Pam R

Smart. Much faster peeling large ones - I buy 'jumbo' potatoes when I can. I've heard that there are people that use par-boiled potatoes, but I've never tried one. Seems like an extra, unnecessary step to me. I use canola. Too many people are allergic to peanut oil - I wouldn't hesitate to use it for myself though. Canola is a good, neutral oil that's well suited to frying. No. It's going to smell. Just embrace it. Keep the lid off. You're right - you're not steaming, you're frying. I go with about 1/2 an inch. We're not deep-frying the latkes, we're pan frying them. Too much oil also makes it hard to .. flatten and shape the latkes. I heat about 1/4 - 1/2 an inch of oil, use an ice-cream scoop to place the batter into the pan, then a spatula to shape them into circles (or ovals, or amoeba, and this year we had a couple of split hooves, a sheep and several clouds ) Good luck!

Whew. What a long week it has been - and a lovely, family Shabbat/Chanukah dinner last night was welcome and enjoyable. Lemon/Garlic/Oregano Chicken Beef "Brisket" (not a brisket, a new cut of beef to me, prepared as we do the brisket) Green Beans With Onions, Garlic and Fresh Tomatoes Rice Pilaf Potato Latkes Raspberry Filled Sufganiyot Chag Sameach and Shabbat Shalom!

I hadn't. They're more tater-tot-like to me. But a company called Kineret makes Passover frozen "latkes" that are very similar to McDonald's, but they contain onion.

If you can get them flipped, I'd say give it a shot. I know some frown on this, but I use electric frying pans - and they come out beautifully - crisp and golden.

Tehina.. and latkes. Who would have thought? What's your favorite latke condiment - if you could choose only one? I'm very much a sour cream person. Thanks for the story - it was great fun to read in the middle of the latke craziness I'm going through this year (300 lbs. of potatoes so far!). Happy Chanukah!

Thanks for the responses. I'm going to see what kind of spelt flour I can find and give it a shot - what can I lose?

Vegetable oil, of course, is the thing to do if you keep kosher and want to have sour cream with the latkes. I've now used over 300 lbs. of potatoes this year - a mix of reds and russets. sadistick is 100% correct - get as much moisture out of the potatoes as you can, squeeze them dry. I always add onions, raw and shredded. And I fry them in canola - so they can be eaten with anything.

I usually do a mix of sweet and red potatoes. The sweet can get very soft and mushy on their own. eta: or russets and sweet

I did try it - a few times and agar didn't work for me. If somebody else can make it work - let me know how!

Any thoughts on whether this technique would work with all spelt flour?

I would also suggest Martha Stewarts recipe - the problem is that I can't find the one that I like on her website. She had an all cookie magazine out a few years ago - if you can find the recipe from it that calls for 5 cups of flour and a pound of butter, that's the one I like. If you can't, I'd give one of the other ones on her site a shot.

I would try a teeny tiny batch - but I don't know if they'd retain their colour. I did cook some up on Sunday.. and they did stay purple.. I think you should try it. I'd just scrub them and grate them with the skin on. I had a little helper (she just peeled another bus-tub of onions for me). Last year I had to do it all on my own, but my time is more limited this year - the darn frying takes forever. I have 3 large electric frying pans going all the time.

Last week I used 70 pounds of potatoes and 30 pounds of onions for a little batch of latkes. They're almost all gone . Today I'll be working on the non-traditional versions (zucchini, potato & leek and Greek latkes with spinach, garlic and feta) - then tomorrow another 70 lbs. of potatoes for traditional. I also did a batch of wild rice and mushroom - no potatoes, but still fried in oil . Nu?

I find only a few of my recipes work better when the pan is greased (I use a spray) and floured. Most work better when just greased. Butter has water - could interfere with the release. eta: Ah.. yah. What Steve said about the butter

We'll have to agree to disagree. I really liked them and got the allspice flavour. And I also think that a recipe can be really good, but not to my taste (or somebody else's). It's all about personal taste I guess.

I gently pressed the streusel into the top of the muffins and had only a little left over. The flavour developed after they cooled and sat for a little while - but more streusel on top would equal more flavour. I'm of the 'never too much streusel' camp. Easy remedy would to be to add some more allspice to suit your personal tastes.

I don't often have (or make) desserts, so I never post here. But I had to work on some Chanukah recipes last night, so ended up with two (both tasty ). Rugelach with a cream cheese dough, raspberry preserves and pecans. A cheesecake made with Israeli white cheese (3% fat), coffee flavoured.

In the last week, two batches of chicken soup (it's so freakishly cold here!) and one of Avgolemono (no picture of this one because it looks like white mush but tastes great!). But from one of the chicken soups, including a couple of necks, some carrots, celery, rice & more of the soup croutons from about, just square (and called shkiday marak):

I'm not a bread baker - my few attempts years ago taught me that it was much easier to buy it . I've read every post in this topic and decided that it was time for me to jump on the bandwagon. Night before last I scooped and shook 3 cups of flour, added 1/4 tsp of yeast and 2 tsp. of kosher salt then 1 1/2 cups of water. Since winter has set in with a vengeance, it's very dry here - and the water wasn't enough. I probably added another 1/4 of a cup, until it was a sticky, gooey mess. So now I thought I had gone too far, but left it, covered with plastic on the counter for about 22 hours. As soon as I came home from work I turned it out onto a floured counter and sort of folded it. Then onto a piece of floured parchment, generous sprinkling of flour and plastic wrap. Preheated to 500, and my smaller enamel pot and lid went into the oven for 1/2 an hour. I was going to try to flip the dough over and into the pot, but I hadn't been generous enough with the flour and it was sticking to the paper, so I just plunked the whole thing (with paper) into the pot. Reduced temp. to 450, baked covered for 25 minutes and uncovered for 25-30 more. (a bit too generous with the flour dusting on top) I was too eager to cut into it and try it to wait until it was completely cooled . Nonetheless, it was fantastic. I'll be better with the next one and let it cool completely. I'm going to get me some rye flour on the way home - caraway seeds are already sitting on the counter in my kitchen.

Check with customs. Canada has dairy quotas - I once paid $4/quart in duties for some whipping cream from the US.

Is he giving the pan a few good bangs on a table before baking? Helps eliminate some of the bubble in/on a cheesecake.

Adorable. What's the shelf-life on something like this?

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What blog devotion! I remember Martha Stewart saying something about eating a whole can.. with a spoon. Why mess with perfection?

I need to go into host mode for a second folks. Let's try to keep the talk to paying for the wedding - because that really means paying for the food and beverage, which is what eGullet is all about. We're straying into gift giving discussion, which is a different matter. So back to the paying of the food! Thanks, Pam A lot of people here do in fact have socials to help pay for the wedding costs. But it isn't something done across the board. I've never been to one or been to a wedding where they've had one.