A Paradox- Ushmartem es Nafshosechem & "Latkes &

Lechatchila Ariber

Mon, Dec 10 2007, 9:17 pm

something in the chemical composition of the olive oil changes when you heat it and I've heard that it is carcinagenic.
I'll try and look it up later and see

gryp

Mon, Dec 10 2007, 9:19 pm

I don't know what could be wrong with my latkes. Confused

Potatoes and eggs fried in a bit of canola oil.

I didn't even eat a whole jelly donut, neither did any of my kids.

We did get undecorated donuts from the bakery, meaning just the donut with no sugar or coloring smeared on top and no filling. Okay, it's not exactly a piece of whole-wheat bread, but it's better than a regular donut.

Oh, I also baked Chanukah cookies with the kids- left out half the sugar and substituted half the oil with applesauce. I won't say how many I ate- now there's moderation. Rolling Eyes

mimivan

Mon, Dec 10 2007, 9:22 pm

If GR says it's okay, then it must be okay. She is very health conscious! ba'h... Smile

yes I agree...how is canola or olive oil poison. A few eggs. New researchs shows eggs aren't as bad as once thought. (and you could use egg whites, but that may pose a problem of wasting yolks), not much salt etc..

the same could be said of some Shabbos food. But anything can be made healthy (well, almost)

Atali

Mon, Dec 10 2007, 10:36 pm

Well, for those of us watching our carbs the potatoes are the problem, so this year I made zucchini latkes.

Lechatchila Ariber

Mon, Dec 10 2007, 10:43 pm

latkes are not so much of an issue as dougnuts are.
doughnuts are the worst kind of cake one can ever eat filled with immense amounts of calories and its not just the frosting on the top GR.

that said, once a year a doughnut or two isn't going to poison anyone, unless they have health issues they need to take into consideration.

greenfire

Mon, Dec 10 2007, 11:26 pm

okay made the donuts ... Puke

... alka seltzer ... not worth it ...

but the latkes were ... Drunken Smile

amother

Tue, Dec 11 2007, 12:11 am

Quote:

Martha Stewart Explains Jewish Food

Latkes

A pancake-like structure not to be confused with anything the House of Pancakes would put out. In a latka, the oil is in the pancake. It is made with potatoes, onions, eggs and matzo meal. Latkas can be eaten with apple sauce but NEVER with maple syrup.There is a rumor that in the time of the Maccabees they lit a latka by mistake and it burned for eight days. What is certain is you will have heart burn for the same amount of time.
It's a GOOD thing.

Matzoh

The Egyptians' revenge for leaving slavery It consists of a simple mix of flour and water - no eggs or flavor at all. When made well, it could actually taste like cardboard. Its redeeming value is that it does fill you up and stays with you for a long time. However, it is recommended that you eat a few prunes soon after.

Kasha Varnishkes

One of the little-known delicacies which is even more difficult to pronounce than to cook. It has nothing to do with Varnish, but is basically a mixture of buckwheat and bow-tie macaroni (noodles).Why a bow-tie? Many sages discussed this and agreed that some Jewish mother decided that
'You can't come to the table without a tie' or,
G-d forbid 'An elbow on my table?'

Blintzes

Not to be confused with the German war machine. Can you imagine the N.J. Post 1939 headlines: 'Germans drop tons of cheese and blueberry blintzes over Poland - shortage of sour cream expected.' Basically this is the Jewish answer to crepe Suzette.

Kishka

You know from Haggis? Well, this ain't it. In the old days they would take an intestine and stuff it. Today w e use parchment paper or plastic. And what do you stuff it with? Carrots, celery, onions, flour, and spices. But the trick is not to cook it alone but to add it to the cholent (see below) and let it cook for 24 hours until there is no chance whatsoever that there is any nutritional value left.

Kreplach

It sounds worse than it tastes. There is a Rabbinical debate on its origins. One Rabbi claims it began when a fortune cookie fell into his chicken soup. The other claims it started in an Italian restaurant. Either way it can be soft, hard, or soggy and the amount of meat inside depends on whether it is your mother or your mother-in-law
who cooked it.

Cholent

This combination of noxious gases had been the secret weapon of Jews for centuries. The unique combination of beans, barley, potatoes, and bones or meat is meant to stick to your ribs and anything else I t comes into contact with. At a fancy Mexican restaurant (kosher of course) I once heard this comment from a youngster who had just had his first taste of Mexican fried beans: 'What! Do they serve leftover
cholent here too?!' My wife once tried something unusual for guests: She made cholent burgers for Sunday night supper. The guests never came back.

Gefilte Fish

A few years ago, I had problems with my filter in my fish pond and a few of them got rather stuck and mangled. My son (5 years old) looked at them and commented 'Is that why we call it 'Ge Filtered Fish'?' Originally, it was a carp stuffed with a minced fish and vegetable mixture. Today it usually comprises of small fish balls eaten with horse radish ('chrain') which is judged on its relative strength in bringing tears to your eyes at 100 paces.

Bagels

How can we finish without the quintessential Jewish Food, the bagel? Like most foods, there are legends surrounding the bagel although I don't know any. There have been persistent rumors that the inventors of the bagel were th e Norwegians who couldn't get anyone to buy smoked lox. Think about it: Can you picture yourself eating lox on white bread? Rye? A cracker? Naaa. Th ey looked for something hard and almost indigestible which could take the spread of cream cheese and which
doesn't take up too much room on the plate. And why the hole? The truth is that many philosophers believe the hole is the essence and the dough is only there for emphasis.

I just got this in an email. I thought it belonged here. Its kinda funny.

louche

Tue, Dec 11 2007, 8:11 am

EstiS wrote:

find healthy latke recipes.
maybe they can be baked? Question

[/quote]

durng the year, that's agreat idea, but not on chanuka. chanuka is not about potato pancakes, it's about OIL. get it? Oil? one little cruse of OIL that lasted 8 days? Not about one little potato that fed the multitudes for 8 days. Potatoes are irrelevant when it comes to chanuka--they are just a tastyvehicle for the OIL. the minhag, if you will look in Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, is to eat foods cooked in OIL. Not to eat potato patties. You could serve blintzes, french fries, fried turkey, fried apples, fried mozzarelly, fried eggplant, crullers, fried matzah, fried cardboard, or Fried Avraham if it came to that. if you serve baked latkes and serve no food cooked in oil, you'recompletely missing the point.

That being said, you don't have to deep-fry. you can panfry or saute, and you don't have to have fried foods every meal or every day. besides it's a minhag, not a halacha, andif yo're seriously obese or have been told by a healthcare professional to drasticallyreduce your fat intake, it's perfectly ok to eat your usual lowfat regimen. The MITZVAH is lighting the candles.

gryp

Tue, Dec 11 2007, 9:02 am

LOL, louche. you completely confused me there with Avraham Fried.

Esti, I didn't say undecorated doughnuts are healthy, I was just much happier giving them to my kids than if there had been sugar and color all over and inside it.

Quote:

If GR says it's okay, then it must be okay. She is very health conscious! ba'h...

LOL, mimivan. I just try to stay focused towards that side of things. My kids aren't deprived, but they know treats are just that- once in a while treats, and they know it's not good for them to eat it more often. I don't buy those things but I don't go nuts from birthday parties.

mimivan

Tue, Dec 11 2007, 9:19 am

greenfire wrote:

okay made the donuts ... Puke

... alka seltzer ... not worth it ...

but the latkes were ... Drunken Smile

Do you mean the latkes were intoxicating...how does that work out...do you ferment them?

greenfire

Tue, Dec 11 2007, 9:23 am

mimivan wrote:

greenfire wrote:

okay made the donuts ... Puke

... alka seltzer ... not worth it ...

but the latkes were ... Drunken Smile

Do you mean the latkes were intoxicating...how does that work out...do you ferment them?

they were intoxicatingly delicious Drunken Smile

... although martha stewart did put beer in hers ... What

chocolate moose

Tue, Dec 11 2007, 9:44 am

But it isn't just an indulgence on latkes or donuts once a year, is it?

TzenaRena

Tue, Dec 11 2007, 9:48 am

EstiS wrote:

something in the chemical composition of the olive oil changes when you heat it and I've heard that it is carcinagenic.

Are you sure that's not regular polyunsaturated oil? olive oil is monounsaturated, if I'm using the correct term, and recommended for frying rather than the poly stuff. I used to read up on these things, but haven't for a while.

I do take all those things with a grain of salt. The findings are always contradictory to the previous ones, and then change again.

One chanukah latke, or even ten isn't going to hurt anyone. But if you can't ever eat anything not fried, yeah...That's why dieting is so hard... no carbs, no fat, no frying, no sugar, low salt ......But that's another story.