Don's potato pancakes
Cooking time: 6 minutes Preparation time: 20 minutes Makes: 14 latkes
Ingredients
- 8 lb peeled potatoes, preferably Yukon gold
- 1 lb ground beef or pork
- 2 minced cloves of garlic
- 1 onion
- 1 green onion
- 3 eggs
- ¼ cup (50 mL) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp (5 mL) Tabasco (optional)
- 1 tsp (5 mL) salt
- ½ tsp (2 mL) cayenne pepper
- 2 cups (500 mL) vegetable oil
Instructions
- Fry hamburger with garlic til cooked
- Using the large holes on a box grater or food processor, grate peeled potatoes. Squeeze as much liquid as you can from potatoes. Place on a paper towel-lined baking sheet and cover with more towels. Press down. Thinly slice onions. In a large bowl, whisk eggs with flour, , Tabasco, salt and cayenne. Add potatoes and onionand meat. Stir to evenly mix.
- Pour enough oil into a large deep frying pan (do not use non-stick) to come ½ in. (1 cm) up the side and set over medium-high heat. When hot, pack potato mixture into a ¼ cup (50 mL) dry measure. Carefully turn into pan and flatten slightly using a fork or spatula. Repeat, fitting 2 more latkes in pan. Do not crowd pan. Fry until golden, 3 to 4 min. per side. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate. Repeat with remaining mixture. Don’t worry if mixture waters out. Just stir before scooping into measuring cup.
- PERFECT LATKES
- Forming
- Bigger isn’t better. To avoid greasy latkes, keep them small. This helps to create crunchy outsides and creamy centres Loosely pack mixture into a ¼ cup (50 mL) dry measure or ramekin. Carefully drop into hot oil, then using a fork spread out and flatten to form a circle about 4 in. (10 cm) wide.
- Squeezing & Mixing
- To avoid soggy latkes, squeeze excess water from potatoes before mixing. This helps latkes stick together during frying. The drier they are, the crisper they will be.
- Grating
- For lacy edges, grate potatoes using large holes on a box grater or food processor. For a dense, smooth-edged latke, finely grate potatoes. If adding onion and veggies, do the potatoes last so they don’t oxidize (turn brown) quickly. For a fluffy latke don’t grate onion at all – just thinly slice, then mix in.
- Potatoes
- Choose high-starch potatoes so they won’t fall apart in the pan. Yukon Gold or russet potato latkes crisp up golden yet stay creamy on the inside.
- Frying
- Latkes are shallow fried and should be done in a frying pan. Fill a large wide frying pan with oil to come ¼ to ½ in. (0.5 to 1 cm) up the side. If oil is too hot, outsides and edges will burn before centre is cooked. Heat oil between 250F and 325F (120 to 160C). A good test – drop a small amount of latke mixture into hot oil – if it turns golden within 1 to 2 min., the temperature is right. Fry in small batches – 3 to 4 at a time