Latkes

These are traditionally made for Hanukkah, a holiday when we eat greasy food, because of the miracle of the oil.  But you can eat them whenever!

Ingredients:

• five or six potatoes
• two or three eggs
• either a grated onion or some onion powder
• a cup or so of Matzo meal (If you can't find Matzo meal, you can use all-purpose flour)
• salt & pepper
• peanut oil for frying

First, peel and grate your potatoes.  Use an actual grater, not a food processor.  This is essential.  As you grate, put the gratings into a big bowl of icy cold water.  This is a labor-intensive process.  Drinking beer or rum & ginger while you listen to rousing music is helpful.

When they're all grated, dump them into a sieve, rinse, and refill the bowl with icy water.  Store the grated potato, covered with plastic wrap, for up to six hours in refrigerator.  We're soaking out the starch here, which is a key step.  If you don't have six hours you can skip this step, but you'll get better results if you include it!

Dump the grated potato into a sieve again, rinse, and squeeze out as much water as possible.  Return to bowl.

Mix in the eggs, the grated onion, the Matzo meal, and salt and pepper -- about a teaspoon of each.  You'll need to use your hands to mix all this up.  Don't be shy!  You're going to be using your hands in a minute anyway, to form the latkes.

Heat about a half cup of peanut oil in a big skillet.  More if your skillet is really big -- you need enough to put about a half inch of oil on the bottom.  Heat to medium high.

Form the potato mix into latkes, flat discs about as big as the palm of your hand, and as flat as you can get them.  Drop in heated oil.  Cook until crispy brown on both sides, turning once.

Drain on a big plate covered with paper towels.  You will enjoy this process a great deal more if you are drinking rum & ginger while you fry.

Serve with applesauce or sour cream (traditionally) or ketchup (drdelagar style).  Nom!