Rösti, plate-sized Swiss potato pancakes, are the perfect potato playground. They can be made from waxy or floury potatoes, raw or parboiled potatoes and made with duck fat, butter or just plain vegetable oil. The lack of a canonical form means that rösti can be as crispy or fluffy as you like, and therefore accepting of whatever potato you have lying around. In Switzerland rösti are almost always made from just potato and some sort of fat, maybe with an onion sliced up, but there’s nothing to stop you from making rösti with any root vegetable that takes your fancy. Beetroot and carrot or sauerkraut and apple variations are decidedly unorthodox, but also delicious.

Like all forms of crispy potato, rösti are very welcoming to fried eggs and ham, and in Switzerland they are often enjoyed topped with cheddar, bacon and/or a fried egg at breakfast, or enjoyed as a side dish to full meals. Check out our full collection of rösti recipes below for some inspiration for different ways of cooking this Swiss classic.