Potato Latkes
TIME/SERVINGS
Total: 1hr 10 mins
Active: 45 mins
Makes: 14 latkes
By Stephanie Rosenbaum
You don’t have to celebrate Hanukkah to appreciate the goodness that is a good latke (otherwise known as a potato pancake). Whatever you call them, their crisp exterior and savory flavor are irresistible just the same. And while we’re talking latkes, let’s get one thing straight: Sour cream and applesauce are the traditional accompaniments. You might think you could serve them with mango chutney or hot salsa instead, but you’d be wrong. At least appease us and try them with the applesauce and sour cream first—it really does work.
What to buy: Look for matzoh meal in the kosher section of the supermarket, or substitute very fine dried breadcrumbs or all-purpose flour.
For the latkes:
- 2 1/2 pounds Idaho, russet, or baking potatoes (about 4 large), scrubbed
- 1 large onion, peeled and quartered
- 2 large eggs, separated
- 3 tablespoons matzoh meal
- 1 to 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- Corn, canola, or vegetable oil for frying
To serve:
- Sour cream
- Applesauce
- Line a large baking sheet with two layers of paper towels; set aside.
- Using the coarse holes on a hand-held box grater or the medium-coarse shredding disk of a food processor, shred the potatoes and onion together. Transfer potato-onion mixture to a large colander set over a bowl.
- Using both your hands, squeeze the potato mixture vigorously, as if you’re wringing out a pair of wet socks. Squeeze as much liquid as possible out of the potatoes, letting the moisture drip through the holes of the colander. Once you have finished squeezing, let mixture stand for a minute or two.
- Lift colander out of the bowl. Pour off the watery brown liquid in the bowl, but save the layer of pale beige paste at the bottom. (This chalky-looking stuff is potato starch, and you need it to help your latkes stick together.) Scrape up the paste, dump in the potato mixture, and mix together with a large spoon.
- Mix in egg yolks, matzoh meal, 1 teaspoon of the kosher salt, and a good amount of freshly ground pepper with your hands until it is evenly incorporated.
- Pour egg whites into a clean, dry bowl. Using a balloon whisk or a hand-held electric mixer, beat egg whites until they hold stiff, shiny peaks. Using a rubber spatula or large spoon, gently fold the egg whites into the potato mixture.
- Pour oil into a large, heavy skillet (preferably cast iron) to a depth of 1/2 inch. (You can also try it outside.) Over medium-high heat, heat oil until a shred of potato mixture instantly sizzles when dropped in. Fry a quarter-sized “test latke” first to check for seasoning, and add more salt or pepper as needed. Then, without crowding, spoon potato mixture into the oil, flattening each generous spoonful into a flat disk.
- Let fry until deep golden brown, about 5 minutes, then flip over and continue frying until both sides are well browned, about 8 to 10 minutes for each batch. (You may need to add additional oil to fry subsequent batches.) Using a spatula, transfer latkes to the paper-towel-lined baking sheet. Blot any excess oil with additional towels. Serve immediately with sour cream and applesauce.
COMMENTS | ADD YOUR OWN
I've never tried making them with matzah meal, only flour. I think my recipe calls for half a cup. I'll try this one too to see if it works. Growing up, my parents concocted allsorts of low-fat latke preparations to reduce our grease ingestion. They'd put some oil into the batter and then dry-cook them. Pan frying is ok, baking is not. The waffle iron surprisingly works, but don't expect your traditional latke.
They're also awesome made with sweet potatoes and spiced with cayenne and cumin, and last year I tried latkes flavored with thai curry powder and served with coconut milk. Mindblowing.
Has anyone experimented with potato varietals?
We had our Latke party last weekend for 30 or so guests (I will make more for the family on Friday). My recipe is similar, although I have never tried draining that much water and recovering the starch. I usually just drain off excess water as I am frying, but of course I made 8 or so batches over the course of 4 hours. But I digress... What I have been making the last several years is three different Latkes: normal potato latkes, potato latkes with garlic, and sweet potato latkes with scallions instead of onions. My family really loves the garlic Latkes; the garlic goes well with the black pepper and salt seasoning. The adults also love the sweet potato latkes, which have beautiful color with the green scallions mixed in. I also have a fun recipe from Grace? Levy's cookbook (Intl Jewish Cooking I think) for zuchini latkas with a mint/garlic yogurt sauce. These are not traditional, but the flavor is out of this world. I don't make them for the party, as they don't keep as long uncooked. In any case Latkes are heaven to eat even if they are hard on the arteries ;)
THz
I was surprised to discover that the eggs are not so necessary to the production of Latkes. Last time I wanted to make them, I went to the store, bought some eggs, brought them home, took a couple out and put them on the counter and put the rest away in the fridge. An hour later, as I was cleaning up after making the latkes, I came across the eggs on the counter. I'd never used them, and the latkes came out fine.
Garlic sounds like a no-brainer, THz. Uh-oh, now I'm thinking. What if you put some finely diced apple into the batter to complement the applesauce? I can already tell, it's going to be a greasy week...
Uh, that's a no-brainer in an addictively delicious way that releases that incredible bouquet of frying onions and garlic that attracts stray dogs and neighbors and makes grown men weep. I'm definitely throwing garlic (and apples, but not together) into this year's latke round-up.
Although it's not too healthful to eat a lot of calories, vegetable oil is not "bad for the arteries."
Many years ago a friend gave me a recipe he'd gotten from the now-long-gone Shadows restaurant in San Francisco for its German potato pancakes. Alas, I lost it in a move, but it did contain grated apples and made the best latkes I've ever had.
I've collected latke recipes for years and somewhere along the line I learned about pouring off the potato liquid and saving the starch.
What I hate--as the cook in our house--is the amount of labor; therefore, I was grateful to discover a recipe for undercooking, freezing, and reheating in oven. Works pretty well. Was in San Francisco Chronicle a few years ago. Also gives two opportunities to drain, making them a little less heavy.
I don't know where the sour cream concept originated, but anyone who grew up in a Jewish household and was accustomed to pot roast and potato pancakes--served with apple sauce--would, like me, find sour cream anathema!
Since it's brisket that's traditionally served on Hanukkah, if latkes are served as part of a meal, sour cream is not an accompaniment. However, since latkes have become more of a snack or standalone semi-meal than an appetizer, sour cream should usually be fine. There is always Tofutti Sour Cream though!
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
My latkes suck!
I'm Jewish and not to brag, but I'm a pretty good Jewish cook, too. I take pride producing on a regular basis a lot of the "hamish" (homey) treats that for most Jewish people are only a fond grandma memory - kasha, stuffed cabbage, matzoh balls, corned beef, you name it. BUT I CANNOT COOK LATKES and have even cooked professionally in a large, busy, well reviewed restaurant in a big city for a number of years. Soooooo WHY are my latkes ALWAYS from hell???
This is my number one cooking frustration. In fact, as of last Hanukka it had been years since I'd even attempted latkes - going through the motions of slavishly doing everything exactly right, with the right ingredients, that one is supposed to do in order to supposedly produce great latkes, only to have been humiliated, depressed and even angry (at myself). I gave up and even talked myself into believing latkes were just all greasy hype and no greasy soul (and greasy soul is the BEST soul there is). I bad mouthed them every December and even avoided Hanukka parties.
Then came this last December and it looked like my luck was about to finally change. I witnessed a novice cook produce absolutely fabulous, delicious PERFECT latkes after doing EVERYTHING wrong! I figured, if she could do it, I could CERTAINLY do it too. But, nooooooo... The laws of the universe dictate there are people who do everything wrong and it all comes up roses. But unfortunately, conversely that does not mean that if "I" do everything wrong, or even if I do everything perfectly, then the result will be perfect too...No, no, no, no, no, no.
Latkes - a metaphor. A metaphor for WHAT, precisely? You tell me. IF you care. Well, maybe that's too big a question. Maybe I'm projecting. So, what else is new? If you could JUST tell me HOW in God's name this woman's latkes could possibly NOT have come out horrendous? Why, why, why did they come out perfect, delicious - crispy on the outside cooked and not slimy on the inside? (THAT is the word which perfectly describes my own latkes - slimy)
OK, time to cut to the chase...
This last December, I attended a friend's Hanukkah open house and she was frying latkes for the multitudes. She told me she had never made them before, but her recipe had said it was OK to grate the potatoes as much as a day ahead. Being a busy court reporter, this is exactly what she did. But you'd think someone who could operate professionally at such a high level of efficiency would never have been as optimistic as she had NO right to be when she pulled that huge Tupperware container out of her fridge filled with a combination of about five pounds of grated, but now battleship grey (from oxidation) spuds floating in an equal amount of starchy grey ditch water that had been exuded because she didn't know enough not to salt the mess before refrigerating it.
"HA!" I thought to myself. This is going to be rich.
She knew enough to realize, duh, SOMETHING was wrong. But what? What to do? What to do? Advice was solicited from the bewildered crowd. Suggestions were brought forward. Emergency drainage was obviously called for. A binder of some sort might help. Cornstarch? Flour? Eggs?
I was quietly watching this little spectacle, anticipating the approaching culinary tragedy, and gloating with schadenfreude, the pleasure taken in the (anticipated) misfortune of another. Not a pretty picture. But internally it was really all about my own ugly history with those malevolent, sodden...SLIMY potato pancakes. This was, after all, just the way it was with latkes. What could you expect, after all? They were the "Chinatown" of the food world.
So, logically, based on all evidence and past experience I expected the worst. Especially after I saw her doing everything we all take for granted as received wisdom that we're NEVER supposed to do. She did them all. Broke all the rules of frying. Crowded the pan. Check. Cold oil. Check. Moved them around and flipped them repeatedly. Check. Mashed them down with the spatula. Check. It seemed like a car wreck in progress - I just could not look away.
But, after all this negligence, OF COURSE you know exactly what happened...the latkes were absolutely perfect. Crispy on the outside with just the right amount of savory chewyness, soft and thoroughly cooked through on the inside. The apotheosis of buttery, potato-y deliciousness. I slathered on the sour cream and apple sauce (and I totally agree with the OP: any and all other toppings need to back up and away from that latke. They are just WRONG). Her latkes were Soooo great! I was kvelling! ("Kvelling" is a Yiddish word which means the opposite of schadenfreude - it's the pleasure one takes when something good happens to someone else. Isn't it interesting that there is no Yiddish equivalent of "schadenfreude" and no German equivalent of "kvelling" and no English equivalent for either!)
But why feel better when I can feel bitter? You already know how this story ends. As soon as I got home, and I'm not kidding, AS SOON as I got home, I got out the spuds and the oil and the onions - I figured I could NOT go wrong. Well, of course, I was wrong about that. Dense, hard, sodden, SLIMY.
But, life is beautiful. We've got to be optimistic, think postitive, right? So, if you've got what you think is the perfect latke recipe, I'm not too proud to turn on my printer to print out your recipe and while the printer warms up I'll run in the kitchen, haul out the spuds, and turn on the stove and prepare to rattle those pots and pans!
OK, let's go! I'm hungry!
*grins* Niki. Your story, as unfortunate as it is for you, will warm my mother's heart. When I was growing up, we would both bake bread on a regular basis. No matter what I did - how imprecise I was with recipes, how many variations I haphazardly made - my bread always came out ranging from good and edible to fantastic. My mother tried *everything* - following recipes to the letter, trying different recipes, etc - and her loaves for some reason were acceptable at best. She will be happy to hear that she's not alone in her bizarre misfortune!
LOL at Niki's saga. It is not I, but my DH, who keeps trying to make latkes with nasty slimy results every time. I have finally put my foot down. I'm not eating another one. When he gets the urge for latkes, I either buy the frozen baby cakes that McCanns makes, or I make a roesti (nothing but potato shredded in the FP then smashed down in the pan to a thin cake and fried very crisp)
Ah, these stories warm my heart. My mother made the perfect latkes. BTW, I never saw her whip up the egg whites separately. I've never attempted, but I have a friend who heroically tries most years. They're not perfect, but they're pretty good if eaten hot. I think slimy in the middle = too thick. The thinner they are, the easier it is to get them crispy and cooked through without burning. I eat with applesauce only; sour cream acceptable, other toppings just wrong.
Every year starting 4 years ago we get together with another family to make latkes. The 1st year they were dreadful! The 2nd better, the 3rd great, and the 4th wonderful! My friend and I chalk it up to more finely chopped onions, about a large tablespoon of batter to make a thin lacy latke, very hot oil, and having more patience.
Niki,
Sounds to me like you don't let your oil get hot enough. My mother always used Crisco (perish the thought). I myself use olive oil. But it has to be hot enough.
Why don't you invite one of those latke patzers to your home to make latkes, with your equipment, and then take copious notes?
My ex's grandma used to use a little pancake mix in place of the flour/matzo meal. They turned out amazing.
To be more "historically accurate," olive oil would be a better choice. I've done pretty well with the Berio Extra Light.
I made Bubbe's latkes after reading her interview here and they turned out fantastic!
www.spicedish.typepad.com
I think niki writes too much and cooks too little.
Latkes are fun to do, and fress. Just last year
I taught a 17yo son of a friend to do them in
10 minutes-- wonderful. the secret's in you,
niki, not in your cerebrating angst.
I made this recipe during the last Hanukkah and got rave compliments. Everyone was totally stoked on them (even my girlfriend's ultra persnickety mom).
I either doubled or tripled the recipe (it was for a big party) and my suggestion would be to try and separate your shredded onion/potato stuff into a few equal parts and then add the egg whites in right before frying that batch. The whites do keep the latkes really fluffy and non-greasy, but by the end of about an hour of frying, the bowl of batter had lost it's pop.