Latkes
Many have had opinions on the proper latke recipe. This has been assembled and tested over the years from not any one place, but from all places – taking the best parts of each latke recipe and, much like the latkes themselves, smushing them together into a coherent whole. By mixing both pureed ingredients and chopped, the recipe achieves the best of both worlds: a cohesive latke that doesn’t disintegrate during cooking, but which still contains the lovely potato and onion texture. Although you can certainly cut this recipe in half, what’s a holiday tradition without making enough to share with your friends and family?
Ingredients
- 30 lbs shredded potatoes (you can use hashbrowns)
- 12 white onions (or 12 cups pre-diced onions)
- 27 eggs
- 6 cups corn starch (or potato starch)
- 6 tablespoons baking powder
- 10 tablespoons salt
- 10 teaspoons pepper
- 1 gallon of applesauce
- ½ gallon of sour cream
- 1.5 gallons vegetable oil
Directions
- Pour in ¼” oil onto a griddle and heat to 375-400°F. Do not start cooking until oil is hot.
- In a Food Processor, make a paste of ½ the shredded potatoes, ⅔ of the onions, eggs, corn starch, baking powder, salt, pepper. Mix the paste into the remaining shredded potatoes and onions for texture.
- Grab a handful of the paste-potato-onion mixture and squeeze out extra moisture. Form it into a flat patty and set it in the hot oil. Latke size is approximately ⅓ cup.
- Cook a test latke to make sure all is well – should take 3-5 minutes per side depending on thickness and oil temperature. Latke should be crisp and brown on both sides and flavorsome. Add salt to the mixture at this time if needed.
- Once the test latke comes out correct, make latkes in batches of 6 to 8 at a time. Do not overfill the skillet or else oil temperature will drop too low and latkes will not cook.
- Cook time for each batch is about 10 minutes. Remove the burnt crumbs from the oil between batches and refill the oil as needed.
- Store cooked latkes in chafing dishes 3-4 latkes deep so they can be kept warm until serving, using rack to allow oil to drain – do not use paper towels.
Serve with dollop of applesauce or sour cream. Makes about 350 latkes.
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