Small, Good Things: This Spud’s for You

You Don’t Have to Be Jewish to Love Levy’s went the famous 1960s advertising campaign for Levy’s Jewish Rye, a Brooklyn brand.

It’s not a stretch to say that the sentiment applies to many examples of Jewish cooking — none more so than potato pancakes, or latkes, the Yiddish (actually, eastern Slavic) word for small fried pancakes that are the mainstay of Hanukkah dinners.

There is little agreement about what constitutes a traditional latke; the formula has taken on regional preferences over the centuries — onion or no onion, flour or no flour, oil or schmaltz (rendered poultry fat). Nor are potato pancakes exclusive to Yiddish cuisine. For instance, Ireland has over 90 terms relating to potatoes and quite a few pancake recipes. German reibekuchen and French paillasson are other variations. 

Latkes — at least the one I’m familiar with — are a central element of the menu to celebrate the liberation of Jerusalem from the Greek Macedonian empire. Grated potato shreds bound lightly by eggs and seasoned simply with salt and pepper, with grace notes added by familial traditions (e.g., onions, matzo), are fried quick and hot. The result is a crisp, filling medium for accompaniments such as applesauce, sour cream, lox or caviar. It’s a textbook example of comfort food.

The goyish rendition is close to my friend Rob’s preferred recipe, which he admits is from The New York Times. I’ve altered it a bit, following John and Matt Lewis Thorne’s suggestion to soak and drain the grated potatoes, reserving and using the condensed potato starch as an additional binder. As I couldn’t immediately locate matzo meal, I substituted panko crumbs for extra crispness and added baking powder to lighten the batter.

I’m partial to a 4- to 6-inch pancake, but a blini-sized latke could be a great delivery system for New Year’s Eve caviar. Fried and drained latkes can be frozen and reheated straight from the freezer on a parchment-lined sheet pan in a hot (400-degree) oven for 10 to 15 minutes.

Let us all celebrate this humble and crispy slab of tradition, family and comfort, ’cos you don’t have to be Jewish to love latkes.

Goyish Latkes
Makes 12 to 16 pancakes

• 2 large russet or Idaho potatoes (about 1 pound total), scrubbed, peeled and cut into quarters
• 1 medium large onion (about 8 ounces), peeled and cut into quarters
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• ½ cup matzo meal or panko 
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• Canola or grapeseed oil for frying
• Optional garnishes: applesauce, sour cream or crème fraîche, lox/gravlax, smoked salmon or salmon roe (or even caviar), chopped fresh dill or capers

1. Heat the oven to 250 degrees and prepare a sheet pan lined with paper towels. Grate the potatoes using a food processor with a coarse disc, or by hand. Transfer the grated potatoes to a bowl and cover with cold water for 20 minutes. 

2. Line a basket strainer with a clean dish towel set over another large bowl. Drain the potato-water mixture into the strainer, reserving the water. Twist and squeeze the grated and soaked potatoes in the dish towel, wringing as much water as possible into the drained water bowl. Pour off the potato water from the draining bowl, reserving only the heavy sludge of potato starch at the bottom, and keep it.

3. Dry the original bowl and add the drained grated potatoes. Add the grated onions, eggs, matzo or panko, baking powder, potato starch “sludge” and salt and pepper.

3. Heat ¼ cup oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, drop a heaping ¼ cup of the batter into the hot pan, lightly flattening it once with a spatula. Work in batches of four to six pancakes, frying them until the edges are brown and crisped (about 5 minutes). Flip the pancakes and cook until the other side is browned (another 5 minutes).

4. Transfer the latkes to the sheet pan and sprinkle with a bit more salt and pepper, keeping them warm in the oven while you cook the rest. Serve warm with the garnishes of your choice. Cooled latkes will freeze well and can be reheated effectively in a hot oven (but not microwave).