Comments on: Dark Days: Mostly Local Latkes

By: Food in Jars » Dark Days: Sausage, Kale and White Bean Soup

Food in Jars » Dark Days: Sausage, Kale and White Bean Soup — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:32:07 +0000

[...] I wasn’t thinking when I added it.) diced and sauteed in some fat/oil. I used some of my local lard (when my porcine-free mother reads this post, I am certain she will cringe at the number of pork [...]

By: Dark Days Week 6

Dark Days Week 6 — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 07:09:58 +0000

[...] Crispy latkes with purple potatoes from Methow Valley and our backyard eggs, fried in beef tallow from our cow ala Marissa of Food in Jars. [...]

By: Marisa

Marisa — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:26:50 +0000

Wow, thanks for all the love!

I’ve tried using the trick to reintegrate that bit of starch at the bottom of the water bowl, and when you’re making small batches of latkes (as I was doing with this one), I’ve found that the extra step doesn’t really pay off. If you’re making a huge batch, the disc of potato starch might be big enough to go hunting for it, but when I use just a couple of potatoes, I find that it’s more trouble than it’s worth.
Nan, I don’t know when I’ll be teaching next in Seattle, but I hope to do it again next summer or fall, so stay tuned!

By: Eugenia

Eugenia — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:20:58 +0000

Love your blog! I saw this post on the Dark Days recap (I’m in the PNW section under latkes, ha). I second the suggestion used by Martha Stewart about reintegrating the potato starch. I’m not sure about the soaking in water, though. Agreed that it makes gorgeously white potato shreds, but I think flavor is lost, and the latkes fall apart a little more readily. I think we all need to do more experimentation!

By: Nan

Nan — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:35:42 +0000

Hi – I just discovered your blog, thanks to Deb at Smitten – and I’m totally in love with it! I have a list of 6 things I want to make TODAY! I saw you were in Seattle last summer teaching a class…any chance you’ll be here again this summer or sooner? I’d love to take a class from you! Thanks! Nan

By: Dark Days 09-10 :: Week #4 Recap (Middle, East and South) « (not so) Urban Hennery

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:46:47 +0000

[...] also featured latkes in her meal, which she cooked in local lard. Her post includes some secrets to making good latkes (like [...]

By: Jo

Jo — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:07:15 +0000

I just made latkes for dinner, and then I read your post and your pictures look so good that I want to have more! I fried mine in vegetable oil, and ate them with sour cream and homemade applesauce. My parents like them with sour cream and lox – I miss that since I’ve become a vegetarian. My mom also makes her batter in a blender, which is easier and makes nice round pancakes, but I kind of like the rough, crispy edges you get when the potatoes are coarsely grated.

By: Darby

Darby — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 02:36:33 +0000

Just came over from Smitten and I’m wondering where you’ve been hiding and how I did not know about you. I’m a HUGE fan of food in jars and you may be my new favorite cooking blog… so glad to add you to my reader and look forward to reading more!!!

By: Mrs. Leon

Mrs. Leon — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 02:12:06 +0000

I just adore your website! I currently don’t do any canning, due to the fact that I live in a tiny apartment with no storage space and not a single piece of decent cooking equipment to my name, but a girl can dream. Visions of canning while wearing a brown homespun linen apron and asking my fictitious daughter to run and fetch me something from the root cellar dance in my head (yes, I channel “Little House on the Prairie”).

When I eventually convince my husband to move away from this little place in Tokyo… I will definitely take up canning and bombard you and your great blog with questions!

Warmest winter wishes,
Jody in Japan

By: Primordial Soup

Primordial Soup — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:36:16 +0000

Making these tonight! My mother included potato latkes in her ‘meatless Friday’ repertoire (more of an aversion to cooking meats than religious – I call it early vegetarianism), and they were really yummy. She made stacks of them also, but what I remember most about them was how the last few batches turned out grey . I think a reaction of the raw potatoes to the metal grater was to blame!

Valiantly trying to pass on our Polish (albeit Christian) heritage to my own children, I make them but once a year. My main focus is to keep the latkes white throughout! Your recipe is the classic, save I follow Martha Stewart’s process of placing the grated potatoes into a bowl of cold water as I grate, then I drain and squeeze them dry. The potatoes never discolor this way. There is always a pancake of residual potato starch in the bottom of the bowl, which can be added back into the latke mixture (recommended) or discarded if you like drier latkes. Sour cream and homemade applesauce are the way to go!