How Do Latkes Work?

the Oil that lasted eight days. The story goes that over two thousand years ago, after a small rebel squad led by Judith mccabee drove religious oppressors from their land, they went to rededicate their temple, but most of the holy oil for their lamps had been desecrated. As miraculous as their victory was, this one day's worth of oil

lasted eight Eating oily or fried foods to celebrate. The holiday goes back to the eighth dred Ce at least, but potatoes are native to the America's They wouldn't arrive in Europe until the fifteen hundreds, and they weren't really popular there until the seventeen hundreds, when a French dude who practically lived on them during his stint in a Bavarian prison promoted them as an inexpensive and hardy sustenance food. So what were lucas made with until then? It turns

out ricotta and other cheeses. Okay. This is because sometime around the twelve or thirteen hundreds, rabbinic discourse started linking the victory of Judah over his oppressors with the fictional tale of Judith's victory over her oppressors led by Holofernes. She fed him salty cheese so that he had drink too much and she could behead him. Lots of art

depicts the scene. It's pretty metal. Um So cheese was becoming a traditional hannock of food around that time, and then in the late fourteen hundreds, Spanish rulers in Sicily expelled the Jewish people living there. They fled to northern Italy and beyond and brought with them recipes for Southern Italian ricotta pancakes. It turned out to be the perfect cultural combination, and fried ricotto latcas were the norm in Eastern Europe through the eight hundreds. During that time, a

couple of things happened that set the stage for potato latcas. First, in Eastern Europe, potatoes were being planted as a sustenance food where other crops were failing, so potatoes were cheap and plentiful, whereas cheese was more expensive. And Second, okay, we're gonna need to talk about Jewish dietary guidelines called kosher laws. They forbid eating dairy products and meat products during the same meal, or even cooking and serving them

with the same kitchen and dining gear. So if you're making dairy based cheese latcas, that means you have to fry them in either butter or a neutral fat like a vegetable or olive oil. But butter was also expensive, and vegetable oils could be even pricier because they slee had to be imported. A popular cooking fat at that time and place was chicken fat or schmaltz. You can't cook cheese pancakes and schmaltz, but you can cooked potato

pancakes in it. Through the nineteen hundreds, the potato became so synonymous with latka that you don't have to specify anymore, though you can find lots of different recipes made with different ingredients. The traditional kind today calls for grated potatoes, shredded onion, egg, salt and pepper, mots of meal or bread crumbs as a binder, and vegetable oil to cook them in. You stir the batter together, ladle small scoops into a hot pam about a quarter cup or sixty

million liters per scoop. Then pan fry the pancakes until they're golden brown and lacy on the edges something like four inches or ten centimeters across. You might eat them with your hands in just a couple of bites, dipped in or topped with apple sauce, sour cream, or both, often as a side dish with Hanuka dinners. They're crispy on the outside and creamy soft on the side, salty and starchy and satisfying for the article of this episode

is based on How Stuff Works. Spoke with cookbook author, blogger and latca expert Amy Kreitzer back in twenty nineteen. She explained that the basic latka is always good, but that you can get creative. To quote, one of my favorite toppings is just a little bit of cream, cheese and locks and then some other bagel toppings like an everything bagel, spice or some red onion. I've also done a latca's eggs benedict for breakfast, and then recently I

just did fried pickles latcas. She does have more traditional potato preferences, though her grandmother's go to the rest it. She said they're the starchiest, they're cheap, and I think they make the best Latka's. She would also use some grated with onion and would grade it with the potato, which helps keep them from browning. But to get your latcas too crisp up appropriately in the pan, we must

turn to sign ants. You want to squeeze as much moisture from your grated potatoes as possible before you mix them with your other ingredients. Either press them between paper towels or ring them out in a cheese cloth. That way, when you put them in the hot oil in the pan, they don't steam. Okay, You want your oil to be up around three hundred and fifty degrees fahrenheit, that's one

seventy seven celsius. Water, of course, boils all the way down at two hundred and twelve fahrenheit or one celsius. So when you put your latcas in the pan, the water in the potatoes will immediately start vaporizing into steam, which will create a barrier on the surface of the latkas, preventing the oil from browning them. The longer the latcas sit in the pan, the more oil they'll soak up,

making them more soggy than crunchy. At the end, you squeeze out excess water from the potatoes so they'll crisp up nice and quick. It also helps to keep the pan hot by using a heavy pan that holds heat well like cast iron, and cooking in small batches. And one last lacca crisping trick, repurpose the potato starch that you squeezed out. Kretzer said. One thing I do now that I didn't do growing up is I saved the

starch from the potatoes while shredding them. I squeeze out all the liquid, then let it sit for about ten minutes. Then when you drain off the water on the bottom, there's this white starch, which is actually potato starch. I add that back for my lacas, which helps them stay crispy. Today's episode is based on the article How lacas became Honaka's favorite food on how stuff works dot Com, written

by Stephanie Vermillion. Brain Stuff is production of by Heart Radio and partnership with how stuff Works dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows