A Type of German Potato Pancake: Pickert

"Pickert," a German word that is spelled the same in both the singular and in the plural,* is used for a potato pancake type dish made with yeast. The dish is common in the Westphalia region (German: Westfalen), and a well known part of the cuisine of the city of Lippe within that region. There are slight variations in some recipes, or in the shapes and accompaniments for the Pickert. Generally, they are served with at least one of the following: apple sauce, plum jam, butter, various fruit compotes, sugar beet syrup, or, especially in the city of Lippe, liverwurst. Yes, liverwurst!** Please be sure to try the liverwurst topped Pickert, they are delicious. 

Ingredients:

3 cups grated potatoes (no big pieces, or it will not cook properly)
3 cups flour
4 eggs
2 cups milk (about 1/4 cup just heated to lukewarm only)
1 packet dried yeast
1 cup raisins
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
vegetable oil, canola oil or regular olive oil for frying

Dissolve the yeast in the 1/4 cup barely lukewarm milk, set it aside for a few minutes. In a bowl, add the other ingredients, except the oil, and then stir in the milk/yeast mixture. Mix well until a thick batter forms. "If" you need a little more flour to tighten the batter, mix the flour in a little at a time until you reach a batter that is thick, but still able to be poured. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and let the dough sit for about an hour. Heat some oil in a skillet over medium heat (cast iron is good for this, but certainly not mandatory). Put enough dough into the heated oil for each pancake to be "about" 3 inches in diameter, but the pancakes do not need to be perfectly shaped into rounds; in fact, they are traditionally somewhat irregular in shape, often more oblong. Fry the pancakes until golden brown on both sides. Drain the Pickert on paper towels.

* For those learning German, the singular form is masculine; thus, "der Pickert."

** For homemade liverwurst/Leberwurst: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/01/homemade-liverwurst.html

I had these with some plum jam and liverwurst.

WORD HISTORY:
Earn-This word goes back to Indo European "osen," which meant, "harvest time, late summer." This gave Old Germanic "asni," with the same meaning, but also, by extension, "harvest work, work in the fields to bring in the yield." ^ This produced the Old Germanic verb "asnon/aznon," which meant, "to work in the fields, to work at harvesting." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "earnian," with the meaning, "to work toward, to strive toward, to be rewarded for work." This then became "earnen/ernen," before settling on "earn." There seems to have been a variant pronunciation within some of the West Germanic dialects long ago (English is West Germanic), which replaced the "s" with "r," but it was not always, nor among all of the dialects. German has "ernten" (to harvest, to bring in the yield of the fields), Low German Saxon has "oornen" (harvest). Long ago, English had "ern" and Old High German had the close form "arn," both of which meant "harvest" (noun).    

^ The Germanic form gave Old English "esne," which meant, "worker or servant who was hired or who  owed part of the harvest from use of land (by agreement)." Low German had "asne," which transferred the meaning from "worker" to the income for the worker, as it meant "wages, income," so you see the move by this close relative of English toward what would evolve into the modern English meaning.