As December 20 edges closer and closer, many families are readying their frying pans and potatoes for another Hanukkah celebration filled with crispy potato pancakes (latkes) and cheese-filled, deep-fried crepes (blintzes). For those of us who don’t celebrate the eight-day Festival of Lights, these foods might seem appetizing, but also a little too intimidating to actually try plating. Fortunately, the Detroit Free Press was able to sit down with several experienced chefs from the Bloomfield Hills area to discuss some tips to help even the most inexperienced latke-fryer create some succulent masterpieces.
While some find the amount of oil necessary to fry latkes too messy to bother with, Zack Sklar of Cutting Edge Cuisine has some suggestions to make them more manageable. First, Sklar suggests salting the grated potatoes after mixing them with the onions, which both makes the latkes crispier after frying and also helps to preserve oil. Sklar also suggests really letting the pancakes cook once they’re in the pan, claiming that most people don’t cook their latkes long enough. “They should be flat and thin, but crispy around the edges and a dark, dark, golden brown,” he said in the article, referencing what cooks should watch for when deciding that their latkes are finished. For more experienced fryers, Sklar also suggested changing the flavor profile a bit a by adding shredded carrots or apples into the mixture to create a wide variety of flavor.
Shalom Shomer, the kosher division director for the Matt Prentice Restaurant Group, put in his two cents on crafting traditional blintzes. According to Shomer, frying is much easier with a little preparation beforehand. “Fill the blintzes and roll them and freeze before frying,” he advised, a tip which should help the blintze stay together while it fries in the pan.
West Bloomfield is a city of many different, robust traditions, and plenty of people willing to share them with others who follow different persuasions. So, if latkes and blintzes aren’t your traditional holiday “thing,” let your stomach try something new—and if you can’t cook it, you can always check out the restaurants where these knowledgeable chefs work!
