Can I Freeze LATKES Mixture?

Factual Questions
1

;j In an attempt to be “on the ball” this year, for the Jewish holiday of Channukah, I’m wondering if I can freeze the mixture for latkes (potato pancakes) and then just thaw it out when I need it and fry it. Unfortunately, most people I ask reply with, “OMG, you make them from scratch? Only my Bubbe made them from scratch! Why don’t you use the Manischewitz mix?”

EVERYBODY KNOWS “FROM SCRATCH” is better… :smack:

In case you aren’t familiar with what goes into latkes, these are the ingredients that you mix together:

~ 5 large potatoes, peeled and grated
~ 1 large onion grated
~ 3 eggs
~ 1/3 cup flour
~ 1 tsp. Salt
~ ¼ tsp. pepper
~ Plus my secret ingredient which is a peeled and grated apple
(so much for secret :rolleyes: )

The deal with LATKES is that you get all that stuff together and then fry them in about 1/2 cup of oil.

So I’m wondering how those potatoes and eggs do, raw and frozen. Anybody ever do this? If I get real “Martha Stewart-ish” about this, I could pre-measure the amount needed for a latke then freeze them separately.

Thanks for any help… and if you use the apple this year, think of me when you’re putting on the pounds! LOL :smiley:

2

My gut feeling is that neither raw potatoes nor raw eggs would do very well being frozen. What about frying up the latkes and then freezing them? They could be reheated in the oven or in a pan with a little oil.

3

Just go ahead and fry the suckers… They’ll all get eaten up whenever you make them! :slight_smile:

And I’m not sure about re-heating pre-fried latkes, either - although that idea sounds more promising than freezing the batter.

4

I know for a fact Pre-Fried doesn’t work well at all. Might as well use Manischewitz at that point…

Noone … my point is that I’ll be VERY VERY busy during this time and I was trying to get the mess out of the way.

Oh G-d tell me I won’t have to get up at 5am for this!

5

Maybe refrigerating (not freezing!) the batter overnight could work? And then you can do the actual frying sometime in the next, oh, say 24 hours?
Anyone else with input? 'Cos the last time I made latkes from scratch was when I was still in high school, living with my parents… (hint: I’ve just turned 40)

6

Noone … Tell me you don’t use the Manischewitz mix! LOL

7

I suggest fry the latkes then freeze them.

  1. Fry latkes
  2. Drain on paper towels placed over newspapers (sops up the excess oil very well)
  3. Place latkes, in single layer, on wax paper covered cookie sheets and place in freezer
  4. When latkes are thoroughly frozen, remove from cooke sheets and put in ziploc baggie
  5. Keep frozen until ready to use

On the night you want to serve them, simply put them on cookie sheets (in a single layer) and bake them in a preheated 400°F oven. It is much like making frozen Ore-Ida french fries or hash browns.

I have done this before and it worked out fine. Not as wonderfully crispy as fresh from the frying pan, but still good.