Latke Love

Tonight, I made latkes, potato pancakes, for my children and grandchildren for Chanukah. The little ones are not very adventurous eaters; but I found that--following my son's guidlines--by making them extremely crisp they were eaten happily--three each. Crisp is better than soft.

It probably also helped that the youngest, my granddaughter, helped to peel and grate making her an accomplice. We grated baking potatoes on the coarse side of a four-sided grater and onion and added a few eggs (only three for six potatoes), a half cup of cornstarch (potato starch would be more traditonal but I didn't have any in the house), salt and pepper. I then let the mixture sit for an hour. At that point, it had given off a great deal of liquid which I spooned off leaving a rather dry mixture. Working in batches, I heated canola oil to almost the smoking point and spooned in the mixture in half cup amounts and flattened them with the back of a pancake turner. I let them get really crisp and brown and flipped them, drained them on paper towel and served them with their free-to-choose smoked salmon, sour cream, fresh apple sauce and horseradish. There were only about six left for take homes to be heated tomorrow in the microwave oven.

They were so good and the mix and match service so happy that I would do it again as a party meal, sort of the Jewish answer to Thai chicken soup.