Potatonik may refer to two distinct potato-based dishes derived from Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine. One version is a hybrid between potato kugel and bread, containing shredded potatoes and onions as well as ample flour and leavened with yeast.[1] Another dish, apparently unrelated but called by the same name, is essentially a very large latke meant to be cut into wedges at the table.[2] It is also known as geribinik.
According to food writer Joel Haber, "kartoflnik uniquely started with raw, grated potatoes, rather than cooked and mashed ones [as is done with potato breads]. Thus, [kartoflnik] held onto its potato-y flavor, while also remaining a member of the kugel family." A related dish, ulnik, used buckwheat flour with grated potato, but no yeast.[3]
"Potatonik" is an Anglicization of the Yiddish kartoflnik that appeared in Ashkenazi-American communities – the word kartofl is one of many Yiddish terms for potato, and the suffix -nik indicates something associated with a specified thing or quality, denoting an "agent noun" in Slavic languages.
