American pancakes are not Poland's naleśniki!

I saw them in Kuchnia Swiata in KRK once and once only. I would have thought when I sold them out in about 30 seconds that they would have got more, but never to be seen again. Might have more luck in the Warsaw stores, the KRK one is pretty small.

Btw, look out for this:

Thanks but what is KRK?

@Polonius3

Airport code for Kraków. Normally, though, the Polish equivalent of RCC, for kościół rzymskokatolicki.

Oh yes, they look a bit thinner than either muffins or crumpets. I looked it up and the hoe cake is also known as Johnny cake. In one of their songs I remember Boney M singing about eating 'fried fish and Johnny cake' :))

@DominicB
Many dzięks!

When my Polish grandmother made me potato pancakes they were anything but thin as they were filled with grated potato, onions, sour cream and cheese.

They were so heavy that a small child could not lift one.

Or digest one either by the sounds of it!

Ah but that's moving to placki ziemniaczane which are different again to nalesniki. Which brings us delightfully full circle, we started with american pancakes being translated as nalesniki, now we have placki translated to English as pancakes :)

My Polish grandmamma put flour, eggs, smashed potato's, onions and cheese covered with sour cream, a recipe that she brought from the old country.

But since she made them in America they were translated to English from Polish ?

"Placki ziemniaczne" are roughly the Polish equivalent of "potato pancakes", among Jews, also known as latkas aka "latki", to be linguistically correct! Delicious with homemade Polish apple sauce and smietana or "sour cream" as a side dish with some nice kielbasy/bigos and kasia, yum-yum!!!

Hmm I thought most people in America knew potato pancakes.... I remember having them as a child. I always assumed they were brought to America by Germans.

Anyhoo, I found a combination that works strangely well is potato pancake toped with feta cheese and chopped pickled beets, the savory, sour and tart tastes blend together very nicely.

In the Northeast and the Midwest, yes, practically everyone knows them and they are quite popular, especially at fairs and picnics. Less so in other parts of the country.

In Germany, in certain areas, they're known as "Kartoffelpuffer", sort of like "potato fritters":-)

Many European countries, particularly in those regions in which the potato's long been a staple crop, have some variety of the potato pancake, or some type of filled center and a crusty dough layer.

I grew up in the South (sort of) and knew them. My father was from the South and mother from the midwest (but very non-domestic and a perfunctory cook at best, not at all the type to cook things handed down generation after generation). We didn't have them often, I'd say five or six times a year (and only for breakfast when we did).

Understand sweet-potato pancakes or "yamcakes" are quite popular in your neck of the woods:-)