Ashkenazi

Latkes

Name: Latkes
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Ashkenazi
Ingredients: 1 kg Potatoes; 1 pcs Onion; 2 pcs Egg; 3 tbsp All-purpose wheat flour; 1 tsp Salt; Black pepper; 250 ml Vegetable oil

לְבִיבוֹתAwaiting expert review

Fried potato pancakes, a typical Hanukkah dish of Ashkenazi Jews. The oil recalls the miracle of the oil in the Temple.

Servings: 4 servings
Prep: 25 min
Cook: 30 min
Difficulty: easy

Kashrut · pareve

Hanukkah

Ingredients

4

servings

1 kg Potatoes, floury (starchy) potatoes
1 pcs Onion
2 pcs EggKashrut: Parve. In traditional practice eggs are cracked one at a time, and eggs with a blood spot are discarded.
3 tbsp All-purpose wheat flour, or matzah mealKashrut: On Passover, wheat flour (other than matzah) is chametz. Some sift flour before use because of insects.
1 tsp Salt
Black pepper – to taste
250 ml Vegetable oil, for fryingKashrut: In traditional practice it is bought with kosher certification. On Passover, Ashkenazi practice excludes oils from kitniyot (e.g. soybean, corn); rapeseed (canola) oil is disputed, and Passover certification decides.

Method

Step 1: Peel the potatoes and grate them coarsely; grate the onion finely.
Step 2: Put the mixture in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze out as much liquid as possible; let the squeezed-out liquid stand for 5 minutes.
Step 3: Carefully pour off the liquid and return the potato starch that has settled at the bottom to the potatoes.
Step 4: Add the eggs, flour, salt and pepper and mix into a cohesive mixture.
Step 5: Heat oil in a frying pan to a depth of about 5 mm (approx. 175 °C).
Step 6: Spoon out pancakes 7–8 cm in diameter, press them down lightly and fry for 3–4 minutes on each side until golden.
Step 7: Drain the finished latkes on paper towels and keep them warm in the oven at 100 °C while you fry the rest.

Tips

The better you squeeze the potatoes, the crispier they will be.
Prepare the mixture just before frying, otherwise the potatoes will turn dark.

History and origins

Interpretation

The custom of eating foods fried in oil on Hanukkah is linked to the Talmudic story of the single jar of pure oil that burned for eight days in the rededicated Temple.¹

HistoryAshkenazim⁂ To verify

Potato latkes are relatively recent: potatoes became widespread in Eastern Europe only in the 18th–19th centuries. Older Hanukkah pancakes were made from flour or cheese.²

Regional variations

Modern practice

They are served either savory with sour cream or sweet with applesauce; vegetarian and modern versions add zucchini, carrot or sweet potato.

Modern practiceIsrael

In Israel the word levivot לְבִיבוֹת refers to fried pancakes made from various ingredients in general.

Goes well with

RecipeSufganiyot

Sources

Primary sources

1Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat, 21b text ↗

Secondary literature

2Gil Marks, Encyclopedia of Jewish Food