Kosher Blog

It’s nice to have a recipe backed by a trustworthy cook.

Btw, I’ve discovered a trick for preventing shredded potato from turning without going through the trouble of soaking it in water and then drying it out. Just grate (or puree) the onion first and then stir in the potatoes. The acid in the onion will prevent oxidation.

IIRC, the soaking and drying also helps decrease the batter’s sogginess.

Good to know.

Washing off the surface starch by the soak-dry-step will result in a latke that more potato-flavor, less glue-like texture. Of course, sometimes I have a hankering for the gummy, grated-potato latke. But the shred/wash really lets the potato-flavor shine.

I’d like to thank you, Jabbett, for the implicit invitation in this post to feed me some latkes. Much obliged :-)

Doh… didn’t change my pseudonym (the above is my message, but you probably already knew that)

I know this is a longshot, but… does anyone know a way to bake latkes (as an alternative to frying)?

I’m sure you can make them in the oven, just like schnitzel can be made in the oven.

Just wondering – why not extra virgin olive oil? (I am not a cooking-savvy person – so I really have no idea).

Thanks

Extra virgin olive oil is usually reserved for sauces and dressings — occasions when you want to take advantage of its strong, fruity flavor. If you fried with it, I think the oil’s taste would be overwhelming (and way to expensive to use in such quantity). As for why one should use olive oil over other kinds of oil, it’s certainly more germane to the holiday, and it’s nutritionally superior to most generic vegetable oils.

Great response, jabbett. EVOO is overused among today’s lay cooks because they see it on The Food Network but lack the depth of understanding of its usage, imo.

Regarding making latkes without deep frying – I have had great luck making latkes with very small amounts of oil (actually I use butter) on a non-stick pan and/or griddle. I use the Joy of Cooking potato pancake recipe. They don’t turn out all brown and crispy, they’re more like pancakes, but they’re good.

Thanks for the tip about oxidation & onions. I’m wondering, does anyone know, how long can you leave the batter sit once the onions are in? I’m trying to decide whether I can do the grating & drying ahead of time (earlier the same day).

Right on rebecca, that’s how we started preparing them at our bed and breakfast.

GP in Montana

Actually, the poster said, “as an alternative to frying,” not, “as an alternative to deep frying.”

Thanks for the recipe. I made them tonight for a belated Hanukkah party, and they came out great!

One thing, though. I’m not sure if I had enough onion. The concept of a “medium” onion is fairly subjective, and I’m not sure if I had enough. I like the idea of giving a weight to the quantity of potatoes (as opposed to a number of potatoes, like many other recipes give). Would it be possible to say how many ounces or pounds of onion should be bought at the grocery store?

Thanks,
David in South Florida

Jabbett said:
Extra virgin olive oil is usually reserved for sauces and dressings — occasions when you want to take advantage of its strong, fruity flavor. If you fried with it, I think the oil’s taste would be overwhelming (and way to expensive to use in such quantity)

EVOO is not recommended for frying (especially deep frying) because of its low smoke point. Refined olive oil is better. Unfortunately, it is not necessarily cheaper (at least according to America’s Test Kitchen).

I usually use canola oil for frying, but I like the idea of using olive oil on Chanukkah. Maybe next year I’ll buy some refined OO.

Late latke tip- if you grate the onions and add them to cold water along with the potatoes, you get a pleasant onion flavor that permeates the latkes but isn’t overbearing. Just pull handfuls of potato & onion as you need them , squeeze as dry as possible, mix with an egg and ample salt and matza meal, press into pancake shape and fry in hot oil.

I use the medium shred wheel most of the time, but the fine shredder makes really crispy latkes.

I have made latkes like this forever. I was teachimg my 10th grade class how to make crisp, WHITE latkes. And the old timer lady in the litchen thought I was nuts for peeling the taters and for soaking them in ice water. She tossed the whole potato and the rusult was clay brown colored batter ( not sure above about the onion thing as she put DID put onion in hers). GAG! Her latkes turned out lime green…gag. Ours…beautiful brown on the outside, white on the inside.

I saw Marth Stewart stole my ( and yours) recipe!

FYI..pet peeve on Latke cooking: DON”T press latkes to be flat…yuck…

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Thanks so much for putting this in writing. I married into my husbands family 9 years 10 months ago. We just moved out of state.so this year I’m incharge of making the latkes. I’m only allowed to get the recipe from my father in law after we’ve been married for 10 years. I’ve watched in on making them last year in December but wasn’t allowed to have the reciepe. this is exactly what I needed. I feel like I just cheated my father in law out of a sacred family secret

I don’t get it..what’s the big secret about your father-in-law’s latke’s? It’s not like he’s Toll House or Duncan Hines, for crying out loud.

Make these and let them think you stole the recipe!

You can raise the extra-virgin olive oil smoke point by adding garlic or onion to the oil while heating it, maintaining the health benefits while enjoying the flavor.

Still, EVOO has too much flavor, imo. XLOO is much better.

Just so that everyone is clear, deep frying in most cases is actually healthier than pan/shallow frying (aka what is basically the sautee method Rebecca advocates). Fact is, as long as you maintain a minimum heat of 350 degrees in your deep fryer, this actually causes a certain amount of the potato’s natural sucrose to be secreted and then bonded to the latke’s surface. This then ‘caramelizes’, creating the golden brown color and crispness we like so much, in addition to sealing the latke off from the absorption of oil.

Conversely, in order to pan fry a latke without burning it, you must do so at a much lower temperature. The end result is a drastically larger uptake of oil, and by extension fat and cholesterol.

All this business about fried food being bad for you is alot of bupkis. It only really applies if you’re talking about something unhealthy in the first place, like fried cheese sticks.

Oil has no cholesterol, so no matter how you fry your latkes, you can’t get a larger uptake of cholesterol…. unless you fry in butter.

Thanks for the instructions for freezing–have been looking everywhere for some guidance.
One question: what is the yield on the original recipe?

Thanks

I have to bring 100 latkes to my children’s elementary school tomorrow. I just finished making them and stored them as suggested above in a tupperware container w/ wax paper. Any good suggestions after I reheat them in the morning how to bring them to the school keeping them crispy?

Reheat the Latkes in a 350-400 oven for 10-15 minutes and stand on end to carry

What decided me on your recipe at first was your style of presenting it. (The ingredients and proportions are also nice to have as a guideline!) The next best thing was the list of comments going back 2 years! It was lovely to “hear” folks all focused on the same delightful task: making great latkes!

I patchkeyed with the recipe, using Yukon Gold potatoes (listen, with 15 inches of snow on the ground, you use what you have!), the 2 eggs plus the one left over from glazing the challeh, a sprinkle of parsley flakes and, instead of flour or matzo meal, I used challeh bread crumbs, flour AND matzo meal. Thanks to everyone who weighed in on “deep” frying rather than pan frying. I used way less oil this year than ever. And the pureed onion was a great touch.

To Rachael: your father in law will want your recipe!

Happy Chanukah, all!

The recipe I made this year came out phenomenal –
5 lb russet potatoes
1 large onion
8 eggs
3/4 cup matzoh meal
4 teaspoons salt

Lightly beat eggs. Peel & cube potatoes, put in ice water. Quarter onion. Shred potatoes and onion in food processor. Squeeze out through cheesecloth, a few cups at a time, really squeezing out all the liquid. Put about 1/4 shredded potatoes back into food processor with chopper blade and pulse a bit. Squeeze out again. Add shredded potatoes, chopped potatoes, matzoh meal and salt to eggs. Mix well.

Heat 3/4 inch oil in fry pan over medium high heat. Drop by spoonful, spreading flat. Don’t overcrowd pan or it will reduce the oil heat. Fry till fully crisp and browned on one side, then flip to the other and fry until crisp.

Incredible!

OH MY GOODNESS, YUM!

This was a last minute decision for me to make latkes tonight, since it’s usually my mom’s pride and joy. But this year we are stuck at home in CT thanks to two feet of snow, so I decided to wing it.

They are amazing! I left out the onion since I don’t like my latkes tasting like anything besides salty, potatoey goodness and these totally fit the bill. Perfection! Thank you!

I have a gluten intolerant person coming over for latkes. Should I use corn starch instead of flour? Any ideas? If so how much to substitutue

Use potato starch – same amount as matzoh meal. Did this for a kid with celiac last year – terrific results.

We only eat Kosher…..so going to try this out for New Year’s Day 2009. Thanks!

I am gluten intolerant as well and had excellent results with tapioca starch and tapioca flour (same amounts as wheat flour). I find my tapioca starch/powder and potato starch at a local Asian market.

NEVER use cornstarch…it’s the kind of mistake you make only once.

For years, I squeezed the water out of the potatoes making beautiful, thick, fluffy latkes like they have in fancy restaurants. But after making them the “old-fashioned way” one time, I found that, almost to a person, everyone in the family, young and old, prefer “the wet method”. I let the mixture stand for about 10-15 minutes after egg and matzoh meal have been added, so it thickens up a little.

I grate a little onion first, then two potatoes, then a little more onion, and so on. As mentioned before, this keeps the potatoes from turning black. I prefer to grate on the finest side of the box grater…To me, coarse shreds equate to hash browns, not latkes.

just made my first batch ever,used Manischewitz mix out of the box. yuck !!

next time i’ll use the above recipe.

I saw a recipie for latkes in a book one time and it said to put the potatoes and onions in a strainer in the sink, put a paper towel on top, and then put a heavy pot on top of the paper towel. Can’t remember how long you do that but it leaves time for other things to handle. It’s worth a shot to try. I’m 14 and I love cooking latkes because they’re so easy!

Jabbett, could I have permission to copy this recipe with attribution for a Tastebook (http://www.tastebook.com)?

Btw, I tried this recipe last chanukah and it came out great. I also made a batch with sweet potatoes, which didn’t seem to need blotting because of their drier texture.

I have made a similar recipe, but I used half the potatoes parboiled, and the other half raw shredded… added some shredded carrot and zucchini… YUM!

Gonna try your recipe this week!

I plan to make the latkes in the morning for use in the evening. How should I keep them? I don’t want to freeze them and 8 hours seems a little long for warming in the oven. Any suggestions?

Jonathan – Thank you for the recipe. This will be my first attempt at making latkes. I can’t wait to try them!

Thanks for the tip on freezing. We are leaving tomorrow morning, Monday, for the week and won’t be returning until late Friday afternoon, possibly just before candle-lighting, which besides being Erev Shabbat is the first night of Chanukah this year. So I have to make our latkes today, so they will be ready to heat and eat when we get back. Sure, I *COULD* just wait til later in the eight days to make them, but…I know it will be nice to have that latke smell (and taste!) the first night when we get home!

If you fry=phobic, I’ve got some good advice for you here

http://shabbatandchagim.blogspot.com/2009/12/fear-of-frying.html

I like a little chopped green onion and chopped garlic in my latkas. I serve them with a sourcream-dill sauce.

Gut Shabbot t…now off.

Very interesting! I made mine for years out of Joan Nathan’s book (Jewish Holiday Kitchen) and am very happy. But some of the suggestions here are very interesting and I want to try them out.
Question: anyone tried making latkes in a deep fryer? How d’you do it? It puzzles me: I always give mine a little pat when I spoon then=m out into the pan. How do you maintain the shape of a latke rather than a ball?

I love your proportions. I have two differences:

(1) I, personally, do something nobody else has seemed to suggest. I *never* peel the potatoes. I like preserving the nutrients in the skin, and it adds what I consider to be a great texture to the latke.

(2) I do press drain the potatoes, but I don’t go through the rinsing and drying process. As “Arthur” commented last year, a slightly soggy batter makes for a thinner and crispier latke that my family tends to prefer. Also, the extra batter juices can be used to spoon over the latkes in the frying pan to plug up holes, which seems to help hold the pancake together during turning.

It’s always worked for me. Any thoughts?

I love your proportions. I have two differences:

(1) I, personally, do something nobody else has seemed to suggest. I *never* peel the potatoes. I like preserving the nutrients in the skin, and it adds what I consider to be a great texture to the latke.

(2) I do press drain the potatoes, but I don’t go through the rinsing and drying process. As “Arthur” commented last year, a slightly soggy batter makes for a thinner and crispier latke that my family tends to prefer. Also, the extra batter juices can be used to spoon over the latkes in the frying pan to plug up holes, which seems to help hold the pancake together during turning.

It’s always worked for me. Any thoughts? Also, I have always used canola oil for frying, but the olive oil sounds like a good idea. Any thoughts on combining oils?

i’m an irish-catholic kid going to a seder and was asked to make latkes (i’m irish,so potatos aren’t unfamiliar territory..throw in the 4 glasses of wine and it could be st paddy’s day!!!) it’s in 8 hrs, so thank you for your advice and comments!!!! i hope they’re a hit! happy holidays