latke pushers

[cellio]

Tonight I stopped by the Squirrel Hill Giant Eagle on the way home. On my way out there was a small group of people standing around a table; they stopped me and I saw the channukiyot on the table. This wasn't what I understand to be the standard Lubavich approach, though -- and frankly, they didn't look like Lubavichers. No, they offered me a latke; they had a griddle going. Then they asked if I was Jewish and tried to give me a channukiyah. :-) I don't know who they were, but mmm, latke. :-)

Comments

[ariannawyn.livejournal.com]

I made latkes last Saturday while the cookie decorating party was going on (and yes, there were Chanuka cookie cutters as well as Christmas ones). I was a little disheartened, though, that half my guests declined to even try them. My kids love them, and they are The World's Pickiest Eaters (tm) so it can't be that my latkes are unappetizing... can it? Anyway, I don't know if I'll make more before before Chanuka ends since I'm stressing enough over Christmas stuff right now.

Latkes would be easier with a food processer instead of just a manual grater, but there's something visceral I like about grating potatoes by hand. :-)

[cellio]

Wow -- people wouldn't eat latkes? What's wrong with those people? (Well, more for you, I guess. :-) )

I suspect you'd have to be careful with a food processor to not get them too fine and mushy. Food processors are great at turning solids into mush; I'm not sure how good they are at intermediate states.

Apple sauce -- chunky and warm, if possible.

[goljerp]

My mom has a recipe for food processor latkes. You use the "grater" attachment mostly, which gives a pretty good approximation of non-fine and mushyness. It's also a lot less time consuming.

Of course, there are those who say that in order to be "true latkes", they have to be made with a hand grater. Maybe it's something about the flavor of the bits of skin that get in :-) Or maybe it's just a macho thing.

Joy is a sour cream person; I tend to pick applesauce, just because... well, do I really need to add more fat to something fried in oil?

[cellio]

I suppose the right attachment would do wonders. I have only a minimalist food processor with one blade. It meets my needs most of the time, and it's easy to deal with (small, easy to clean).