Subject: Potato Latkes, a Tribute
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
From: Sheryl Rosen (catmandy at optonline.net)
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 03:55:46 GMT
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How could something so simple, made from the most humble of ingredients, taste SO good?????
I peeled about 6 big Yukon Gold potatoes.
Shredded them with the fine shredding disk that I bought just for potato latkes in my Cuisinart. Added 2 medium onions, through the same disk.
Then some minced scallions....about 8 of them. Mixed in some kosher salt. Grated in some black pepper. A good handful of matzo meal. 3 beaten eggs. and some bonnes herbes (a penzey's blend--dill, chives, tarragon, etc). Mixed it all together really well. It made about....hmm....22 or so, I think.
No draining. My dad does NOT like thin lacy potato latkes. We like them more thick and pancake-y.
Let the mixture sit about 10 minutes. (thickened up)
Cooked by large spoonfuls in hot oil until browned.
The result was a thick mass of potato cake...delicately browned outside, dense inside, unable to distinguish single shreds of potato.
Perfectly seasoned. The perfect balance between onion, potato, and salt.
Ahhh....I cant' wait to eat the leftovers tomorrow. I sent a bunch of them for my dad's lunch, too!
I think Potato Pancakes are one of those food items that is greater than the sum of its parts..... I mean, they are so simple, yet...so delicious.
Now, everyone go out and make some potato pancakes, in honor of whatever holiday you celebrate this month!!!!
From: Leila A (leilasab at yahoo.com)
Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2001 23:03:58 -0800
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Sheryl Rosen wrote:
> How could something so simple, made from the most humble of ingredients,
> taste SO good?????
Every year my dear friend Julie throws a giant latke party in her tiny apartment. The party is giant, not the latkes. This year she almost backed out because she feels her apartment is too small. My MIL doesn't like to bother wiht making them. I was going to be latke-less or have to do it myself. Luckily Julie decided that her friends don't mind being thisclose. They can hang out in the hall if she invites her neighbors, and her back porch has great views of downtown Oakland.
Julie invited my parents and as the rest of the party is pot luck (she makes the latkes) she specifically asked my dad to bring tabbouli. Julie's mom is Syrian (Sephardic) Jewish, with at least one grandparent born in Beirut. So Julie, with her Ashkenazi last name, is half Arab just like I am. She loves Middle Eastern food - grew up on it. The Jews of Lebanon were a large, thriving and sophisticated community. They're scattered to the four winds now, with about a hundred left in the Beirut area.
From: aquari at aol.comNOJUNK (Libby)
Date: 11 Dec 2001 13:55:37 GMT
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Leila,
Thanks for posting this. Sounds wonderful to me. A fabulous party and tribute to roots of friends and family!
PS: Made pozole following the recipe you posted. I loved it. The only thing I did differently was to dredge the pork in cornmeal and brown it that way before putting everything together. I also added a few spoonsful of cornmeal to the pot of simmering goodies to help slightly thicken the liquid.. It was delicious! Will be a winter staple around here from now on.
From: aquari at aol.comNOJUNK (Libby)
Date: 11 Dec 2001 13:56:31 GMT
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Sherly,
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I wish I had time to make it right now!
Libby
From: J. Helman (jhelman at blazenet.net)
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 11:46:44 -0500
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Sheryl Rosen wrote:
> How could something so simple, made from the most humble of ingredients,
> taste SO good?????
Agreed. We had homemade latkes on Sunday night...and we're goyim. We're happy to have any excuse to eat the best potato pancakes in the world.
From: Harry A. Demidavicius (harry.d at shaw.ca)
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 06:32:34 GMT
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J. Helman wrote:
>Agreed. We had homemade latkes on Sunday night...and we're goyim.
>We're happy to have any excuse to eat the best potato pancakes in the
>world.
The Jews don't "own" latkes, The rest of us have been eating potato pancakes for years .....
From: Alan Zelt (alzelt at worldnet.att.netFINNFAN)
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 07:00:54 GMT
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Harry A. Demidavicius wrote:
> The Jews don't "own" latkes, The rest of us have been eating
> potato pancakes for years .....
OK, so we gave you a long-term lease.
From: penmart01 at aol.como (Sheldon)
Date: 12 Dec 2001 14:36:03 GMT
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Harry A. Demidavicius writes:
>The Jews don't "own" latkes,
Certainly not *potato* latkes.
From: Harry A. Demidavicius (harry.d at shaw.ca)
Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2001 04:41:44 GMT
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Sheldon wrote:
>Certainly not *potato* latkes.
Eh?
From: mhorowit at erols.com (Michael Horowitz)
Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2001 13:46:05 GMT
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Harry A. Demidavicius (harry.d at shaw.ca) wrote:
>Eh?
Potato-based latkes only in countries that had potatoes; for example, the US didn't have potatoes until they were imported. The Jewish Native Americans were forced to fried other veggies i.e. turnips
<absolutely no basis in fact for the last sentence<g>> - Mike
From: J. Helman (jhelman at blazenet.net)
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 18:43:21 -0500
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Harry A. Demidavicius wrote:
> The Jews don't "own" latkes, The rest of us have been eating
> potato pancakes for years .....
I've made potato pancakes in the style of many different ethnic groups...Irish, Polish, French, Jewish, and others. They're all potato pancakes, but they're all different, and of all those potato pancakes, latkes are the best. And when you follow a recipe for "latkes," you're eating latkes, whether you're Jews or goyim.
From: sackv at uni-duesseldorf.de (Victor Sack)
Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2001 07:51:12 +0100
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J. Helman wrote:
> I've made potato pancakes in the style of many different ethnic
> groups...Irish, Polish, French, Jewish, and others. They're all potato
> pancakes, but they're all different,
Most latke recipes are identical to Russian, Belorussian and Ukrainian oladyi, and also to Rievkooke (Reibekuchen), as made in the Rhineland. The very word 'latke' derives from the Russian 'oladya', and no doubt the recipe does as well.
From: MH (bastzine at worldnet.att.net)
Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2001 03:59:34 GMT
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After this thread, I made a bunch of the yummy little critters. They were excellent and will be excellent for breakfast tomorrow.
From: J. Helman (jhelman at blazenet.net)
Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2001 13:24:09 -0500
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Victor Sack wrote:
> Most latke recipes are identical to Russian, Belorussian and Ukrainian
> oladyi, and also to Rievkooke (Reibekuchen), as made in the Rhineland.
> The very word 'latke' derives from the Russian 'oladya', and no doubt
> the recipe does as well.
"oladyi," "rievkooke," and "reibekuchen," huh? I will have to check them out.
From: sackv at uni-duesseldorf.de (Victor Sack)
Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2001 07:51:18 +0100
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Harry A. Demidavicius wrote:
> The Jews don't "own" latkes, The rest of us have been eating
> potato pancakes for years .....
Hundreds of years.
Gran
who is very, very old
From: Harry A. Demidavicius (harry.d at shaw.ca)
Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2001 07:10:31 GMT
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Victor Sack wrote:
>Hundreds of years.
>
>Gran
>who is very, very old
And done in bacon grease, eh Gran....
YH&OGS
From: sackv at uni-duesseldorf.de (Victor Sack)
Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2001 07:58:01 +0100
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Harry A. Demidavicius wrote:
> And done in bacon grease, eh Gran....
Actually, a typical recipe, whether Russian or German, is perfectly kosher.
Gran
From: Michael Edelman (mje at spamcop.net)
Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2001 08:25:29 -0500
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Victor Sack wrote:
> Actually, a typical recipe, whether Russian or German, is perfectly
> kosher.
So long as the potato was slaughtered in the kosher manner.
From: Melba's Jammin' (barbschaller at earthlink.net)
Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2001 07:44:16 -0600
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Harry A. Demidavicius wrote:
> The Jews don't "own" latkes, The rest of us have been eating
> potato pancakes for years .....
Thanks, Dollink. I've a church cookbook wherein the submitter of the PP recipe adds that they're great with some applesauce when winter's cold and the budget's tight! You can get a bellyful without much expense.