Publicist Makes Pancakes
The newly launched Edible Series from Reaktion books explores the rich history of food—and the pleasure it gives us. Each title in the series focuses on one food or drink and its cultural history. In addition, each book includes a variety of recipes.
To kick-off the series, I have decided to try my hand at making one recipe from each of the first three books—Pancake, Pizza, and Hamburger—and document it here for entertainment and inspiration.
As Ken Albala shows in Pancake, pancakes are more than just maple-syrup drenched flapjacks— the world of the round, flat pancake encompasses everything from the French crêpe to the Egyptian katief and Indian dosa. And for this feature, I attempt to master the Jewish latke.
The ingredients: 3 Potatoes. I'm using yellow potatoes that are a little on the small side, so I've opted for 4; 1 onion; 1 egg; a pinch of salt; and enough matzoh meal—or flour in my case—to make a thick batter.
The first step is to peel the potatoes, the essential component of the latkes.
Next, I cut the potatoes into pieces small enough to fit in the food processor.
I then grated the potatoes and the onion in the food processor.
You'll find that once you get all the potatoes grated, you'll also have a large amount of liquid and starch accumulating in the bowl. I found that the easiest way to drain the potatoes is to place them on a clean dishtowel and wrap them up into a bundle.
Hold the bundle of potatoes over the sink, and they'll instantly begin to drain through the towel. Then, squeeze out as much liquid as you can.
Once they've drained, you can return them to the bowl and mix in the egg, salt, and matzoh meal or flour. Meanwhile, you can begin to heat a deep pan of vegetable oil.
Once the oil is up to temperature—You can test this by dropping in a small spoonful of batter into the pan. If it immediately begins to sizzle and get golden, then you know it is ready.—drop in the latke batter. I scooped the batter with a small measuring cup and then tried to flatten them out in the pan. Some turned out rounder than others, but that's part of their charm.
Here are the finished latkes plated for dinner. I served them with a side of homemade apple sauce and cream of butternut squash and apple soup for a perfectly autumnal dinner.
To find more international pancake recipes and to learn the delicious history of this treasured food, check out Pancake: A Global History.
—Carrie Olivia Adams. With photos by Taylor Adams