Potato latkes are a Chanukah/Hanukkah tradition*, but they are enjoyed year-round. One taste and you’ll know why.

> The recipe for latkes is below. But first:
 
 
THE HISTORY OF LATKES

The popular potato latkes of European Jewish cuisine descend from Sicilian ricotta pancakes that appeared in the Middle Ages. They traveled north to Rome, where the Jewry called them cassola.

Here’s a recipe for ricotta latkes. Traditionally sweetened, you can make a savory version with herbs instead of sugar.

Potato latkes (meaning “fried cakes,” i.e. pancakes, in Yiddish) are an Ashkenazi invention that gained popularity in Eastern Europe during the mid 1800s. The Hebrew word, leviva, is found in the Book of Samuel.

While the ricotta pancakes, a cousin to cheese blintzes are delicious, our bet is that more people would rather have fried potatoes!

Here’s a longer history of latkes.
 
 
MODERN LATKES

For centuries, potato latkes were the rule. Toward the end of the 20th century, cooks went so far as to make sweet potato latkes.

Then, anything was possible: latkes from beets, carrots, celery root, parsnips…. If it’s a root vegetable, it can be turned into latke. You can also use non-root vegetables, like summer and winter squash.

Food trivia: Potatoes themselves are not root vegetables, but stem vegetables. They grow on underground stems, called stolons.

Potato tubers are actually thickened stems: They have buds that sprout stems and leaves; roots don’t. Here’s more about it.
 
 
HOW TO ENJOY LATKES

 
 
LATKE GARNISHES

You can serve more than one topping or garnish. Our mom always served sour cream and her homemade applesauce, as did her mom. (For Rosh Hashanah, the latkes accompanied roast chicken; for Chanukah, a brisket.)

We improved on her toppings, by adding a hit of nutmeg to the applesauce and minced chives, and separately, horseradish, to the sour cream.

While applesauce and sour cream are perfect latke partner, this is a new century. Try fusion seasonings, go crazy (within reason) with toppings like cardamom applesauce, curried Greek yogurt or 3-herb sour cream.

Some ideas:

[1] Classic potato latkes with sour cream, enhanced with dill. Here’s the recipe from Najwa Kronfel of Delicious Shots.

[2] Latkes, modernized with Dijon mustard (photo courtesy Maille).

[3] Latkes made with scallions instead of conventional yellow onions (photo courtesy Shaya | New Orleans).

 
Plus

 
Our personal favorite latke garnish is gourmet-traditional: creme fraiche with dill, smoked salmon and caviar.

We would gladly accept a latke trio: three different preparations, as in photo #6.
 
 

[5] Celery root and parsnip latkes. You can make beet latkes or potato latkes, too.

[6] Gourmet latke trio: lobster and white truffles, caviar and crème fraîche, smoked salmon and crème fraîche, all with a quail egg garnish (photo courtesy Duet Brasserie).

This recipe for quick, light and crisp latkes is from Andrea Watman, Creative Director at New York City’s legendary Zabar’s. The recipe is Andrea’s grandmother’s

This simple adaptation uses a food processor instead of hand grating, and potatoes that are not peeled. It should only take minutes to prepare.

The latke recipes of Grandma Bertha’s time required labor-intensive peeling of the potatoes, then grating them on a four-sided metal grater—which invariably ended up scraping one’s knuckles as well.

The hand grating took so long that the potatoes would start to discolor. Only the enjoyment of the delicious finished latkes made one forget the travail of making them.

Andrea improved upon the recipe by tossing the potatoes, peel and all, into the food processor. She also uses a coffee scoop to measure the batter. She finds that it makes latkes that are “just the right size.”

If you don’t have a coffee scoop, you can use a 1/4 cup measure, which makes larger latkes.

Latkes freeze really well and can be reheated in the microwave; but they are best when eaten right after cooking.

Ingredients For About 30 Latkes

 
Preparation

1. CUT the potatoes and onion into quarters. Place in the bowl of food processor, using the “S” blade or knife blade. Grind until finely ground; pulse if necessary.

2. ADD the eggs, salt and pepper. Grind until mixed. Remove bowl from food processor and stir in the flour. The mixture should be the consistency of thick oatmeal.

3. HEAT 1″ of oil in a deep frying pan. Be patient and wait until it heats fully or the latkes won’t get golden brown. (Andrea uses an electric frying pan set at high heat because she finds it provides a more consistent heat than the stovetop.)

4. SCOOP the batter into the frying pan using a coffee scoop. You should be able to fry 6-8 latkes at a time. The latkes will begin to bubble, just like regular batter pancakes.

5. TURN them when brown. Try not to turn them more them once. The less you turn them the crisper they will be. Remove all the pancakes that have been cooking before adding new batter. In this way, way you can control the temperature of the oil and keep track of cooking time.

6. PLACE the cooked latkes on paper towels to drain.

 
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*Latkes are traditionally eaten by Ashkenazi Jews during the Chanukah. The oil in which the latkes are fried is another tribute to the miracle of Chanukah. The history, in brief: In ancient Judea, the Syrian king Antiochus ordered the Jewish people to abandon their religion and worship the Greek gods. Judah, leader of the band that called themselves the Maccabees (Hebrew for hammer), drove the Syrians from Israel and reclaimed the Second Temple in Jerusalem, removing the Greek statues. They finished their work on the 25th day of the month of Kislev, and wanted to light the eternal light (N’er Tamid), present in every Jewish house of worship, to rededicate the temple. Once lit, the light should never be extinguished. But there was only a tiny jug of lamp oil—enough for a single day. A miracle occurred: the light burned for eight days. This is the origin of Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, which is celebrated for eight days. The word Chanukah means “rededication.”
 
 

Personally, we were charmed by this sushi mezuzah, from the Facebook page of Catch | NYC; we had to share it.

It was published during Rosh Hashanah of last year, but we didn’t see it until the holiday was over. Our guess is that it was easier to make a sushi mezuzah than a sushi shofar.

Since the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, begins tomorrow night, we saved it to share with you.

A mezuzah, literally the Hebrew word for doorpost, is a small, handwritten parchment scroll, rolled up and housed in a long, narrow, decorated case of metal, wood, glass, ceramic or other durable material.

Mezuzahs are affixed to the doorposts of Jewish homes, designating the home as Jewish and reminding those who live there of their connection to God and their heritage.

The scroll contains the first two verses of the Shema Yisrael a section of the Torah, the central reference document of Judaism. The Shema serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services.

These words are handwritten in Hebrew by an expert scribe, who is trained in the regulations involved in writing a mezuzah scroll.

Here’s more about it.

________________

*Some interpret Jewish law to require a mezuzah on the doorway of every room* in the home. The exceptions are bathrooms (which are not living spaces), laundry rooms, closets and areas that are too small to qualify as rooms.
  

You need only four ingredients to make ice cream—and NO ice cream maker.

There may be an extra ingredient, such as lemon juice with fruit flavors.

Just whip the cream, fold it into the sweetened condensed milk with the other ingredients, freeze in a loaf pan and voilà, ice cream!

The other ingredients are sugar or other sweetener (use Splenda for sugar-free ice cream), and flavor: coffee, cocoa, peanut butter, strawberry, vanilla, etc.). With some recipes, other ingredients substitute for the sugar; for example, a box of cake mix for cake batter ice cream.

Then, of course, there are optional mix-ins: brownie chunks, chocolate chips, crushed Oreos, fruit, M&Ms, nuts, sprinkles, etc.
 
 
NO-CHURN VS. CONVENTIONAL ICE CREAM

Traditional ice cream starts with a sweetened base—usually a combination of heavy cream, milk and sugar and sugar (add eggs for a French custard base).

The custard and added flavors are churned in an ice cream maker, which incorporates air and breaks up ice crystals as they form, creating a creamy texture. The mixture is then frozen.

No-churn ice cream uses sweetened condensed milk as the base. The whipped cream adds the air and produces the creamy texture.

The result is very similar, with a few minor differences:

 
 
NO-CHURN ICE CREAM RECIPES

For most no-churn recipes, prep time is less than 10 minutes, plus 4-5 hours freezing time.

[2] Blackberry ice cream (here’s the recipe from Baked By An Introvert).

Alas, we could not find the origin of no-churn ice cream. This bugs us, because it is a relatively recent recipe—no reaching into the distant past required.

Our best guess is that it is Eagle Brand Borden sweetened condensed milk, which is constantly testing new recipes for its product.

There are no-churn recipes on their website, but we hadn’t heard back from them by press time. We’ll update this when we do.

Borden and Eagle brand, the two big names in sweetened condensed milk, merged and are now owned by Smucker’s.

Here’s the history of sweetened condensed milk.

[2] A showman as well as a chef, David Burke often has special serveware made for his creations. Donut carousel, anyone?

[3] Banana beignets add another popular flavor to donut holes. Here’s the recipe from Food Network (photo © Food Network).

[4] King’s Cupboard Bourbon Caramel Sauce already has some Kentucky Bourbon, but it’s just a smidge. You can add more—or start with plain caramel sauce (photo © King’s Cupboard).

[5] To make cinnamon sugar, blend half table sugar, half cinnamon. It’s also delicious on toast, yogurt and cottage cheese (photo © King Arthur Flour).

David Burke serves the donuts with three small squeeze bottles of the fillings, and you get to inject your own filling. It’s fun.

Although we haven’t gotten to one of his restaurants to try them, we cobbled together our own version using store-bought donut holes (not as good as homemade, but they let us try the concept).

The “drunken donuts“ are served with disposable food syringes that you use to squeeze the drunken fillings into the donut holes.

The recommended wine pairing is a sparkling rosé.

> You’ll find the history of the doughnut below including when the spelling “donut” appeared, and who turned the punched-out dough into the commercially popular donut hole.
 
 
RECIPE: OUR ROUGH APPROXIMATION OF DAVID BURKE’S WARM DRUNKEN DONUTS

Prep time is 15 minutes plus 5 minutes frying.

Ingredients For 2-3 Dozen (depending on size)

 
Plus fillings: recipes below.
 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together, sift together, and set aside as you whisk together the egg, milk, and vanilla extract in a small bowl.

2. ADD the oil to a deep, heavy saucepan and heat it to 350°F over medium heat. Watch the thermometer closely: If the oil goes above 350°F, your donuts may get too crunchy.

3. ADD the egg mixture into the flour mixture a bit at a time, and whisk until the dough is well combined. Add the melted butter and thoroughly combine.

4. DROP small balls of dough into the hot oil, using a small cookie scoop (plan B: roll them in your hands). Fry in small batches: You don’t want to crowd the pan, because the dough balls need to float without making contact with each other. When they start to turn brown on the underside, flip them over with a fork. Continue to cook until both sides are golden brown.

5. REMOVE the donut holes with a slotted spoon, onto a baking sheet or platter lined with paper towels. Allow them to cool and then roll them in the optional sugar. We used a bit of cinnamon sugar on half of them (we’re not keen on powdered sugar garnishes: they’re too messy). Serve warm.
 
 
FOR THE FILLINGS

Taste and add more as alcohol as desired. You should go for a subtle layer of flavor, not a knockout.

 
 
WHO INVENTED DONUTS & DONUT HOLES?

First, we thank the Dutch for olykoeks, meaning oil cake, batter fried in oil.

While dough was fried the world over, we can thank the Dutch for the sweet balls fried in hog fat that became modern doughnuts.

An old word for ball was nut; a doughnut is literally a nut (ball) of dough. The term “doughnut” was first used in print in 1809 by American author Washington Irving in his satirical “Knickerbocker’s History Of New York.” Irving wrote of:

Because the center of the cake did not cook as quickly as the outside, the softer centers were sometimes stuffed with fruit, nuts, or other fillings that did not require cooking (think of the chopped onions in the center of a bialy).

What about the hole?

Per Smithsonian, a New England ship captain’s mother made a notably delicious, deep-fried doughnut that used her son’s spice cargo of nutmeg and cinnamon, along with lemon rind. She filled the center with hazelnuts or walnuts.

As the story goes, in 1847, 16-year-old sailor Hanson Crockett Gregory created the hole in the center of the doughnut. He used the top of a round tin pepper container to punch the holes, so the dough would cook evenly.

He recounted the story in an interview with the Boston Post at the turn of the century, 50 years later.

He effectively eliminated the need to fill the less-cooked center, and provided an inner cut-out that enabled the dough to be evenly cooked.

This was a breakthrough not just for donut holes, but for the donut in general. Previously, it had been cooked as a solid piece (no hole), so the sides were always crisper than the center. In fact, toppings were often put on the soggy center to cover up the flaw.

After the creation of the doughnut hole, donut makers also fried the dough “holes.”

It took more than a century and a mass marketer to popularize donut holes in America.

While the forerunner of Dunkin’ Donuts began in 1948 (here’s the history of Dunkin’ Donuts), Munchkins “donut hole treats” were not introduced until 1972. Tim Hortons followed with Timbits in 1976.
 
 
WHO CHANGED THE SPELLING FROM DOUGHNUT TO DONUT?

The first known printed record of the shortened word “donut” appears (likely an inadvertent misspelling) in “Peck’s Bad Boy And His Pa,” a story by George W. Peck published in 1900.

The spelling did not immediately catch on. That impetus goes to Dunkin’ Donuts, which decided on the truncated spelling when it started its business in 1950.

Later, as the brand expanded nationwide, it introduced America to the alternative spelling.

Donut is a easier to write, but we prefer the old-fashioned elegance of doughnut. Take your choice.

Doughnuts didn’t become a mainstream American food until after World War I. American doughboys at the front were served doughnuts by Salvation Army volunteers. When the doughboys returned, they brought their taste for doughnuts with them [source].

The name doughboy wasn’t related to the doughnuts, by the way. In the Civil War, the cavalry unchivalrously derided foot soldiers as doughboys.

According to one explanation, the term dates earlier, to the Mexican War of 1846-1848. American infantrymen made long treks over dusty terrain, giving them the appearance of being covered in flour, or dough.

One variation of this account explains that the soldiers were coated in the dust of adobe soil and were nicknamed “adobes,” which evolved into “dobies” and, eventually, “doughboys.”

We could not find exactly how U.S. service members in World War I (1914-18) came to be nicknamed doughboys, but as the granddaughter of a doughboy, we can relay that it was a positive term.

The nickname was still in use as of the early 1940s in popular culture, including the 1942 song “Johnny Doughboy Found a Rose in Ireland,” the 1942 musical film “Johnny Doughboy,” and the character “Johnny Doughboy” in Military Comics. The term was gradually replaced during World War II by G.I. (General Infantry) [source].
 
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*Olykoeks, meaning oil cakes, is the Dutch word for doughnuts. The Dutch, early settlers of Manhattan, brought doughnuts to the New World.
 
 

It was created by Kelley Epstein of Mountain Mama Cooks (her mountain is in Park City, Utah). The recipe was sent to us by Vermont Creamery.

You can use flavored goat cheese instead of plain. Vermont Creamery makes Creamy Goat Cheese in Classic, Olive & Herb, and Roasted Red Pepper, all of which work well with summer squash.

If you don’t have spreadable goat cheese, use a goat cheese log at room temperature, which makes it more spreadable.

Below, the difference between crostini and bruschetta.
 
 
RECIPE: SUMMER SQUASH CROSTINI WITH GOAT CHEESE

Ingredients For 4 Large Or 8 Small Pieces

 
Preparation

1. SLICE the zucchini and yellow squash as thinly as possible, using a mandoline or sharp knife.

2. COMBINE the squash, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Let it sit for 30 minutes or so until ready to serve. Then…

3. GRILL the baguette slices. While they grill…

4. COMBINE the goat cheese mixture in a food processor with the dill, lemon zest, and pepper. Pulse until smooth and incorporated.

5. SPREAD the goat cheese on each slice of bread and top with zucchini and yellow squash. Top each bruschetta with extra fresh dill and a sprinkle of kosher or coarse sea salt and pepper, if desired.
 
 
 
BRUSCHETTA VS. CROSTINI: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

The answer, in brief, is the size of the slice, plus grilling versus toasting.

[2] Zucchini and yellow summer squash (photo © Produce On Parade).

[3] Vermont Creamery’s spreadable goat cheese in three varieties: Original, Olive & Herb, and Roasted Red Pepper (photo © Vermont Creamery).

Bruschetta (pronounced broo-SKEH-tuh) are grilled bread rubbed with garlic and topped with any variety of items. The toppings can be as simple as extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper, to diced tomatoes and basil, to almost any spread, vegetable, cured meat, or cheese—even fruit.

Bruschetta originated in the Tuscany region of Italy, where it is commonly served as a snack or appetizer. It may have been the original garlic bread.

The word comes from the verb bruscare in the Roman dialect, which means “to roast over coals.” If you have access to a grill, grill the bread for authenticity. If not, you can toast it.

Some American manufacturers and others in the food industry misuse the term, using it to refer to the topping only and selling jars of “bruschetta” (it should be bruschetta topping). Show your superior knowledge and don’t allow the term to be distorted: The word bruschetta refers to the grilled bread, not the topping.

Crostini (cruh-STEE-nee) are croutons: not in the American sense of small cubes tossed into soup or salad, but thin slices of toasted bread.

Smaller than bruschetta, the slices can be cut from a ficelle, a thinner baguette one to two inches wide (the word is French for “string”), or from a thinner baguette. The slices are brushed with olive oil, toasted, and then topped with spreadable cheese, pâté, or other ingredients. Plain crostini are served with soups and salads, like melba toast, or set out with cheese.

Final take:

 
An easy memory aid: Crostini = crouton in French. Croutons are toasted (in the oven), not grilled over coals.