The easiest way I've found of draining the potatoes is to put into a clean tea towel, bring the 4 corners together & twist into a ball, keep twisting until all the juice is gone, & you'll have the driest potato ever.
My Mother has been making these for over 50 years. They're my favorite. It was just a basic recipe with salt, pepper and onion. She would make a batch (large) and they would be gone soon after. Like you said it's something I haven't made often enough. I will be in the near future. They are so good just as they are! I'm getting hungry. 😆🤩❤
Thank you! Just decided I needed to make these tonight.. Was looking for a recipe when I remembered I watched this video many years ago. You never fail me no matter what random food idea I think up. Cheers xx
My Irish father made these every Friday, Catholic no meat on Fridays. He used the smaller side of the grater for both the potato and the onions, he added egg, Aunt Jemima pancake mix (we are from Chicago) or Bisquick, salt and milk. Mixed them up, fried then in hot bubbly lard (no oil) until a dark golden brown then drained them on a clean dish towel and then plated with apple sauce. Or if we were running in and out we just grabbed one and ate it on the go. Loved them and after my father was gone never ever had a good one, and I have searched and tried even Manny's in Chicago none like my Irish father made but I think it was the lard!! P.S. Tried Katz deli too when I lived in NYC, okay but not what I was looking for...
I'm buying some lard and potatoes tomorrow. I have everything else. I haven't had these since my wife passed away but it's about time I try my hand at it.
My German grandmother taught me how to make these. She put everything in an old time grater and added bacon. Always with homemade apple sauce. Yummy!!! Thank you for sharing. Now I want to make them. 💞😁👍
Ooookaayyy! I made these TONIGHT for my daughter and myself! They were good! I tweeked them a bit, chili powder instead of cayanne and I put jalepeno cheese on top of my daughters with sour cream. YUM! 😊
Chef John, I made this recipe tonight and both my daughter and I loved it. I have enjoyed each of the recipes that I have stolen from you. I don't like onions so I substitute onion powder in a lot of them. Your videos are also a pleasure to watch, I enjoy your banter and voice. Thanks.
Amazing recipe, Me and my family cook and prepare them the same way,(minus the cayenne) We make them extra crispy, topped with coarse salt to taste, maybe fresh dill or dried dill is great also, roasted garlic is great to put on top for sure. Sour cream on the side is amazing(my favorite). Russets are a great choice for this recipe, nice starch content for that fried crispyness. I prefer a good extra virgin olive oil or REAL vegetable oil (not canola or rape seed commercial oil)for best results, I have even had these deep fried in really really good oil and WOW they were amazing! try it if you can! Love the video Chef John!
Brilliant! The key is the water soak, rinse, & squeeze. I have made them without the water step many times & they always came out grey & mushy. Thank you Chef John for telling us this step! LOVE all your videos by the way.
Made these this evening. Turned out better than any I've made before. I didn't bother soaking the potato and onion in water though. I did dry them with paper towels as much as possible right before I made them. I used to always just put the egg and flour and seasonings right into the potato and onion. Much nicer to blend the flour etc. with the egg first. Thank you !
There are many ways to make potato pancakes. Years ago my mother used to take cold, leftover mashed potatoes from the fridge, mix with finely chopped onion and minced garlic (or powders), form into patties 1/2 inch thick and fry in butter till browned on both sides. What Chef John showed was what may be referred to as rustic potato pancakes or latkes.
Typical Jewish Potato Latkes are made simply with grated potatoes, onions, egg, S&P and MATZOH MEAL NOT FLOUR!! Any other variation using flour is fine but just not typical of genuine Jewish latkes.
I made this today. It was delicious. It was quite messy to prepare but definitely worth it in the end. I'm definitely going to make these more often. Thanks for the video.
Made these last night and they were delicious! We could eat them every day! Thank you so much! I topped them with Bacon instead of the lox. Deeeelicious.
great recipe, but I recommend placing the potatoes in a cheese cloth or clean dish towel and twisting the top until all the water is REALLY squeezed out. it is by far the most efficient way to rid them of liquid.
Oh man, this comment has inspired me to try this recipe again. I never, ever get it to work no matter how much I squeeze out the potatoes... I get a burny exterior and an undercooked mess in the center. But the salad spinner idea is awesome!
An old polish friend used to make these for breakfast, topped with sauerkraut. The sour cream and dill imparts a mild version of that same flavor, very good! Thank you for the recipe!
I was craving these really bad but had no idea how to make them. Watched this video and I found exactly what I'm looking for. My childhood favorite very good and not hard to make at all.
I have a family recipe that's similar but different, The major difference (and mistake) is allowing the potato-egg mixture to let stand 20 minutes. It warms up. Just like making potato chips and French fries, the colder the potato the crisper the fried outcome. I fry almost immediately. The potato mixture in a medium SS bowl nestled in a larger SS bowl half-filled with ice to keep the remaining mixture cooooold. I also suggest peanut oil...stands up to higher temperatures and has a complimentary flavor upon completion.
Couple of tips for making Latkes squeese the water out by placing the potato/onions in a clean dish cloth then twist, much easier way of getting every drop of water out. Also try frying them in peanut oil, allows for higher temp w/o burning & makes them very crispy.
At home - in Czech Republic - we traditionaly add garlic and especially Marjoram and we add no onion. And also we add a little bit of milk, because then the potatoes stay yellow.
oh lovely potato, you feed us well! so nice to see all the comments from people all over the world who all have their own word for these, i love the sound of the polish way of having them with apple sauce :)
You can eat this with any meal pretty much. They are great with steak and chicken and stuff like that. Never made exactly this, but pretty much. I usually go without flour, but I will have to try Chef John's version as soon as possible.
Ah yeah, I like to add a little garlic and chives to mine for a little extra zest. Also, I recommend trying sweet potato pancakes, they're just as amazing with a little pinch of cinnamon added :D
I am Polish and potato pancakes are considered as eastern european food. The recipe for sure are delicious ( amercicanized ) BUT i feel like in Poland potato pancakes are very well grated, this reminds me more about hash browns....my grandma who is almost 90 yrs old now used to make them, so I KNOW ( and I was born in Poland and came to the US at the age of 20 ), :)
Dzien Dobry, Maja Barnes. I am of Polish heritage, too and grew up with these... still make them for my family. We definitely use the small grate and no cayenne (but sounds interesting, so I'll give it a whirl). Niech cie Bog blogoslawi!
we ate them with butter or molasses in nova scotia, my grandmother used a cloth /cheese cloth type thing to drain squeeze and dry them. miss her so much.
I was searching for inspiration for christmas eve dinner's sides, so I tried this, just a bit bigger (not thicker) topped with a medium layer of raw foie gras, and it turned out awesome. 👍🏻
It's amazing how many little tweaks you can make to a dish that's been around for so long, and from all over the world! Our chefs tried out the recipes of two famous chefs to see which was better. Check out the results of our Best Potato Pancakes/Latkes Recipe War: youtube dot com/watch?v=ESrCkNomSzw
One of those Salad Spinners works a peach for getting the water out, then finish with paper towels. I like them with sour-cream and applesauce as a side dish for veal sausage with mustard.
This made me nostalgic for that magical time when "junk food," exclusively meant that something was fried and maybe had salt and sugar, rather than being full of MSG and genuine industrial wastes as we have today.
Looks delicious! Had potato pancakes a lot when I was growing up. Except we used mashed potatoes (usually leftovers from the night before) instead of grated potatoes.
+F Sharp they need a bit of pressure to get that water out. The salad spinner only gets rid of surface water. I swear the squeezing part is the most important part!
Thank you Chef John. All of your presentations are enlightening, with a light side added in too. I've worked with Chefs with the same attitude in preparing good foods. This one is a classic, but, with your toppings, I see a variation maybe for a really good sandwich. I see too you are on Recipes.com and I wish you the best.
Not only is that not traditional, but it's wrong. Bacon is way too strongly flavored and doesn't allow the potatoe flavor to shine...... As it should for a potato recipe. Lard only for real hash brown potatoes.
This is traditional national lithuanian dish - potatoe pancakes just we don’t use any flour nor cayenne. Serving with salmon or sauce from fried pieces of onion and bacon and/or a spoon of sour cream :) or sauce from curd cheese mixed with salt, mashed garlic and chopped parsley :)
