I dream about potato pancakes. There aren't enough Hanukkah parties to sate my appetite; I always want more.
I used to cry like a spoiled brat because even though I have the perfect recipe— and I do mean "the best latke you've ever tasted"— my routine took a couple hours of numbing handwork to prepare, and ruined any possibility of a quick fix.
I don't like squeezing water out of potato gratings in cheesecloth scraps until my arms fall off. I don't care to spend all day grating a mountain of potatoes plus part of my knuckles. Yet nothing but my own recipe satisfies me.
It turns out that immediate gratification IS possible with the right equipment. It took me twenty years to realize this, but no one should suffer as long as I did. The tools are everything in this recipe. There are no substitutions!
Susie's Perfect Latkes On Demand
2 1/2 - 3 cups grated potatoes, grated in a Cuisinart
1 onion— the size of a tennis ball, grated in a Cuisinart
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons fine matzo meal crumbs from the box— no other crumb will do!
2 T. sea salt
Lots of black pepper
2 T. butter
2 T. canola or safflower oil
Sour Cream
Applesauce
Preheat your oven to 250 degrees— you won't be baking, but you need a warm place to store your piles of fresh-cooked latkes. You'd like to think you could cram them all in your mouth at once, but be realistic— you need a spot to keep them hot.