These traditional Czech potato pancakes are called Bramboracky (bram-bor-atch-key), and are best accompanied by beer. You can enjoy this as a nibble as is, or serve with roasted meat as a potato side dish.
You can add ham, bacon, or cheese to the mixture before frying them, if desired. Substitute oregano for the marjoram and cumin seed for the caraway if you prefer. Enjoy them plain, with beer, topped with cheese, or with ketchup or mustard.
I am a full-blooded Czech and this is exactly how we always make the potato pancakes (called "bramboraky" or "cmunda"). Traditionally these are fried in lard - it adds that extra flavor but I doubt many would try that. When I make them at my home here in America, I just use regular vegetable oil. Few pointers: Don't skip or substitute the marjoram, I actually add way more then just a pinch. Also add lots of pepper and especially salt. Potatoes tend to soak up the salt flavor quite a bit. Lets face it, this is not a healthy meal to begin with, so you might as well make it right. Like Sonya recommends, fry up and taste the first pancake, it should have a nice salty/garlicky flavor. Even tho I've made these many times, it usually takes me more then one trial pancake to get the flavor right. When my mom made these, it was the one time we didn't actually have a sit down family dinner. We would just sneak them right when they were done and she ate as she was making them. They just taste the best when they're nice and hot right out of the frying pan! - 07 Feb 2012 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
These were excellent potato pancakes! I often find that recipes call for too many eggs for the amount of potato but this one was just right. I substituted oregano for the marjoram, left out the caraway seeds (I didn't have any) and added in some onion powder. They were light, crispy and delicious with some apple sauce. Thanks Sonya! - 07 Apr 2010 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
These were fantastic. I've always wanted to try potato pancakes, and I came across this recipe. I cut my potatoes into chunks and grated them with a rotary grater into a bowl of cold water and let it soak for half an hour. I also added onion salt to mine.The flavor is great and mine were light and fluffy. This is a keeper - 29 Jul 2010 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)