HALLIE EPHRON: Tonight is the first night of Hanukah, and it's my excuse to make potato pancakes. AKA latkes. I've shared them before here on Jungle Red, but it's a subject that bears repeating.
These homemade potato pancakes are one of those somewhat labor-intensive but super easy and spectacularly delicious treats that cannot be matched by anything store-bought or restaurant-made.
Hold the potato pancake mix. Feh.
This is not a make-ahead dish. Once you grate the potatoes, you need to wring them out and mix in the egg and flour, fry them AND EAT THEM.
Do not pause. Do not pass go.
My advice: do not attempt to cook anything else at the same time.
Prepare them. Fry them in batches. Eat them hot as they come out of the pan (after a quick rest to drain on paper towel). If you insist on being an over-achiever and serve these with a meal, they can be put in a warm oven on the kind of rack you use to cool cookies.
All they really need is a shake of salt, but sour cream or applesauce go nicely with them, too.
I make them with a dinner that's got everything else hot and ready to go. (Roast chicken. Or a pot roast.) Maybe a salad that's ready to be plated. And bowls of sour cream and (because my grandson loves it) applesauce.
Here's how...
Potato pancakes - Serves 4
2 large (or 4 medium-sized) unpeeled potatoes (Russets work well)
1 egg
Flour
Cooking oil (vegetable or peanut oil; not olive oil)
Caution – once you start preparing, don’t stop until all the potatoes are cooked. Grated potatoes left to stand will turn dark and yucky looking.
Preheat the oven so you can keep the first batches warm while you cook the rest.
1. Grate the potatoes using the large holes on a hand grater or food processor (slightly less good imhop).
2. Dump the grated potatoes into a clean linen cloth dish towel; over the sink, wring out as much liquid as you can. Squeeze, and squeeze again! THIS STEP IS CRITICAL.
3. Dump the wrung-out potatoes into a mixing bowl; add an egg and a scant handful of flour. Mix.
4. Heat oil in a frying pan until the oil shimmers.
5. Ladle in one-tablespoon size pancakes into the hot oil. Flatten and cook until golden brown and crisp on one side, then turn and cook until golden brown and crisp on the other.
6. Drain cooked potato pancakes on paper towel. If they don't get scarfed up immediately, put them on a cookie rack on a cookie sheet in the oven until ready to serve.
7. Cook batches until all are cooked.
8. Serve with salt and your choice of apple sauce and/or sour cream.
What are you cooking for the holidays that, unlike my potato latkes, you can make ahead and relax when you serve it up?
Yum! Thanks for the recipe, Hallie . . . .
ReplyDeleteWe're pretty traditional; nothing for our meal is particularly complicated . . . we’ll have prime rib, twice baked potatoes, roasted asparagus with mushrooms, Brussels sprouts with bacon and cranberries, all of which cook while the meat roasts, but the plum pudding is definitely a make-ahead and enjoy . . . .
Plum pudding! Now that's something I've never attempted. Don't you need special equipment?
DeleteMost recipes call for a steamed pudding mold, but I don't have one, so I use a metal bowl.
DeleteI think I'll make these Thursday night when my son and Jewish d-i-l come! And pre-make a vegetarian soup to go with. Otherwise I've been busy putting together cookies and different kinds of fudge. I think today's will be my grandmother's Red Sugar cookies and a batch of Kahlua fudge.
ReplyDeleteFudge and red sugar cookies - yum.
DeleteThese sound sooooooo delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
ReplyDeleteYum! I love latkes -- with both sour cream and apple sauce.
ReplyDeleteI was trying to get a smidge ahead yesterday by making a large batch of shortbread but I ended up burning it. So am further behind than if I hadn't attempted to get ahead! I should have stuck with my usual-size batch AND paid closer attention to the baking time. Sigh.
NOOOOO!
DeleteAnd I kind of ruined a batch of peppermint Can't Fail Fudge (as if...) by failing to boil EXACTLY three minutes, as my sister's recipe recommends. Oh, well. Hugh will eat it. ;^)
DeleteOh, Amanda. How disappointing! I try to stay right in the kitchen when I am baking. I hate it when I burn my concoctions!
DeleteGood advice, Judy, and I shall definitely heed it with the next batch!
DeleteEdith: As I pulled the pans out of the oven and saw what had happened, I said, And this is why baking is always a crapshoot!
Grace: I'm determined to 'get back in the saddle' and try again. Fingers crossed.
... and then that burnt smell lingers. What a shame.
DeleteHallie, one of these days I want to make these. My mouth waters every time you describe your latkes! Of course potato anything is my favorite.
ReplyDeleteWe arrived in Nairobi overnight, so I will not be cooking anything but parts of my body exposed to equatorial sun until January sometime. But in the past I made a wonderful dried fruit, roasted garlic, and rosemary pork roast on Christmas afternoon. With mashed potatoes, pork gravy, and Brussels sprouts. Since we've gone to my oldest daughter's house for Christmas since Zak was old enough to understand about Santa, though, they always served roast turkey and fixings.
It will be interesting to see what Kenyans serve on "x-MASS" at the safari camp.
Looking forward to pics on FB, Karen!
DeleteWatch for them after we return in January!
DeleteHave a fabulous (and COVID-free) trip, Karen!
DeleteKAREN: Enjoy your Kenyan Christmas!
DeleteKaren, speaking as a fellow Ohioan--enjoy that African sunshine!! When you come home in January, be sure to bring some with you!
DeleteHave a wonderful trip, Karen. Merry Christmas and best wishes for a fabulous new year! Yes to photos!!
DeleteHave a wonderful trip!
DeleteWow, absolutely fantastic! Cannot wait to hear all about it, and hope you will write a blog for us with pictures and everything! Happiest of adventures! Xxx
DeleteYes, second that! We'll want to hear all about Kenya.
DeleteOh, thanks, everyone. It's so good to finally be with our youngest. Missed her terribly.
DeleteFrom Gillian. Yum I love latkes! Thanks for the recipe! I used to make mom’s shortbread at Christmas, but am now gluten-free. Hmmmm
ReplyDeleteGillian, I make latkes at Passover, too, using potato starch instead of flour. The batter is really similar to Hallie's recipe.
DeleteGuessing you could use rice flour or cornstarch, too. It's just that smidgen to make the egg gluey-er.
DeleteI also love eating latkes. The almond stollen that I bake for the holidays tastes better on day 2,3 (or 4 if it lasts that long).
ReplyDeleteAlmond paste has always been a mystery to me... the kind of macaroons I love require it but I've never managed it.
DeletePots de creme au chocolate, a divine concoction of semi-sweet chocolate, egg yolks, whipping cream, and flavoring (cognac, framboise), garnished with whipped cream, grated chocolate, and a raspberry. I make ahead and serve in little ceramic mousse pots.
ReplyDeleteNow that is a recipe I would love to have!
DeleteI would too! Please share, Margaret?
DeleteOhhh - yes, please share!
DeleteEveryone I know would love these, Hallie. About how much oil in the frying pan? I don't fry many things, but have acquired a large cast iron frying pan. This might be the year I give these a try!
ReplyDeleteStart with just about 1/4" or a bit more. If you've done a good job wringing out the potatoes you won't need to top it off too much as you go batch to batch.
DeleteThanks, Hallie! Still waiting for that cookbook :-) Your tomato soup is on the menu for supper tonight.
DeleteI will make latkes too, Hallie. Your recipe is simple and elegant. I do have success reheating left over latkes in the oven, so I usually make a larger batch than necessary. They go well with so many different dishes, either dairy and meat.
ReplyDeleteOne year I served them topped with lox, divine! I have also made them using a slightly different recipe, in mini cupcake papers to serve as appetizers. Friends loved them.
Lox-topped latkes! Swoooning here. And maybe a schmere or sour cream and some chopped chives!
Delete"Brussels sprouts with bacon and cranberries" - sounds delicious, can you provide the recipe Hallie?
ReplyDeleteThat was JOAN EMERSON'S - Joan, you still out there??
DeleteHappy Hanukkah, Hallie and Reds and families who celebrate!
ReplyDeleteMy mouth is watering! I have never had the knack of making these. My mother was a mistress of potato pancake making. She said it was in the wrist with the flour. A friend who makes equally delectable latkes says, "It's the oil, Kait, don't be afraid of the oil--and quit peeking, let 'em fry." I'm going to have to try these again, soon! Incorporating all advice!
Good luck!!
DeleteI'm sure those latkes are wonderful! Thank you for the step-by-step how to. One of these days I'm going to try them myself. One year when I was teaching and working in a second-grade classroom, the teacher helped the kids make latkes. That was something she had done every year and I admired her courage. I can't remember now why they made that special dish but maybe they were reading stories about other cultures.
ReplyDelete♥️💚potato latkes. I learned that they also make potato pancakes in Ireland. I wonder if Jenn had potato pancakes while traveling in Ireland recently?
ReplyDeleteMy mom makes wonderful potato pancakes. It’s funny because when we visited my great aunt and her husband, their potato latkes were meh. No idea why my mom’s potato latkes were better. However I know that my mom loves to cook while her aunt is not a fan of cooking,
Wondering what the difference between potato latkes and potato pancakes is?
Diana
Latke/pancake - latke is from a Russian word for little pancake. No difference.
DeleteHallie, thank you! Diana
DeleteThis sounds absolutely fantastic. (No onions, that is interesting. I really don’t like when the whole house smells like fried onions for days, and this seems like a good and delicious solution.)
ReplyDeleteI also just read a delicious sounding recipe that might work too: take little potatoes, like little red ones, and boil them till soft. Skins on. Then, toss them in olive oil and salt and pepper, then, smash them. Flatten them like pancakes, and roast them. Doesn’t that sound good? And pretty easy :-) but your pancakes sound absolutely amazing!
I saw that recipe - I'm going to try it; just not for Hanukah.
DeleteI put fried onions in my potato kugel recipe, but not in my latkes. It is impossible to get the latkes crunchy if you have onion in them.
DeleteOh, so funny! Yes, let's compare at some point! It sounded pretty delicious...xxx
DeleteI will be making latkes tonight so the place has the traditional Hanukkah scents of grease and candle wax.
ReplyDeleteClare: Thise sound amazing! I will definitely try them. I love having special food that I only make once a year. For our family it is mince pies and sausage rolls for an English Christmas.
ReplyDelete"A scant handful of flour." "Just enough flour, potat starch, rice flour or corn starch to make the egg glue-ier. " I love recipes from people who have made a traditional food often that it is embedded in their heads. I like to watch them make the food, the hands that seem to move without hesitation.
ReplyDeleteI love latkes but have never succeeded in making them perfectly. Enjoy yours, Hallie. I used to bake stollen, cookies. Now it’s just our English sausage rolls and mince pies. (Rhys. Still anonymous in spite of trying to convince Google I’m me)
ReplyDeleteEnglish sausage rolls and mince pies - yum! Hope you'll post the recipes one day! My dear friend Patty Joe makes pigs in a blanket, starting with yeast and flour. I am always in awe. Bread defeats me.
DeleteLooking forward to the latkes, not the left over fried smell. But it'll be worth it. By the way, another method of squeezing the shredded potatoes is to put them in a ricer. Much neater than the towel method. Happy Hanukkah!
ReplyDeletefry them in the garage or outside
DeleteA ricer! Of course. I even have one... that belonged to my mother-in-law.
DeleteOops that "i own a ricer" was me
DeleteThese sound so good, Hallie. Why not olive oil? Is the taste too strong?
ReplyDeleteI don't use olive oil for 2 reasons... it's got a lower cooking temperature than vegetable (or peanut) oil and it's got its own taste whereas the other oils are neutral. Actually another reason: it's more expensive and pretty much wasted in this dish.
DeleteI'm delighted to have this recipe. I've made potato pancakes with leftover mashed potatoes, and I've made Swiss rösti, but I've never made latkes, just had them in restaurants. As for this year's Christmas dinner with my Swiss family, I'm going to follow neither Swiss nor US tradition this year and make a big lamb stew with lots of vegetables--because I can make it the day before. Yay!
ReplyDeleteHappy Hanukkah!!! Thank you for the recipe. I love potatoes and pancakes so it’s perfect! 💗
ReplyDeleteOh Hallie, my mouth is watering for those latkes. I have never made them, but your recipe sounds quite reasonable to try. The wringing out is somewhat of a pain, as I have to do this with spinach when fixing a spinach quiche, but it sounds worse than it actually is. I had a different idea of potato pancakes when I was growing up. My father would take left over mash potatoes (there were never many is why I'm guessing he did this just for himself) and make potato pancakes to fry, which he did to go with his breakfast that he also fixed himself. As much delicious cooking as my mother did for all of us, I've always found it interesting that my father wanted to fix his own breakfast.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to think of what I've fixed ahead before. About five years ago, I used a baked mashed potato recipe from author Kristi Belcamino. It was delicious, and you can make it ahead. I need to find the recipe now that I'm thinking about it. I might make it again this year.