When I was learning how to make the addictive potato pancakes called latkes, traditional at Hanukkah, the man in my life was aghast when I dug out the food processor to shred the spuds and onion.
“Nooooo!” he said. “My grandmother always used a box grater.” And I replied: “If she’d had a processor, I bet she would have used it.” He thought it over and eventually agreed. Crisis averted.
The modernity in this excellent video is one reason I chose it from many that teach latke making. Leslie Jonath of Chronicle Books, whose own grandmother was from the box grater school, not only uses a processor, hers is the only video I watched that shares a tip I picked up not long ago: to double-process. It really makes a difference in eliminating the stragglies.
You’ll see she uses a chopstick to test the oil but the handle of a wooden spoon works just as well; I do it any time I’m heating oil really hot. She also uses more oil than I do; I stay with about 1/4″. She wisely warns against using olive oil for safety reasons, but I do add a couple symbolic drops at Hanukkah to further honor the miracle, 2,200 years ago, of one day’s worth of oil, almost surely olive, that lasted for eight days to burn the Temple menorah.
If you need a recipe, the one Jonath uses is adapted from Marlene Sorosky’s.
Related post and video: How to: Make Matzoh Balls
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Oh, you have brought back memories. Potato pancakes was one of my father’s few specialties. For some reason which I’ve never understood clearly, he cooked them on a big old stove downstairs in the basement. And of course the potatoes and onions HAD TO be hand grated. I don’t believe he ever saw a food processor. I don’t know what kind of oil he used, but they sure were tasty and crispy. This was a huge production, and he always invited friends to come and eat them.
“Gather ’round the table; I’ll give you a treat…”
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Aren’t memories flooding back a wonder? I’ll be his latkes were delicious and it sounds as if he got great pleasure from making and sharing them. His key ingredient was love, and that makes all the difference.
If you ever want to make these shortcut-style, a 30-ounce (I think it’s 30) bag of frozen shredded potatoes for hash browns can stand in. But you didn’t hear that from me.
Here’s a dangerous (to the waistline) idea Mr. Knife Skills taught me: make them small, silver dollar size or so, and snack on them like warm potato chips. The batter keeps in the fridge for a day or two, so it’s easy to have them quickly that way. Oy…
Thanks for telling me about your dad. I miss mine — and my mother — so much right now I can’t even put it into words.
I’ll never mention that the words “frozen shredded potatoes” ever left your lips…um, I mean, blog.
I’m glad you enjoyed my dad’s latkes. Yes, the love was there, and I miss my folks this time of year, too!
And then there’s this…Canadian wins Latke eating contest
Goodness, there’s contests for everything!
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Fun link, thanks! I like his quote: “I’m just a power eater. My brain never signals that I’m full.” So there we have it. I’m never fluffy or piggy, I’m just a power eater sometimes.
There are all sorts of latke contests in NYC, from making them to eating them. I wonder who I’d have to bribe to become a judge?
We could be a pair, representing the blogosphere.
Our frozen secret is safe between us. I’ll bet your dad would have cut you some slack too.