Happy Hanukah! Tonight was just DH and me, on Friday the family is coming for dinner. Saturday I have the grands for some of the day and all night so we'll do a little baking then.
I don't think I'm making a brisket, but if I don't what should I make besides latkes?

Reporting in for Chanukah news from Central Florida:-) Last night DH didn't get home until late, so we did not make latkes because they don't keep well at all (at least mine don't). Tonight, we're making cheese latkes, which have a cottage cheese and egg base (kind of like blintzes)and are lighter than potato latkes. They are my DS Benjamin's favorites. We serve them with vanilla yogurt and a sprinking of cinnamon sugar. On Sunday, my whole clan is gathering at our house and there will be brisket and potato latkes. It seems so traditional to have brisket with the latkes. My family rebels if I suggest something else.

Jessy, I absolutely love that Hannukiah - it is evocative of so many's people's family histories. My family came through Ellis Island also, as did my DH's.

Ellen, what about roasted chicken to go with your latkes? To offset all that heavy food, I like to make a big chopped salad and a lighter, fruit based dessert (unless someone brings jelly donuts, then it's a free for all).

Beautiful soufganiyot, AM. What type of jam will you fill them with? I'd love to try making them, but I am a "fry-phobic", and making the latkes is all the frying I can handle in one week:-)

Carol, your brisket looks great and despite the fact that it fell apart (isn't it supposed to?), I bet it was delish.

Gell, shredded meaning in the food processor? Then they don't get the special "grated knuckle" flavoring:-) Actually, I prepare the potatoes both ways, depending on the quantity of latkes I'm making and whether or not I have time to hand grate everything. We like them very crispy.

Here's another question for those that make latkes: do you use matzo meal or flour to bind them?

Happy Chanukah to all!!!
DONNA

From this Irish/German Catholic girl, LOL, I just heard on Mike Colameco's food talk radio show the other day from a Jewish chef that matzoh meal or corn meal makes the best latkes with the best crispy edges.

...and from this Scots-Irish/German Catholic (former anyway) girl, I have used pancake mix. I also grate the potatoes. This recipe makes the bestest latkes :)

4 medium potatoes
1 small onion, diced
1/2 cup pancake mix
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. sour cream
2 eggs
Pepper

Peel and grate potatoes ... squeeze out excess liquid. Peel and grate onions. Combine in large bowl, add the rest of ingredients and mix well.

Heat oil in skillet, drop tbsp. of batter at a time, flatten with pancake turner. When bottoms are brown, flip over. Drain on paper towels. I serve them with applesauce or just plain.

My kids love these.

Oh Jessy, that menorah made me cry too, I am not kidding. I am either a softie or this darn depression is REALLY getting to me. It is so touching. I never thought about our ancestors and what they went through to populate this country. What a beautiful reminder.
Happy whatever it is!
Sherry

Happy Chanukah everyone. Jessy, I love it too - and your story....

Stacy

Happy Chanukah to everyone from me too!!

Ellen "besides latkes"!! "as in addition too" not "instead of" I hope....I love Latkes. Will have to make some this weekend in honour of all my Jewish cyber pals.

Happy Chanukah! I, too, love that hannukiah, Jesse. What a good reminder, Jesse, of what so many went through to get here, and why.

Sally

We shred, then rinse/drain, and pulse with onion/egg/matzah meal.

Check out what DH brought home.....ROFL....

By shred I mean almost like hash browns; by grate I mean completely pulverized. Like the big holes vs. the little holes on a hand grater.

I have not used the hand grater for years. I grate (see above) in the food processor by using the steel blade. So the batter is fine. I use flour, not matzo meal.

Last year I squeezed out the liquid, but this year I forgot, and they were even better (and much easier). We all thought they were the best we've ever had. I have to credit the difference to (A) a new, deep pan and (B) using peanut oil. I had always used Crisco, but this year I have a giant bottle of peanut oil, and I decided to try it. I won't go back to Crisco! Oh, also, I usually triple my recipe, and this year I didn't; maybe that helped, too.

Compumom, we never have brisket with our latkes, because we love sour cream as well as applesauce with them. We're trying to eat less, so we had fish for dinner with one latke each as a side (but we each snuck an extra). But usually I like to let the latkes be the centerpiece with a protein side, like tuna salad. No one ever cares about anything except the latkes anyway!

When someone else makes the potato latkes, I make apple latkes, a recipe I learned from a potato-allergic friend who visited at Chanuka one year. They are great, almost like a fritter -- serve with cinnamon sugar. Halfway to sufganiyot (which I don't love).

carol - who cares if brisket falls apart? I like the little pieces better anyway. MMMMMMMMM

lackboys, great news -- you can indeed make latkes ahead. Reheat them in the oven, single layer on a baking sheet and they will crisp up fine. My husband and I each had one heated that way for breakfast this morning and they were 99% as good as at dinner last night. I always make them way ahead when there will be a huge crowd.

Happy Hanukkah!!

Latkes Thursday night for us, it's the first night of the holiday that we'll all be home for dinner with no rush. I make mine shredded using my KA mixer shredder, and I use matzo meal (not flour). I've never tried cornmeal, good idea. Problem is that I specifically buy extra matzo meal at Passover for use with latkes so if I mess up and don't buy enough one year, maybe I'll try the corn meal.

One year when the kids were little, I decided to make a different kind of latke every night of the holiday. Let's see how many I can remember, potato (of course), cabbage, zucchini, apple, cheese, ..... that's only five! Anyway, by the end of the holiday, I was SICK of frying. It got gross! LOL. But my kids have never forgotten it.

We always have a Havurah Hanukkah Party on the Saturday night during Hanukkah, and our hostess makes latkes. I swear to you, they get weirder every year. First few times she shredded them by hand, then she got lazy, looking for new ways to shred. Last year she put them in the BLENDER! They had a weird texture, and were very brown because she'd prepared them the day before (and fried them when we came). I've considered volunteering to make the latkes myself one of these years, but hey, whatever, it's not my party!

Hello Hanukkah folks. Hope you're enjoying.

In our office we have a row of Hanukkah rubber duckies. Each one has a Jewish symbol on it. We set them up facing away from us and every day we turn one around. Yesterday afternoon we sang the Dreidle Song. I used to go to religious school with my best friend as a child and learned the Dreidle Song and the hora and lots of other good stuff.

Only one person in the office is Jewish -- my secretary. Gives us an excuse to celebrate even more.

Happy Hanukkah (laughing at gina!)

Enjoy - what I wouldn't do for a latke!

Jesse - I too love your hannukiah. So special.

Maggie

I too craved latkes after reading this thread, so I made some. Someone stop me from eating the whole batch :) I didn't have any pancake mix, substituted ap flour.

lowspark --
I think many people use a blender (I never have). Doesn't Debbie Friedman's "Latke Song" refer to a blender? I am going to see her at a reunion next year; I will try to remember to ask her if that's how her family made them!

DH does it CI style. We shred in the FP, rinse in a colander over a large bowl. He dries out the potatoes as well as he can with paper towels, and slowly pours off the water from the bowl after the starch has settled in the bottom. He reincorporates the starch into the potato shred, and then mixes that with the FP chopper blade with the onion, egg and matza meal.

We use the shredding blade on the FP. The're more like hash browns that way, which is my favorite way. I cannot stand them made ahead, too greasy, so usually DH is out back with two electric fry pans going while I pop the freshly made ones on a cookie sheet lined with papertowels into the warming oven. When he's done, dinner is served. Sometimes I use flour, other times matzoh meal, it depends what I have around. On Friday, he'll be working until 6:30 so I guess he'll skip latke duty. they're predicting rain, so if it's pouring, I'll cheat and us Kosher Kinneret's frozen variety. I use them anyway from time to time and they're quite good.
DD made her first latkes last night. She adores latkes but swore it would be the last time. I told her that's why Daddy makes them outside. She laughed and said that's the only way it'll happen again! LOL!

Ellen: you need a Ventahood. Ours is so powerful it can blow anything [visual of Jessica with a big happy grin - because her kitchen doesn't smell like grease, getchermindouttathegutter]

Oops, I meant to as if that picture was real.

Sally

Sally - yes. Scroll down a little, I provided a link to Digg.

Sorry Sally my bad - the link is a bit down in THIS thread.

Here is a link that might be useful: Digg

Okay, I missed the other thread. What a hoot!

Sally

Happy Chanukah!

Happy Hanukkah, friends!

Wishing all a Happy Hanukkah, from a Lutheran German household.

Thanks to this forum, I try to make latkes each year, and I am planning to do so on Saturday. I have learn a lot about this FESTIVAL and will never forget the thread from both Jessy and Renee-Bubbe about the customs.

Now I need to get me a brisket.....

Okay, you all inspired me...

Here's what I did. Used cornmeal instead of flour. Peanut oil. Deep pan like always. Didn't squeeze and drain...not much "juice" anyway.

But here's the kicker, I got DH to do the taters on the mandoline. We set it for a very thin slice on the shoestring cutter. Amazing! We all agreed they were by far the best ever.

Hag Sameach everyone!

Happy Chanukah/Hanukah to y'all! What's up with the two different spellings/phrases???

I've really learned a lot about the Jewish holidays here and I'm very thankful for that having never been exposed to them before. Y'all sure do put out the food and you know I love anything fried so this one is right up my alley.

ROFL @ the ham sale pic from EJ's DH!

David

Jessy: I'm going to be an Honorary Jew for a week.
I was going to ask how to make apple latkes and how you serve them. but

Ohiomom, Put in a recipe. I didn't know she was Italian???

Lucy: I didn't know you were Jewish ???

Jessy: You can still tell me How to do the Apple Latkes and
do you put on anything when you serve them.( I mean on the Latkes )
See that, I beat you to it !!!!! I know now , how your mind works.
Do you believe, I'm Jewish ????

OK : I'll sing you a song.

Eife I vouz ae yrich man !!! Ya vi da va di ve di ve dum.
How did I do ???

Happy Chanukah !!!!!
LOU

Lou, you are the closest person I know to an Italian Tevye (the deedle deedle dum guy)!

To answer David's question, there's a sound in Hebrew (and Yiddish) that we don't have in English: it's somewhere between an "h" and a "k" and sorta sounds like you're clearing your throat! Some systems of transliteration spell it as "ch," and others use an "h." Which system to use is just a matter of preference (I like "ch" because it sends my brain a signal to pronounce it differently).

Years ago, I made latkes from scratch, but nowadays I just open a box. BTW, Manischewitz's home-style mix is shredded, like a hash brown patty, but very peppery.

Chag sameach/happy holiday!

Sue

Jesse, my mom is the little girl in the red babushka. She's 8 yrs. old and has an eye infection so Nana hid her under her apron and told the authorities she's very shy. Thank God it worked.

Love your menorah, would love to be able to put that out. We had latkes too. Sandy

Jessy : You don't love me anymore
LOU

Lou of course I love you I just checked this thread!!!! OY! Serves me right for hanging out on Hot Topics for a bit instead of here, eh?

Apple latkes: never made them, nekkid or not! If you find a great recipe, let me know! Zucchini latkes sound great right now.... I love your song. I love all your singing!

David: Sue is right. Clear your throat and add 'anukah'. There, you are fluent in semitic languages; that'll hold you in Hebrew and Arabic.

Sandy: your Nana was very smart. I won't get started about modern day illness coming across our borders.

Lou, we all love you!!!!

Put applesauce and/or sour cream on your potato latkes.
On your apple latkes, vanilla yogurt or even cinnamon sugar would be delicious! I don't know what Jessy likes to put on the apple latkes, but they sure are tasty. I also make sweet potato latkes, and we eat those with cinnamon applesauce. They are all DELISH!!! My dear MIL (of blessed memory) used to make the boxed ones all the time. She grated a raw potato into it, and they were just fine. I've never tried the box, but now you've got me curious to try the Manischewitz.

Sue, your explanation for the different spellings of Chanukah/Hanukkah was spot on. I've always spelled it with the CH, that's just how I learned it. When I see the CH, it makes me clear my throat:-)
DONNA

To our confused Gentile friends: the correct spelling of the holiday is

chet, nun, vov, kaf, hey. In either Hebrew or Yiddish. From right to left.

How you transliterate it into Roman characters depends on what system (if any) you are using. But you really can't spell it wrong in English!

My Friend David's Apple latkes (for a crowd)

3 eggs
6 T sugar
3 t salt
1 c water
9 apples (I like McIntosh)
2 c flour (approx. - depends on apples)
3 t cinnamon

Beat eggs; shred peeled, chopped apples in FP. Mix apples, eggs, sugar, salt, water, cinnamon, and flour in big bowl. Add up to 1/2 c extra flour if too liquidy. Fry in plenty of shortening [or oil] over slow/medium heat until golden brown and firm. Serve with cinnamon sugar.

Gellchom

Thanks for the apple latke recipe, I will definitely make this.

Lou ... I am Italian ? Who knew ... LOL ! Not my parents, that is for sure.

Peace

Ohiomom: With that mixture of ethnic groups, your Italian.
I made some Latkes, I couldn't follow your recipe,all the way,
because I didn't have all the ingredients, so I subbed.

Latkes
I used 2 xlarge eggs. Separated 1 white and beat w 2 teaspns of sugar,
until it peaked and put it on the side.
1 cup of apple chopped small.
2/3 cup onions chopped small
2 heaping Tablespoons of Whipped Cream Cheese
3 tablespoons of milk
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 Tablespoon of Sugar
1/2 cup of Buttermilk Pancake Flour.
1 cup of Instant Potatoes
I mixed all this mess and folded in the beaten Egg White.

Had to try some for lunch!!!!!
I cooked some in a Fry Pan and a couple in a Waffle Baker.
I didn't have any Sour Cream so I used Whipped Cream on top.
They were pretty good.
I don't know what they are supposed to look like but
Here is a Photo

{{!gwi}}

Jessy :
You have a Jewish name for a Crazy non Jewish person !!!
Watch it , I'm an Honorary Jew this week.
Thanks for lunch.
LOU

Oh my, the waffle one looks yummy !! I traded my waffle iron for a bread machine on Recycle ... used the bread machine one time. There it sits, all wrapped up with nowhere to go.

Maybe I will go back and make another trade ... LOL !

Lou, your creative latke recipe is very close to a potato pancake my grandma & mom used to make. It had shredded potato, shredded apple, shredded banana squash & grated onion in it. I loved them so much that when I'd come home from college, they were the one food I always requested my mom to make for me.

Sue -- who is not Jewish but went to U.S Grant High School in Van Nuys during the 60s and had several Jewish best friends.

My son goes to preschool in a church and today they did the dreidel, dreidel, dreidel song and made a dreidel craft AND had potato latkes with applesauce for snack. When I asked him in the car on the way home what he had for snack that is exactly how he answered!

His school rocks!

Thanks for splaining that to me Sue and Jessy. Ahem cough...Happy Chanukah!

David

Lou: I have a Jewish name for you. You are a MENSCH. Look THAT one up.

Lou
My Step FIL was Jewish.

Happy Chanukah too all, once again.

Lucy

I just realized that I hadn't yet added my greeting to all our friends celebrating Chanukah.

Happy Chanukah to everyone! Enjoy your holidays and family gatherings.

SharonCb

I'm late too but certainly want to send good wishes and Happy Chanukkah to you.

Cathy

Jessy : Watch it kid. I resemble that remark.!!!
What does it mean???

Sharon ;Thank You

Lucy : How did you manage that? ( Step FIL )

Lou,
DH has 1 dad, & had 1 step dad.

Happy Chanukah/Hannukah everyone!

Mmmmm. Latkes, I have to have some. Sorry I'm late, I just returned from my "christmas present" trip with Elery, we went to Nashville and saw the Rockette's Holiday Show, something I've always wanted to do. It was awesome.

Now I'm home and can start celebrating. I have a brisket in my freezer but I haven't decided yet whether I'll cook it for just me. Probably not, but I am definitely making Latkes! Tonight! Is it OK if I have mine with no sour cream, no applesauce, just wonderfully crunchy, hot, salt and peppered greasy latkes?

Happy, happy holidays.

Annie

Annie is back! We (the royal we) wants a FULL report!

Lou, you're going to have to google that word (grin). Don't worry, it won't bite you. I might, but 'mensch' won't.

Cathy & Annie,
Not too late at all! The holiday goes on for eight days you know, tonight's the fourth candle.

Jessy : I googled . I was right!!! I resemble that remark.
And You can bite me anytime.But I might bite back !!!!!
Whoooooooeeeee!!!

Well I did the Latkes with onions but
I like them with out the onions and
just Apples chopped fine.
Then I can put on all that sweet stuff.
They were good in the Waffle Baker too.
LOU