The Frying of Latke 49

[rumball]

you know what i found very funny when i first got to nyc? that latkes are considered jewish food and served in dairy 'jewish restaurants' - tried my first somewhere around 57st - very different from my prior home food experience. the reason being: my granma was from the border of belorussia and russia and i grew up eating them. its' a traditional dish, a staple - nothing much grows in wet belorussia, but potatoes and rye. it's also very popular in lithuania and poland. guess, it's another example of borrowed dish?

everybody eats it with sour cream, of course and caramelized onions too. my best approx to russian sour cream so far - cream on top of 'stonyfield farm' organic yogurt with cream on top. i'd dilute it with a bit of milk to create more liquid consistency - russian sour cream is more like thickened cream sauce. but besides that creme fraiche comes close.

and yes, you fry it on butter - since oil in the old days was practically unknown in the villages. the idea of adding a bit of duck fat sounds very enticing.

and of course, you put flour , not matzo into the mix! and grate strictly raw potatoes, never cooked. soaking 'the grates' in water washes out too much starch - so mine latkes were always kinda dark brown too .

my mother used to make a very interesting variation: do half potato/half ground beef, brown on both sides, then stack them vertically in dutch oven, pour cream/sour cream mix on top and finish cooking on stove top or in the oven. m-m-m!

Edited January 12, 2007 by rumball (log)

[Dave the Cook]

Check here for an exciting (though tardy) announcement regarding "The Frying of Latke 49."

[piazzola]

Latke!?

I have never known these as latke it is a Jewish name for the famous deruny or pampushky. Not even my Jewish mates from Beth Weissman centre would dare to call them as such perhaps because they come from Russia, Moldavia, Ukraine and Bielaruss Well most Jews came from that area anyway to USA.

That's my two cents but I do not accept plagiarisms lightly

[theabroma]

Sadly, I didn't have a camera with me at the competition -- not that I'd have had the ability to use it under those circumstances. The photo that accompanied the article is from a later latke-making exhibition in my kitchen.

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There are times in one's life when one is grateful for the age one really is, to wit: I mourn for you in that you only know the latkeria @ 57th. The times & urban development 86'ed Rattner's and the other dairly delis on the Lower East Side - now those were LATKES, though cooked in oil to maintain kashrut.

Latkes as I know them were cooked in schmaltz - chicken or goose fat. They were ethereally crisp and delicious. Heaven forbid they were cooked in butter ... unless, of course, it had been clarified to its oil-essence to preserve the ability to turn out crisp, elegant golden coins of shredded potato, onion, and finely minced parsley. Latkes without schmaltz are like sex without passion ... mere potato pancakes.

Cheers,

Theabroma

Edited November 28, 2008 by theabroma (log)

[piazzola]

Sadly, I didn't have a camera with me at the competition -- not that I'd have had the ability to use it under those circumstances. The photo that accompanied the article is from a later latke-making exhibition in my kitchen.

←

There are times in one's life when one is grateful for the age one really is, to wit: I mourn for you in that you only know the latkeria @ 57th. The times & urban development 86'ed Rattner's and the other dairly delis on the Lower East Side - now those were LATKES, though cooked in oil to maintain kashrut.

Latkes as I know them were cooked in schmaltz - chicken or goose fat. They were ethereally crisp and delicious. Heaven forbid they were cooked in butter ... unless, of course, it had been clarified to its oil-essence to preserve the ability to turn out crisp, elegant golden coins of shredded potato, onion, and finely minced parsley. Latkes without schmaltz are like sex without passion ... mere potato pancakes.

Cheers,

Theabroma

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As I said it before we use pork fat or salo

[theabroma]

Sadly, I didn't have a camera with me at the competition -- not that I'd have had the ability to use it under those circumstances. The photo that accompanied the article is from a later latke-making exhibition in my kitchen.

←

There are times in one's life when one is grateful for the age one really is, to wit: I mourn for you in that you only know the latkeria @ 57th. The times & urban development 86'ed Rattner's and the other dairly delis on the Lower East Side - now those were LATKES, though cooked in oil to maintain kashrut.

Latkes as I know them were cooked in schmaltz - chicken or goose fat. They were ethereally crisp and delicious. Heaven forbid they were cooked in butter ... unless, of course, it had been clarified to its oil-essence to preserve the ability to turn out crisp, elegant golden coins of shredded potato, onion, and finely minced parsley. Latkes without schmaltz are like sex without passion ... mere potato pancakes.

Cheers,

Theabroma

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As I said it before we use pork fat or salo

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Sorry, love ... not for Latkes ... I am speaking from the Jewish bench, so to speak, so, although I heartily agree that manteca de puerco will admirably fill the bill, not for Latkes... You'll have to call them by their Polish, Ukranian, or Russian name.

Cheers!

Theabroma

[piazzola]

@Theabroma

No difference to me is all and the same anyway I enjoy them in any Jewish/Eastern European home. Unless you strictly orthodox religious.