Telling it latke is
The secret behind the perfect potato pancake can be as easy to find as your mother’s kitchen, or as hard to track down as good home cooking in a New York coffee shop.
For the issue of the New York Daily News Sunday Magazine that would be published in the days prior to Hanukkah 1989, the editor, the great Jay Maeder, asked me to file a definitive recipe for the potato pancakes many New Yorkers, Jewish and gentile alike, know as latkes. (Foods cooked in oil, such as latkes, are symbolic of the Hanukkah miracle.)
A definitive recipe for latkes in New York of all places? That’s no small ask. I felt under great pressure and couldn’t call my mother for help. She was – and continues to be – that rarity amongst her generation, a Jewish mother who didn’t make her own latkes. And who was I to feel cheated, then or now? It was her limitations in the kitchen that inspired me at a very early age to seek better food elsewhere, notably at public restaurants, study abroad, learn to cook, and become a food writer. If she had been a great cook, I might never have left home.
I sought guidance from the late Frances Edelstein, who pampered Broadway big shots with her Jewish home cooking at the Cafe Edison, a hotel coffee shop that closed in 2014. These were her detailed directions:
I put the potatoes and the onion and a little bit eggs and a little matzo meal, a little flour and salt, and that’s all. Then, I make hot the frying pan and I put a little vegetable oil. With the spoon, I fry them on both sides. And that’s the potato pancake.
Absolutely.
For a smidgen more detail I turned to Lenny Zabrowsky, the second-generation owner of Moisha’s Luncheonette, a Lower East Side diner that endures today only in scenes from the Paul Mazursky film Moscow on the Hudson. When I asked Zabrowsky how his latkes compared to his mother’s, he hesitated.
“The ones in the store are delicious,” he replied. “When mother makes them, they are tasty.”
For the latke recipe, reprinted below for the first time in 23 years, I borrowed a little of this from Frances Edelstein and a little of that Lenny Zabrowsky,
It’s the recipe I used when, in 2009, I froze my toches off for a couple of a weeks as a Covent Garden holiday peddler dishing out latkes.
To prevent the potatoes from discolouring, I first prepared the latke mixture in my home kitchen without the eggs and then poured the beaten eggs over its surface, creating a protective coating. At Covent Garden I stirred the egg into the potato mixture.
Another way to protect your latkes is to par-fry them. Lenny Zabrowsky sautéed his latkes just until lightly golden on both sides and then stored them in the refrigerator until needed. And therein lies the difference between delicious and tasty: His mother, blessed be her memory, never knew of such a thing as a par-fried latke.
POTATO LATKES
Makes about 10 pancakes
4 medium potatoes (such as Russet or Yukon Gold in US, King Edward or Maris Piper in UK, Bintje in France and much of Europe)
1 medium onion
1 large egg, beaten
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons matzo meal (substitute finely crushed crackers or breadcrumbs)
salt and ground white pepper to taste
vegetable oil
sour cream or apple sauce, optional
Peel and grate the potatoes and onion, using the medium-size holes of a hand grater or the medium-grating attachment of a food processor.
Place the grated potatoes and onion on a double layer of paper (kitchen) towels, fold the towels around them and, working over the sink, twist and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
Combine the potatoes and onion in a bowl with the egg, flour, matzo meal, salt and white pepper. Mix well.
Heat 1/2-to-1 inch of oil in a frying pan. Over medium heat, drop a heaping tablespoon of the mixture in the pan and press gently with a spatula to flatten into a pancake. Do not overcrowd. Fry until the bottom is crisp and golden brown with glistening dark highlights, then turn and fry the other side.
Serve with apple sauce or sour cream.
How does your preferred method for making latkes differ from mine, Sue?
I'll be fresh frying mine on Sunday. Thanks for sharing your recipe Daniel and the variations from some fellow New Yorkers. Rather handily I have some home made apple sauce in my freezer. I find sour cream too overpowering.