Latkes

You know, dear readers, that we in my family are gastronomic Jews.  The traditions of Jewish cooking are woven through my DNA; I've always known that you should make brisket a day ahead of time because it's better after resting for many hours, that matzoh ball soup will cure any illness, and that when your great-grandmother's recipe calls for a "glass" of something it means that she used a recycled Yahrzeit candle glass to measure her ingredients.  I might love cheeseburgers - bonus points if there's bacon on top - but good Jewish cooking is in my soul!

Christmas overlapped with Hanukkah last year and I made latkes for Jon's whole family on Christmas Eve so that I could share my holiday rituals with them.  I decided to keep the recipe classic, since it was their first foray into Hanukkah, but there are some amazing creative options out there!  Let's feast our eyes on a few less-traditional latkes first, and then I'll share my mother's recipe for the potato pancakes of my childhood.

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As I mentioned last year, I couldn't use my mother's recipe because it's not - how shall I put this delicately? - exact enough for a latke novice.  If you want a classic recipe, I'm going to point you to this one, this one, and this one.  These tips (and these, and these) will help with any questions you might have.  And yes, the traditional toppings for latkes are sour cream and apple sauce.  Go with it!  It'll work, it won't work... nu, you'll eat them and you'll like them.

Now, over to my mother; the below is transcribed directly from a conversation I recorded exactly for this purpose last week.

First and foremost is the question of crispy versus not crispy latkes, and shredded potatoes or chopped up whatever potatoes. And we like shredded crispy latkes, so that answers that question.  So, here's the recipe.  You take some potatoes and you peel them and you put them in the food processor on the shred setting.  Then you put it in a bowl - everything, the potatoes, the liquid, the starch that settles on the bottom - and you crack an egg in and you mix it all up, I guess in theory to prevent it from turning brown.  Salt and pepper, a little bit of matzoh meal - that's how you know it's Jewish - and oh, and an onion!  Take about half an onion and put it in the shredder and then mix it all up.  And then what I do is I fry it in a pan.  Take about - depending on what size you want - a good dollop, maybe a tablespoon, you put in hot oil and you flatten it and when it starts to get brown and crispy on the bottom you turn it over and when that side gets crispy you can put it on a plate with paper towels to drain the grease.  Now, I often put zucchini or a little bit of carrot in the plain potato mix, especially when the kids were little and didn't notice, and sweet potatoes are really really good, but I don't go in for anything too crazy.

Well, there you have it.  Happy Hanukkah, dear readers!