Mashed Potato Pancakes And Oven Baked Ribs

Mashed Potato Pancakes

After our baked steak and gravy meal, we had four cups of mashed potatoes and I decided to turn them into one of my favorite things – mashed potato pancakes.  I looked around the web and found several similar recipes which I combined into the one below.  Since Cindy wanted to cook she took over and followed the recipe.

Mashed Potato Pancakes

Ingredients:

4 cups leftover mashed potatoes

2 jumbo eggs, beaten

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup onions, minced

2 cup cheddar cheese, grated

1 teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

neutral oil for frying

Sour cream, for serving

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine the mashed potatoes, egg, all-purpose flour, chives, cheese, salt, and pepper.

It’s okay if the mixture is slightly sticky, but it should hold its shape if you form it into a patty in your hand. If it is very sticky or runs at all, then add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired texture.

Place a few paper towels on a large plate. You will transfer the pancakes to the paper towel lined plate as you fry them.

In a large skillet over medium heat, add the oil.

Once the oil reaches 325°F or it sizzles when you sprinkle a little flour into it, start forming your pancakes. You will form and fry as you go.

Lightly wet your hands, to prevent the potato mixture from sticking. Measure out about 1/4 cup of the pancake mixture and form it into a disk about 1/2-inch thick in your hands.

Place the pancake in the skillet and repeat until you have 4-5 pancakes in the skillet. Fry the pancakes for 3-4 minutes per side until they are browned and crispy.

Flip once and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes on the second side.

Transfer the potato pancakes from the pan to the paper towel-lined sheet. Repeat until all the potato pancakes have been formed and fried.

We served them with steamed fresh-from-the-garden asparagus and this will be the go-to potato cake recipe going forward.  And of course, I had this for breakfast the next morning.

Ribs In The Oven

I could only find one other time when I cooked baby backs anywhere but a smoker and that was in a crock pot so I’m assuming this was my first time to bake them in the oven – after all a smoker is just an oven with a smoky atmosphere.  I cooked them at 225F and used the 3-2-1 method which is cook uncovered for three hours, wrap in foil for two hours, then unwrap, glaze with BBQ sauce and cook for one hour.  Since my favorite pork rub is no longer available, I decided to give Head Country Original a try and here they are entering the oven.

I considered just covering the pan with foil but decided tightly wrapping each rack individually in foil would be better.  Here they are after three hours plus about 10 minutes of broiler time.

I put them back in the oven at 250F for the next two hours

For the last hour I mixed a half cup of Head Country Original BBQ Sauce with a tsp of liquid smoke and glazed the ribs twice with it then cut into servings.

They were good and Bev who likes them fall-off-the-bone tender thought they were great and others gave them a thumbs up but I’m not sure I liked the sauce so  will give it another try – a tsp of Liquid Smoke wasn’t enough to taste.  And while Bev likes them cooked this much, I thought they were a little dry so I will not raise the oven temp to 250F and check them carefully during the glazing process next time.  And while they were good from the oven, I much prefer them from a smoker and I have more in the freezer.

Photos can be slightly enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

5/11 & 5/12/25 meal dates