Jewish Dopers: latke question (and a few others)

Cafe Society
1

Does anyone else put parsnip in latkes?

Anyone use anything besides potatoes to enhance the flavor? I’ve met a few people who add a very finely grated carrot (one even used a food processor to puree it). I met someone who used a little parsley. I have heard of people putting beet in them, but never actually met anyone who did this-- I’m betting it’s Russian thing, though.

We’ve always made them with parsnips. We grate a parsnip in with the potato-- it gives the latkes a slightly sweet flavor, and sort of rounds out the body of the taste, because parsnips are very aromatic. Also makes the kitchen smell really good when they are frying.

This comes from my mother’s side of the family: Ashkenazim, and for many generations in Slovakia. Came to the US in the first and second decade of the 20th century. Many recipes I have from my mother’s family use parsnips; most soups and stews used them. I’ve asked gentiles with Slovak backgrounds if family recipes use parsnips a lot, and usually the answer is “Yes,” whereas, Jews whose families were never in the area seem not to use them much.

So I’m assuming that’s how they got into the latkes-- it was a Slovak thing.

If you do tweak the recipe with add-ins for flavor, note where your family is from, if you know. I’m curious whether the same things will come from the same regions.

Also, if you do anything else that’s not wide-spread, like topping them with anything besides, or in addition to, sour cream or applesauce, I’d love to know. My mother used to grate a peeled cucumber, mix it with the sour cream, and top it with paprika.

Mostly I’m just curious, but also, our neighbors who have been in our COVID bubble since the beginning, and who are gentile, are coming over for first-night dinner. I might make a few variation of latkes for them to try.

We’re having our traditional “fry everything” first-night dinner: mozzarella sticks; tempura vegetables (broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, asparagus tips & snap peas); latkes with applesauce & sour cream (actually, light sour cream, Greek yogurt, and 2% buttermilk, mixed together); deep-fried tofu in peanut sauce; and sufganiyot for dessert. Some years we make falafel and deep-fry it, but this year we’re going with the tofu.

If you do lots of fried foods over Chanukah, what do you do?

2

My dad usually grated a carrot along with a mess of potatoes. His family was from… well, his mother’s side fled Russia, but it’s Poland now. And his father’s side was Litvak. I don’t know where the recipe came from.

He always saved chicken fat so he could use some chicken fat with the (probably peanut) oil he fried them in.

My family’s weird topping is sugar. Yes, white sugar, in a shaker, like for a child’s breakfast cereal. It’s actually delicious – like a sugar donut, but crunchier.

I’ve heard of people using parsnips, but I don’t think I’ve ever eaten latkes with parsnips.

3

I think they’re really good with parsnips. It adds sweetness, but doesn’t make them taste like a dessert food. I imagine carrots are similar.

4

My mom always grated some carrot in hers (Poland/Russia). This thread got me thinking about rutabagas. When I make mashed potatoes I use 3 or 4 potatoes and a rutabaga. I like the taste. It would be worth a try, I think.

5

Traditionally, just potato, onion, egg, flour, seasoning. On a whim, I’ve added some fine grated carrot. Every now and then I’ll add some zucchini. Never tried parsnip but I will next time. Sour cream and apple sauce are the go to condiments.

I’m not a fan of the “fry everything” thing. Used to serve some roasted chicken or beef along with it, but in the past few years, latkes are enough of an occasion.

6

Wikipedia mentions serving these with

  • salt
  • pepper
  • apple sauce
  • blueberries, sugar, and cinnamon
  • bacon and lingonberry jam [I suppose one could create a kosher version]
  • tomato and cheese added to the mix, or buttermilk and baking soda
  • soy sauce
  • meat sauce, pork crisps or goulash, sour cream, apple sauce, mushroom sauce, cottage or sheep’s cheese, fruit syrup
  • many variants including egg, garlic, onion, marjoram, caraway, saffron, chives, cinnamon, chili, legumes, zucchini, …
7

I wouldn’t want a meal entirely of fried foods every night, but once a year, it’s part of the usual celebration, so it’s fun.

My family would get together, and the children were not given gifts, but we were always given gelt-- and I don’t mean the chocolate kind (we got that too, though). Our parents gave us the most significant sum of money we’d get all year ($10 when I was in preschool, $20 in k-grade 5, and $50 when I was 11 & 12). Grandparents would give us some money, and aunts and uncles would give each of us a couple of dollars.

The kids played dreidl for a while, then watched TV, or played other games and did puzzles, and the adults played board games.

When you were 13, you stopped getting money, but you could join in the adults’ board games.

There’d be tons of sufganiyot, and candy, mostly boxed chocolate, and no one monitored how much we ate.

8

???

9

Polish version (not familiar with it myself), obviously you would substitute some kosher lardons instead
Iatkes in general are a popular winter food among non-Jews as well

10

We use probably more onion than most do, and growing up, my. paternal grandmother’s side (from what is now Belarus) would sprinkle a little sugar (just regular granulated sugar) on them after serving. I’ve never known anyone else to do that, and my wife considers it an abomination.

We also had a family tradition of frying and serving steak (a cheap thin steak) on the first night of Chanuka. Steak wasn’t something we ate very often at all, so it was a real Chanuka treat.

11

I’ve never heard of anyone else do that, either.

12

We’re probably related.

13

Potatoes, grated onion, flour, and egg. I have tried it with parsnips. Latkes were something I came to late as only my father was jewish and his family was all back in New York, the ones who made it out of Estonia and the Ukraine. My mother’s family were German Swiss and we followed those traditions in winter holiday foods.

We eat latkes now with plain yogurt (never eat sour cream any more), home made applesauce, and sauerkraut. And often, fried ham. Not jewish but really good with latkes.

14

The weirdest thing my family puts in latke is finely minced jalapenos or hatch chiles (if we have any left at this time of the year). Rather than a family tradition, it’s a family adaptation. We moved from MASS to Las Cruces NM when I was about 5. After 3-4 years of acclimation, we were used to putting chilis on or in everything. So originally the latkes would be served with tabasco (much like I would put tabasco or the house hot sauce on hash browns). Later, it was with the jalapenos in the latke’s plus hotsauce.
Then again, you get green chile on burgers at Burger King and McDs in souther NM, so not too surprising.

15

I’ve never done parsnip, but I’m sure I’d love it; I love parsnip, and adding them to any root-vegetable-based recipe improves the recipe (IMHO).

This week I’m going to try doctoring this recipe (talked about in more detail here). It comes from a chef who used to cook at a restaurant near me, and their “tater tots” breakfast (big, fluffy fried potato wedges with smoked fish, onion, and related accoutrements) is one of the best breakfasts ever. I’m excited to have a latke recipe that looks like it might reflect that dish.

16

My mom (parents from Russia) made it the traditional way - potatoes, grated onion, matzoh meal, egg, salt and pepper. Served with applesauce.
My dad (grandparents from Germany/Austria) made his…differently. He didn’t believe in hand grating, so would put everything in the blender. As far as I remember he used the same ingredients my mom did, but his always came out a greenish slurry! Weird texture, but it did fry up nicely - just very flat!
Never knew why it turned out green - when I was young just thought it was green because sometimes potato chips would be green? (yeah, not a bright kid). Maybe he put in parsley? Food coloring? No idea.
Definitely different!

17

Aren’t parsnips the original version? Potatoes are a New World plant, and I think latkes were around before 1492. So they must have originally been made with something else instead of potato.

18

Potatoes, onions, flour, egg, salt, and pepper. Grated, not puréed.

Russian bubbie, no other options are acceptable.

My mother-in-law is sending in Indian food as a Chanukah present on Friday. They’ve got these amazing pakoras which have a bunch of different vegetables that are very latke like, but emotionally distanced that I can get over the bubbie guilt.

19

When I was in kindergarten I was in a Chanukah musical at our temple, based on melodies from “The Mikado”. I was Mister Potato, and sang a love song to Miss Egg Yoke (to the tune of “Tit Willow”). My rival for her heart was Mr. Onion. There was also the evil Mrs. Grease and a few others. I don’t recall anyone named Parsnip, but I do remember the costumes were very weird.

My mom, who learned how to cook from my paternal bubbe, always put a parsnip in chicken soup, but never in latkes.

20

Sounds like your family custom was inspired by buñuelos or burmuelos, which are eaten for Hanukkah in certain communities. My wife makes the Passover version, out of crumbled matzah, and does indeed sprinkle sugar on top. Got any Sephardim in your ancestry?