Bulviniai blynai

1. 1Potato must be raw and finely grated — not cooked, riced, or mashed
2. 2Excess moisture must be pressed or drained from the grated potato before frying
3. 3Onion is grated directly into the potato mass, not sautéed first
4. 4Fried in sufficient fat to produce a crisp, browned crust on both sides
5. 5Interior remains dense and soft, not fluffy or airy
6. 6Served immediately with grietinė (Lithuanian sour cream) as the canonical accompaniment

Raw grating on fine side of box grater

Fine grating releases the maximum starch from the potato cells; this starch, not flour, is what holds the pancake together and creates the lacy crust edges — coarse grating or using a food processor produces hash browns, not blynai

Moisture extraction by pressing or wringing

Raw potato releases large amounts of water; excess liquid prevents browning via steam, producing a pale, soggy pancake — the drained potato starch settles and can be stirred back into the batter

Shallow pan-frying in hot fat

The pan must be hot enough that the first contact sets a crust immediately; low heat stews the pancake and it absorbs fat before browning — each side is fried once, not flipped repeatedly

Served

flat round pancakes, 8–12 cm diameter, 0.5–1 cm thick

Temperature

hot from pan, sour cream cold

Portion

3–5 pancakes per person as a main

Pairs with

grietinė · mushroom sauce (grybų padažas) · smoked salmon · lingonberry jam · crispy bacon lardons

• raw grated potato → leftover cooked or mashed potatoinadmissible

  Destroys the starch-released binding mechanism and crust formation; result is heavy and gummy

• raw grated potato → frozen pre-grated potato, fully thawed and pressedadmissible

  Acceptable if thoroughly drained; starch content is lower so texture is slightly softer

• lard → neutral vegetable oil or clarified butteradmissible

  Functionally equivalent for crust; neutral oil is now the everyday standard

• grietinė → crème fraîche or full-fat Greek yogurtadmissible

  Tanginess profile is close; do not use American sour cream (too thin) or yogurt alone (too sharp)

• egg → flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water)admissible

  Produces a vegan pancake but structural cohesion is weaker — thinner patties fare better

• onion → shallotsadmissible

  Milder but acceptable; leek is too wet and disrupts the batter

• onion → chives stirred in after pressinginadmissible

  Changes the aromatic profile significantly; no raw bite in the batter

• Using waxy potatoes (Charlotte, new potatoes) instead of high-starch varieties — produces a pale, gluey interior
• Skipping moisture extraction — the single most common cause of soggy, pale, fat-logged pancakes
• Grating on the coarse side — creates a hash-brown texture rather than a cohesive lacy batter
• Adding too much flour to compensate for wet batter instead of pressing more liquid out
• Frying in a pan that is not hot enough — the pancake steams and absorbs oil before it can crust
• Flipping multiple times — each flip risks tearing the crust and prevents even browning
• Serving with warm or thin sour cream — the thermal contrast of cold, thick grietinė is part of the dish's balance

Bulviniai blynai belong to a belt of near-identical potato pancake traditions spanning Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus (draniki), Poland (placki ziemniaczane), and Ashkenazi Jewish cooking (latkes), all arising after the potato's adoption in Eastern Europe during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. No single nation can claim invention; the dish emerged as peasant subsistence cooking wherever starchy potatoes and rendered fat were plentiful. Lithuania distinguishes its version primarily through the grietinė accompaniment and, in Samogitia, the stuffed žemaičių blynai variant.

Shared by: Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, Poland

1. 1.Laima Zvironiene, 'Lietuviška virtuvė' (Lithuanian cuisine canon)
2. 2.Mielagėnaitė, 'Tradicinė lietuvių virtuvė'
3. 3.Oxford Companion to Food — potato pancake entry
4. 4.Ethnographic surveys of Lithuanian rural food culture, Vilnius University

Confidence: high