making latke

Subject: making latke
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking

From: sf
Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2006 09:32:35 -0800
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Still watching PBS and they are making latke (which is served with brisket). I just saw a little trick that interests me. Squeezing moisture out of the grated (these were shredded) potatoes was a new step for me. I don't remember anyone mentioning it before.

Unfortunately, I can't find a page for the show:
Holiday Table With Chris Fennimore and DeDe Wilson Darn (9AM my time). I'd like that cake recipe (described as baklava without the phyllo).

Oh, move over Sandra Lee! That Carolyne Roehm blue and white tablescape was to die for.

From: Sheldon (PENMART01 at aol.com)
Date: 16 Dec 2006 10:24:45 -0800
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sf wrote:
> Still watching PBS and they are making latke (which is served with
> brisket). I just saw a little trick that interests me. Squeezing
> moisture out of the grated (these were shredded) potatoes was a new
> step for me.
>
> I don't remember anyone mentioning it before.

I just hate that sloppy kind of writing... to what is your "it" refering, bubba... the squeezing or the new step for you.

You haven't been reading rfc very diligently... removing excess liquid from potatoes when making latkes has been mentioned here often... by me alone at least a half dozen times.

From: sf
Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2006 11:29:00 -0800
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Sheldon wrote:

>I just hate that sloppy kind of writing... to what is your "it"
>refering, bubba... the squeezing or the new step for you.

Sorry you couldn't figure out that "it" was the new step: squeezing. I'm sure everyone else managed w/o straining a brain cell.

>You haven't been reading rfc very diligently... removing excess liquid
>from potatoes when making latkes has been mentioned here often... by me
>alone at least a half dozen times.

Sheldon, you've been a gigantic ass-hole lately so I've giving you a time out. You are going into a killfile that will expire in a set amount of time. Hope you're behaving yourself when we meet again.

PS: You and I have been friendly for a long time, so let me give you a clue - I told an in the flesh "friend" of almost 30 years to fuck off and go screw herself because she was too insensitive and crazy for me to deal with anymore. Don't test me.

From: Sheldon (PENMART01 at aol.com)
Date: 16 Dec 2006 12:03:23 -0800
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sf wrote:
> PS: You and I have been friendly for a long time, so let me give you
> a clue - I told an in the flesh "friend" of almost 30 years to fuck
> off and go screw herself because she was too insensitive and crazy for
> me to deal with anymore. Don't test me.

Puh-leeeeze... how are we friends, I know nothing about you... and you're far too clandestine with your posting for anyone to figure out anything personal about you. And I don't care who killfiles me... and typically those who advertise the fact don't. You don't threaten me... but I now know for sure that you're basically a very hostile and bitter individual, so I don't much care if I never enter into any discourse with you again, because those who threaten in public are never to be trusted in private.... in fact now that you've attempted to threaten me you can't come back, you're banished for good. With friends like you I don't need enemies.

From: Boron Elgar (boron_elgar at hotmail.com)
Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2006 13:41:13 -0500
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sf wrote:
>Still watching PBS and they are making latke (which is served with
>brisket). I just saw a little trick that interests me. Squeezing
>moisture out of the grated (these were shredded) potatoes was a new
>step for me. I don't remember anyone mentioning it before.

No one will go to all the trouble for making just one - a whole pile of latkes is preferred.

My mother used grated potatoes (traditional) and grated them with some nifty little gadget on her Mixmaster. she kept a colander in a bowl under the chute so the potatoes drained.

I make my latkes with shredded potatoes (and shredded onion) and drain them a bit. You want some of that potato starch to remain. Some moisture is needed. I also add flour and lots of eggs to the mixture.

Oh...was that the PBS show with Joan Nathan?

From: Peter Aitken (paitken at CRAPnc.rr.com)
Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2006 14:30:50 -0500
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There are many different opinions on what makes a great latke. I am in the light, crisp-edges camp. After much experimentation, I have found that grating the potatoes finely and putting into ice water to remove most of the starch, then squeezing in a clean towel before mixing with eggs, onions, etc., is the way to go. If you do not rinse, the starch results in a heavy, gummy latke. If you do not squeeze, the result is steamed and not fried.

From: Christine Dabney (artisan2 at ix.netcom.com)
Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2006 11:49:27 -0700
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sf wrote:
>Still watching PBS and they are making latke (which is served with
>brisket). I just saw a little trick that interests me. Squeezing
>moisture out of the grated (these were shredded) potatoes was a new
>step for me. I don't remember anyone mentioning it before.

First of all, I have never made latkes, but I have done a fair amount of reading about them, as well as seeing them made on TV shows. Most of what I have read has alway had this as a step, of squeezing out the moisture. Some people do it in a towel, some folks use a potato rice for it.

From: sf
Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2006 11:54:12 -0800
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Christine Dabney wrote:
>First of all, I have never made latkes, but I have done a fair amount
>of reading about them, as well as seeing them made on TV shows. Most
>of what I have read has alway had this as a step, of squeezing out the
>moisture. Some people do it in a towel, some folks use a potato rice
>for it.

This person just squeezed them (yukon gold) with her *hands* and a LOT of water came out...I watched her shred them in the FP and then squeeze. I was amazed at how much water came out of such a small amount of potatoes. She must have powerful hands!

From: yetanotherBob (yetanotherbob at gmail.com)
Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2006 18:16:35 -0500
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I don't know that I've ever had an official "latke", though I've consumed plenty of fried compilations of shredded potato over time.

But an article in this week's Washington Post Food section on *cabbage* latkes caught my eye. Sounded good enough to actually try.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121200326.html

From: James Silverton (not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not)
Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2006 18:23:51 -0500
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Hello, yetanotherBob! You wrote:
> But an article in this week's Washington Post Food section
> on *cabbage* latkes caught my eye. Sounded good enough to
> actually try.

At least it's not broccoli but, as the Irish are reputed to say, "Include me out!".