Seeking GREAT Latke Recipe with Measurements

Iymnok

Sun, Nov 24 2013, 1:10 am

I use my potato kugel recipe. just leave out the oil and fry it.
6 med potatoes
2 med onions
3 eggs
1 T salt
1/8 t pepper
1/4 C potato starch

Grate the potatoes. Blend everything else in the blender. Mix it all together. Fry it on a med/low flame in olive oil, adding more as needed.

I sometimes make huge ones taking up the whole frying pan. Slide onto a plate to flip it. it saves my energy, and everyones patience

Dolly Welsh

Sun, Nov 24 2013, 5:59 pm

I do. Beat an egg in the bottom of a large bowl, but unpeeled Idaho potatoes through the shredding, the Julienne blade, ,making sticks. Also put a smaller number of yellow onions through that blade. Mix all that up with the egg, with a spoon and your hands. Salt a bit. Then dry this very wet mixture up with matzoh meal, until it stays on a sideways spoon. Fry in bland oil (not olive oil) by flattened large spoonfuls, turned once. Cover with a splatter screen, and open the window. The spoon should be your biggest serving spoon. These are not little bitty latkes. They should get brownish. Don't rush them.

Eat them right away hot out of the pan, or kept hot on a blech, washed down with sparkling apple cider. Apple sauce is nice on the side, some people use sour cream.

Salt them, but not too too much.

If you use too much egg, you will need to use too much matzah meal to dry the mixture, and then you lose the potato taste. Start with one egg.

No pepper. No other seasonings. Don't even think of peeling the potatoes. Just scub them with a brush and trim any eyes and spots.

Dry the latkes off on paper towels right after they are cooked, if you like. They will be a less oily. But it's not necessary.

Champagne will do fine too.

It's simple and not hard, but messy.

An exhaust fan will be handy.

Keep an open box of baking soda near the stove just in case.

You might find it handy to have two spatulas to turn them.

Last edited by Dolly Welsh on Mon, Nov 25 2013, 10:19 am; edited 1 time in total

Grandmama

Sun, Nov 24 2013, 6:41 pm

Mine are simple, easy and delicious.
Foolproof --always a winner.

I wonder if this is what the Jews ate in days long ago, I doubt it!

To every 5 pounds of potatoes, I use about 5-6 eggs. You can use 1 or 2 more if you wish.
I grate the potatoes. By HAND, on the large side. I like the crispiness, they taste like potato sticks. I don't like mushy latkes. If you do, then you can grind in food processor or blender or however you like.

I add a handful of salt, about a tablespoon and a half to 5 pounds. If not making the whole bag, using only 8-10 potatoes- I use a heaping tablespoon of salt.

Lately I fry them on a presto electric griddle, or on a grill pan that is rectangular and huge and covers two burners. Makes a lot at once. It has a smooth surface on one side and grill lines on the other, goes right on top of the gas. I use that because it's nonstick, easy to clean and super quick....

I use olive oil. Pour it on, let it get hot, and go!

That's it.
Some hints.... I work very quickly. No matter how the batter turns color, include the liquid with every spoonful you drop into the hot oil. I hate onions, they make the batter sweet. No corn starch or matzoh meal or potato starch or anything else. You can sprinkle with pepper for those that like pepper. Maybe a 1/4 tsp to the whole recipe. I use a pinch sometimes.

I make them twice a year, Chanuka and Pesach. Exactly the same. For Pesach I make a few batches with raw potatoes, and a few with cooked potatoes.
For Chanuka, I make some simple cottage cheese latkes, along with potato latkes. The cottage cheese latkes are the kids favorites, made with cottage cheese and flour and eggs. Taste like blintzes without the work.

Serve with sour cream or applesauce. Just don't eat half of them the way I do before anyone arrives.....

Grandmama

Sun, Nov 24 2013, 7:50 pm

ohsleepy1 wrote:

Grandmama, do you have a recipe for your cottage cheese latkes?

I use the one from the old Heimish cookbook, for the past 35 years.
It's
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs

You can double it the way I usually do, it's 8 oz cottage cheese, 8 oz flour, 8 oz sugar and 4 eggs.
I am sure vanilla or other things can be added, but I hate vanilla, and I like keeping things as simple as possible. I fry in olive oil, you can fry in any type of oil or butter.

AlwaysThinking

Mon, Nov 25 2013, 1:35 am

From Evelyn Rose's cookbook. These are no fail.

Ingredients
4 Large potatoes, peeled (weight about 1 1/2 lb/ 675g)
1/2 a medium onion peeled and cut in 1 inch chunks
2 eggs
1 level tsp of salt
speck of white pepper
4 level tbsp plain flour + a pinch of baking powder
Any flavourless oil for frying.

Grate potatoes so they are almost to a pulp. Leave in a sieve to drain for 10 minutes. Put in a bowl and add the remaining ingredients. In a heavy frying pan put enough oil to come to a depth 1/2 inch. When it is hot, put in tablespoons of the mixture, flattening each latke with the back of the spoon, cook over a moderate heat for 5 minutes each side (until brown), then drain on kitchen paper.