbász, whether the sour cream will turn watery, and whether the layered potatoes will be too heavy. This article builds on potatoes and eggs you can buy anywhere, narrows to the few ingredients worth seeking out, and moves toward a home version close to the outline of the original.

Among Hungarian dishes, unlike goulash, which is simmered with liquid and paprika, rakott krumpli is a dish that does not trap too much moisture in the dish. The sign of success is that when you serve a portion, the layers break up a little but no white liquid collects at the bottom of the dish. That is the target.

What is rakott krumpli?

Rakott krumpli is a home dish whose Hungarian name is explained as roughly "layered potatoes." In the English-speaking world it is translated as Hungarian layered potatoes and presented as a dish in which potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, smoked sausage, and sour cream are layered in turn and baked. Wikipedia organizes it as a dish mentioned in an 1840 edition of a Hungarian national cookbook.

The core of local recipes is kolbász, eggs, and sour cream. Kolbász is a smoked sausage that turns red with paprika and whose fat easily carries the aroma. Made only with ordinary coarse-ground sausage from a supermarket, the aroma rounds out and it comes close to a plain potato gratin. For the first time, combining paprika-flavored chorizo, a little smoked paprika, or sausage from a shop that carries Hungarian products changes the direction of the dish.

Cheese varies by household. In Hungarian-style recipes there are examples of putting cheese or breadcrumbs on top, but it is not required. In this article, to make it easy to eat at a modern table, a small amount of melting cheese is used. The star is not the cheese but the sausage fat that has soaked in between the eggs and potatoes.

Ingredients (serves 4)

This amount is for 4 servings in a shallow baking dish around 20 cm square. Packed into a deep gratin dish, the center cannot lose its moisture and a white liquid easily comes out when you cut it. Keeping the height to about 4 cm gives both the toastiness on the surface and the moistness inside.

This dish uses eggs, dairy, and processed meat that includes pork. Sausages may contain wheat, milk, egg, or soy depending on the product, so check the allergen labels for the people eating. When you replace sour cream with yogurt, acidity and moisture change. Using yogurt for the whole amount makes it separate easily after baking.

What to think about when shopping

Potatoes, eggs, and sour cream you buy nearby. The three worth seeking out are smoked sausage with paprika, smoked paprika, and a shallow baking dish. Even if you make it with ordinary sausage, mixing in just a little smoked paprika moves it toward the red fat of kolbász.

Finding Hungarian kolbász would be ideal, but for the first time, Spanish chorizo is quite enough to bring out the outline of the dish. A hot chorizo is too strong for children, so choose one with paprika and a mild heat.

Smoked paprika is not an essential ingredient in the original. But when the only sausage you can get is an ordinary coarse-ground type, 1/2 tsp makes up for the missing aroma. Too much makes only the smoky scent stand out, so keep it to 1/2 tsp at most for 250 g sour cream.

Baked in a deep pot, moisture tends to remain at the center. A shallow baking dish is not for looks; it is a tool for driving off extra moisture and lightening the layers.

How to make it: layer the potatoes without breaking them

Eighty percent of rakott krumpli is decided by the parboiling. If you make the potatoes too soft, they break when cut and will not form layers, and if too hard, the center stays tight even after baking. The eggs are not soft-boiled either, but hard-boiled with the yolk set.

Where it goes wrong

The most common failure is wateriness. It seems the sour cream's fault, but the cause is one of these: the potatoes were boiled too long, the dish was too deep and packed, or the sour cream was thinned with too much water. When white liquid collects at the bottom of the baking dish, the potatoes slide and the eggs come loose from the layers.

Even if liquid comes out after baking, you do not need to count it as a failure right away. Resting in the dish for 10 minutes lets the potatoes take a little back. If there is still a lot of water, press the edge of the dish lightly with paper towel after serving, and next time go back to a version that does not add water to the sour cream.

A substitution guide

Separate what may be substituted from what takes the dish further away when substituted. Potatoes and eggs are no problem. Sausage is the pillar of aroma, so rather than making do with plain frankfurters alone, choose one that meets any of: with paprika, smoked, or mild in heat.

To keep the feel of a Hungarian table, put smoky aroma before heat. Putting in plenty of very hot chorizo pushes the impression of the dish too far toward heat. The sweet scent of paprika, egg, and sour cream together is where rakott krumpli should land.

How to serve it and what to eat with it

In Hungarian recipes there are often examples of serving cucumber pickles or pickled beets. Quick-pickled cucumber, pickled red cabbage, and a salad of lettuce and onion all go with it. Setting acidity beside it keeps the sour cream and sausage fat from lingering heavily.

At the table, rather than adding more sour cream after serving, setting a sour side dish beside it comes together better. Following with sour cream adds the weight of dairy, but pickles cut the sweetness of the potatoes and lighten the thickness of the egg yolk. When using pickles, ones where salt and vinegar stand out, such as cucumber, red radish or turnip, and red cabbage, go better than sweet ones.

Served as a main, a guide of a little under 10 cm square per person. If you add soup, a light vegetable soup or consommé goes well. On days you continue with Hungarian food, compared with the same paprika dish in a soupier form, goulash, the home-cooking quality of rakott krumpli comes through well.

To go on to other countries in the stream of potato bakes, Spain's tortilla española brings eggs and potatoes together in a skillet, and Finland's lohikeitto (in Japanese) uses potatoes as the base of a soup. Even with the same ingredient, the feel at the table changes between pot, oven, and skillet.

Storage and rewarming

Do not leave leftover rakott krumpli long at room temperature; once the heat has gone, move it to a shallow storage container. A guide is until the next day in the refrigerator. Because it contains egg, dairy, and processed meat, it is not suited to being carried at room temperature for long, as in a packed lunch.

When rewarming, a microwave alone softens the surface. If you have time, warm it 2 minutes at 600 W and then bake 5 minutes in a toaster oven or a 200°C oven, and the toastiness of the surface comes back. Cut cold the layers are neat but the aroma is weak, so warming just before eating gives more satisfaction.

If making ahead, cooling after baking is safer than leaving it unbaked overnight. If left unbaked, moisture from the sour cream goes into the potatoes and it tends to turn watery the next day. If you make it the day before, bake and cool it, then reheat the next day.

Frequently asked questions

Q1. Can I make it with yogurt if I have no sour cream?

You can for part of it. With up to about 200 g sour cream and 50 g unsweetened Greek yogurt, the acidity is lighter and it is easier to eat. Using ordinary unsweetened yogurt for all of it has a lot of moisture and a white liquid comes out easily after baking. Drain it before using, or use mostly sour cream the first time.

Q2. I cannot get kolbász. Is ordinary sausage all right?

It becomes an edible dish, but the Hungarian aroma is weaker. If you use ordinary sausage, brown it lightly over medium-low heat to render the fat and mix 1/2 tsp smoked paprika into the sour cream. Adding a little smoky aroma holds together better than adding a lot of hot chorizo.

Q3. Is cheese necessary?

It is not required. Even in Hungarian-style recipes there are versions with and without cheese on top. At home, using just 60 g to color the surface is easy to eat. Putting on a lot moves it toward a potato gratin, so keep it modest if you are making rakott krumpli.

Q4. Can I peel the potatoes before boiling?

If you are in a hurry you can, but boiling them with the skin on makes them less watery. Cutting before boiling breaks the surface, and the layers are easily crushed when stacked. Boil skin-on, let the heat go, then peel, and the cut faces stay clean.

Q5. How do I adjust it for children?

Avoid hot chorizo and use a mild sausage with smoky aroma. Reduce the smoked paprika to 1/4 tsp, and add black pepper on the adults' plates. If the acidity of the pickles is strong, serve quick-pickled cucumber or lettuce instead, which is easier to eat.

Q6. Is it better the next day?

The layers settle and are easier to cut the next day. The aroma is strongest when freshly baked, though. If you make it the day before, bake it and refrigerate, then rewarm the next day in the microwave and toaster oven.

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