Classic Latkes

Ephraim Greenblatt Ephraim Greenblatt
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When Shmaltz first opened, deep in my bones I knew it needed to be a place where we served sandwiches and latkes. We spent the first two months making at latkes on our griddle, and it was a disaster, because of texture and orders taking too long. We basically had one worker coming in just to do latkes.

Eventually, our latkes evolved, and we ended up with a version where we’d just scoop a batter straight into the fryer, resulting in a golf ball-shaped latke. It’s crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside, and because our potatoes are mostly pre-cooked, our latkes have a properly textured center, without the outside being burned. We’re very proud of our latkes, and we serve them every day. Around Chanukah time we probably make about half a million of them. At least it feels that way.

Yields about 50

40m 10
Easy Vegetarian Pescatarian No Refined Sugar Parve

Contains: Egg, Gluten, Wheat

Directions

  1. Cut one kilo (seven medium) potatoes in chunks and boil in salted water until soft. Transfer potatoes to a bowl, reserving the water.

  2. In a bowl, mash the potatoes using a fork, potato masher, baseball bat, or other masher of choice.

  3. Using a fine-hole grater, grate the remaining one kilo (seven medium) raw potatoes.

  4. Soak grated potatoes in the reserved cooking water for about 10 minutes, until softened. Drain.

  5. Add softened grated potatoes to the bowl of mashed potatoes. Add grated onion, egg, salt, black pepper, flour, and cornstarch. The batter should be pretty thick (see “potato flakes” note).

  6. In a pot, heat two inches of oil until it reaches 350 degrees Fahrenheit. (Make sure the oil is not too hot, or the outside of the latkes will crisp before the inside has a chance to fully cook.)

  7. Using a small ice cream scoop, form balls of latke batter. Fry until dark brown, flipping as needed to keep latkes submerged and cooking evenly.

Credits

Notes:
Potato flakes: If the batter is too liquidy, or if the batter is perfect but you wait until the next day to use it, and now it is too liquidy, add potato flakes to thicken it.

Scoop size: If your ice cream scoop is too big, fill it halfway.

Description:
Photo and Styling by Yossi and Malky Levine

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