How to Make Extra Crispy Red Flannel Latkes

No one can blame the latkes; Butter fried potatoes will be delicious no matter the form they take, but I don’t particularly like it when recipes for dishes specifically designed for Jewish holidays stray too far off track . I recently saw recipes for wild versions that no longer had potatoes and butter, and I thought, “Hmm, not much of a latke.”

However, there’s room to play within the relationship between potatoes and butter, and red flannel latkes are a nice way to add color and a little sweetness to this traditional religious dish. Although The Hill I’ll Die On is shaped like a latke and made with potatoes, butter, onions and eggs, a little color wouldn’t hurt. The addition of celery root and beets gives these latkes the consistency and beautiful, rich color that is the origin of the “red flannel” nickname. You can make them on your own or with their more traditional cousins.

Good chopping can still be achieved in a food processor.

There are a lot of great thoughts on whether you should grate your potatoes by hand or use a food processor. The idea is that grating the potatoes by hand will result in more uniform strings of potatoes, which in turn will result in lazier latkes. I say these people need more training on food processors. If you use a shredding disc on your machine, the key is to use long pieces of vegetables that fit into the chute feed tube that you quickly push through, resulting in long slices. When you simply throw vegetables into the chute without going through the feed tube, the vegetables fall horizontally and end up getting soaked on the disc. Of course, you can rub the grate by hand, you just don’t have the desire.

Either way, you’ll take the potatoes, beets, celery root, and onions (all peeled and cut into long pieces that will fit in the chute) and run them through the feed tube as quickly as possible.

Removing moisture from latke ingredients is a top priority.

The goal is to remove as much moisture as possible from the cut vegetables, and I’m afraid draining alone won’t achieve this.

Place everything in a colander and stir by hand until all the vegetables are combined. All vegetables will take on a beautiful ruby ​​color from the beets. Sprinkle the vegetables with two tablespoons of salt and stir. Leave the colander in the sink for twenty minutes to drain. This step alone is not enough: to remove all the moisture, take a clean kitchen towel, place the vegetables in it and roll the towel lengthwise. Twist both ends over the sink until tight, and then continue twisting. This should put pressure on the vegetables, which will release even more moisture. Repeat this several times. When no more moisture is escaping, place the vegetables in a flat layer on a clean baking sheet lined with paper towels and allow to dry. I like to point a fan at it and leave it alone for 20 minutes. If you’re short on time, you can skip some of these steps to dry out the vegetables, but this will affect the crispness of the latkes.

Now it’s time to add the binder, which is simply an egg. Some recipes call for flour or breadcrumbs, but eggs are sufficient. Make sure it’s well mixed by mixing everything in a colander.

Double frying ensures crispy potatoes.

All that remains is to prepare these patches. In a pan as large as you have, add an inch of vegetable oil. Although olive oil is a traditional holiday oil, it has a low burning point. Vegetable oil will also withstand higher temperatures, which will cause latkes to turn out lacy. Over medium heat, let the oil get hot enough for the water droplet to fizz and dance. Add peeled garlic cloves; they are needed only to flavor the oil.

Take a heaping tablespoon of the latke mixture and drop it into the oil. It will take an irregular shape but should hold together. The pan should fit three to four latkes at a time, so continue cooking them until the pan is full. Flipping latkes is serious business. Do it too soon and everything will fall apart; do it too late and it will burn. Check your latkes by looking underneath them and once they are golden, flip them over. To do this, you can use two spatulas to avoid splattering the oil. Do not attempt to use forceps; They are fragile and will fall apart. You need to turn them over as delicately as possible.

Once they’re golden brown on the second side, it’s time to remove the latkes with a spatula and place them on paper towels on a plate where they can dry.

This is how I differ from others. I like to fry the latkes a second time in oil after they’ve all been cooked through. Double-frying potatoes is an age-old way to get a really crispy skin, and with the addition of beets and celery root, I find that the second frying really makes the latkes crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. At this point I tried the air fryer but found that it dried out the latkes too much for my liking. Once the latkes come out of the second fry and drain onto paper towels, you can serve them immediately, or keep them warm on a baking sheet in a 350 degree oven for an hour, or let them cool and freeze flat.

To keep it traditional, serve these latkes with sour cream or applesauce.

Red flannel latkes recipe

(based on a New York Times recipe )

Ingredients

• 2 medium sized golden potatoes

• 1 medium beet

• 1 small celery root

• 1 medium-sized sweet yellow onion

• 1 egg

• Salt and pepper

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1 cup vegetable oil

1. Peel the potatoes, beets, celery root and onion and cut them all into long pieces small enough to fit through the feed tube of the food processor chute.

2. Using the shredding disc of a food processor, quickly pulse through the vegetables.

3. Place everything in a sieve and mix thoroughly. Sprinkle in two tablespoons of salt and stir again, then leave to drain in the sink for twenty minutes.

4. Place all the vegetables in a clean kitchen towel, roll it up and squeeze as hard as possible two or three times until you remove as much moisture from the vegetables as possible.

5. Place vegetables on a baking sheet lined with paper towels and let air dry, preferably in front of a fan, for at least 20 minutes. Place the vegetables back in a colander and mix thoroughly with one egg.

6. Heat an inch of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add a drop or two of water to the oil. When the water starts to sizzle, the oil is ready. Add garlic cloves.

7. Add a tablespoon of latke mixture to the oil and repeat as many times as the pan will fit. Check the latkes for golden color on the bottom, then use two spatulas to carefully flip the latkes over and fry until golden brown on the other side.

8. Place latkes on a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Once you have cooked all the latkes, fry them again using the same method. This time, wait until they turn a darker brown, but keep a close eye on them so they don’t burn. Remove them, place them on a clean plate lined with paper towels, and serve immediately. If necessary, you can keep them hot in the oven at 350F in a single layer on a baking sheet for an hour.

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