2 lb potatoes, peeled
1 large onion
1 salt, pepper, fat for frying
Directions
Grate the potatoes and the onion (easiest in a food processor with a
grating blade) Put into a tea towel and squeeze dry
Season quite well with salt and lots of pepper
Take a large tablespoon or so of the mixture and shallow fry in 1/2
inch oil until golden brown, flattening it a bit to form a sort of
thick potato pancake about tablespoon size when you put it in the
pan, and turn once so that both sides cook. Drain on absorbent
paper, and keep warm in a low oven. Can re-heat in a microwave.
Good oil is the safest frying medium, but for true authenticity use
goose fat (for a meat meal), Butter and oil mixed is also good for a
dairy meal (Kosher dietary laws rigidly separate meat and milk).
Some people add an egg to the mixture, and compensate for the
additional liquid with flour or matzo meal. Personally I think this
makes the texture insipid.
If you are feeling fancy, put some metal cookie cutters into the pan,
and put the potato mixture into these, to get perfect circles.
If you make them thin you can call them galettes (but that is a
different culture)
For a low fat version (shame!) mix 2 tbsp oil with the potato, and
spread thin circles on baking parchment. Bake in hot oven turning
once until crisp. Not authentic.
You will need to make lots. Seventeen Latkes is the most I have known
anyone eat at one sitting...four or five is normal
Servings: 1 servings
Latkes (J.lang) Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Vegetable
The History of Recipes
It is quite possible to track the history of recipes far back into antiquity, at least as far into history as early Egypt, and quite possibly further than that. Interesting though that maybe, generally, these ancient recipes were just primitive hieroglyphic or cunieform recipes for preparing meals.
Interestingly, the oldest recipe found, according to historians is a collection of tablets in ancient Sumerian which recount the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made anyone who drank it feel wonderful and blissful. During Roman times 25BC a roman called Apicius wrote some documents detailing recipes cooked by the Romans. In his publication, Apicius recounts how the meals were split into hors d`oeuvre, main meal and dessert, a style of dining still practiced today. Aspicius informs us how the early Romans made use of a wide range of spices and herbs, including a few that are still present in modern kitchens for example basil, rue and dill. Closer to modern times, we find some recipe books which appeared in the fourteenth century ; one book entitled `Forme of Cury`, and another entitled `Curye on Inglish`. Amusingly, these are unconnected to the indian food that is popular today, but rather recipes for the types of meals cooked for the nobility of the period. Later, in the 15th century, people returning from the crusades brought back many foods and herbs from the Middle-East, including parsley and basil. These new spices and herbs prompted an eruption in recipe publications, many of which still exist in private collections. During the succeeding few centuries, the powerful and wealthy houses competed to offer the most exotic meals, and as a result the best cooks and their recipe collections were much in demand. Even so, it wasn`t until the 19th century that haute cuisine and recipe collections became really popular. The Famous Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Merritt Farmer in the USA, dedicated the best years of their lives to assembling, testing, and recording recipes of the day. By the time we get to the twentieth century, cook books are in great demand, mostly as a result of increased literacy, more leisure time and having more money. Like it or not, the introduction of TV gave us TV cookery programs and the recipe books that accompanied them. And that pretty much brings us to the present day and the invention of the internet, permitting everybody to search through massive numbers of recipes just like those on this recipe site. |
We hope you enjoy this Latkes (J.lang) recipe.
