Barry's International Kitchen

Created : August 16, 2009

Updated : February  14, 2012



Potato Latkes


This recipe is more than 50 years in the making and has gone through many iterations.  The best ones were the ones my Bubbie(grandmother) taught me how to make, but they are so full of starch and so heavy and tons of chicken fat, not the most healthy food in the world.  I used a blender for a while, it was easy but the texture sure wasn't right, but I could eliminate most of the starch which came out when I drained the water used for blending.  The ones my Bubbie made had onions fried in chicken fat and the whole thing dumped into the mix and it was great, when I fried mine in any other kind of oil the taste was flat and didn't have much onion flavor.  I decided that the only way I could get the onions to work with my recipe is to shred them and cook them in with the potato.  If any of you remember a box grater, it had a slice, a shred and a fine mush like side.  The original recipe used the finest side and it worked at the time but not for the modern version for whatever reason.  Now I use a shredder, the kind you might use for shredding cheese, hopefully I can post a picture.  So that is a little history and there are still things that will stop you from having a great Latke, one is using the wrong potato.  You want baking potatoes, preferable Russet and they want to be old, something that is hard to find here in the USA, we eat potatoes really fast, must be all those meat and potato guys, I know a few hundred of them.  The best thing to do is to buy the oldest looking potatoes you can find and throw them in the connor for a couple of months.  They will be ugly and eyes sprouting but they will make the best Latke.  This recipe can also be used for Kuggle, Kuggle means baked and it is just a baked version that is also highly loved by especially Jewish kids.  Just take this same mixture but I would double the recipe and bake in glass baking dish until bottom is brown and crusty looking.



Recipe 

1 to 2 Lbs of Potatoes as described above

1 Onion, Red if you have them, more onion if you like it, I will use 2 or even 3

1/3 cup of All Purpose Flour

1 to 2 eggs, I do this by sight, I am looking for a nice yellow look, you will get the feel

Salt to taste start with 3/4 tsp, potatoes absorb salt so it will be less salty when cooked, taste it before cooking

Pepper to taste, no so  much


Grate potatoes into a bowl.  This step is important, drain off as much of the liquid as you can, you can use a strainer but you can also just take it up in you hands and squeeze it or squeeze it out with a dish towel.  Grate the onion but this time you want all the flavor of the onion liquid don't drain it.   Add all ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Use 2 or 3 Tbsp per latke, you don't want them too thick about 1/4", if you have to use the back of a spoon to spread it out.   Use your good frying pan and coat the bottom with oil, I use Sesame Oil but use whatever you like but I would stay away from Olive Oil.  If the potatoes are right it will turn a nice golden brown on the first side within about 4 minutes, turn over and cook another 2 or 3 minutes.  Drain finished Latke onto a paper towel(in the old days we would use a brown paper bag).  Make sure you replenish the oil for every batch.  Enjoy and let me know how you like them, barrym@tds.net


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