[Sca-cooks] Latkes was Probably OOP but just wondering.

[Pixel, Goddess and Queen]

On Tue, 18 Dec 2001, Philip & Susan Troy wrote:

> Ted Eisenstein wrote:
>
> >>Of course, latkes made from matzoh meal and no potatoes aren't half
> >>bad, either, and could have been made in period by Jews living
> >>anywhere. Of course, that in itself is not proof that they did.
> >>
> >
> > Uninformed question: wouldn't latkes made out of matzoh meal be
> > more like your typical, ummm, fried bread/griddle cake/bannock-type
> > thang, rather than something like a latke/hash-browns-type thang?
>
>
> My own limited experience, such as it has been, has been that matzoh latkes have a different texture from the bread-like entities you mention. A bit like matzoh-brei, to which it is chemically identical, I believe, if structurally different, or perhaps like a half-inch-thick, flat, deep-fried matzoh-ball, just a bit fluffy in the middle. I think perhaps you're thinking of latkes as something made almost entirely of potato, held together with a bit of naturally occurring potato starch. My own experience, Gentile that I am, has been pretty consistently otherwise: generally the latkes I've had, be they spud or thud, have been fritter-like, with the exception of some of the German-type potato pancakes I've had.
>
>
>
> Adamantius
>

"Latke" is from the Ukranian "oladka", "pancake", according to
Merriam-Webster. Dated 1927.

All the latkes I have had experience of, have some sort of binder which is
mostly egg and a starch. Usually the starch is matzoh meal, once, I think
it was potato flour. Mom's are a bit thinner than my MIL's, but Mom is
making them from the German tradition rather than the Jewish. They do not,
customarily, have a leavening, and they are very like a fritter.

Mmmmm. Matzoh brei. Mayhaps I need to stop by the grocery on the way home
and pick up more matzoh.

Margaret