Milcao

Name: Milcao
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Chile
Ingredients: 700 g floury potatoes; 500 g potatoes for mashing; 1½ tsp salt; Black pepper; 4 tbsp sunflower oil

Potato cakes made from raw and cooked potato browned in a pan, the everyday bread of the Chiloé archipelago.

Published on 31 July 2026·Updated on 10 September 2026

VeganGluten-free#potatoes#cakes#chiloe#pan-fried#rustic

AI-generated image, not a photograph of the dish

Prep: 30 min
Cook: 20 min
Total: 50 min
Serves: 4
Difficulty: Medium

Method

Peel the 500 g of potatoes for mashing, cut them into large chunks and boil in salted water for 20 minutes.
Drain and crush them with a fork while hot. Let them cool to warm.
Grate the 700 g of raw potatoes on the fine side of a box grater. Gather the shreds in a clean tea towel.
Twist the towel over the sink to squeeze out as much juice as you can. The pulp should turn dry and dense.
Combine the pressed pulp with the warm mash. Season with salt and pepper, then work it by hand into an even mass.
Shape eight cakes about 2 cm thick. Heat the oil in a heavy pan and cook for 8 minutes on each side.
Serve hot with a tomato salad or a bowl of pebre.

Wringing the shreds is the step that decides everything. On Chiloé the pulp goes into a cloth and gets squeezed to the last drop, since leftover water bursts the cake in the pan.

The techniques this recipe uses

Drain and rinse
Canning liquid clouds a sauce and salts it blind: rinse until the water runs clear.

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Nutrition per serving

Calories: 358 kcal
Protein: 6.4 g
Fat: 14.1 g
Carbohydrate: 53.8 g
Fibre: 5 g

An estimate computed from the recipe quantities and the USDA food composition database. Real values vary with the products used.

Frequently asked questions

Why mix raw grated potato with cooked mash?

They do different jobs: the raw gratings bring the starch that binds and the characteristic chew, while the cooked mash brings softness and cohesion. With only one of them, the cake is either rubbery or crumbly.

What happens if I do not squeeze the gratings properly?

The remaining water turns to steam in the pan and bursts the cake open, so it falls apart and spits oil. Wring the cloth until the last drop: the gratings should be dry and compact before meeting the mash.

The mixture greys before cooking. Is that a problem?

No, it is the normal oxidation of raw potato in contact with air, and the colour largely disappears in the pan. The only remedy is speed: grate, squeeze, mix and shape without letting the mixture stand.