What's Pressoir Cooking? Latkes (better late than never)

by Max Goldberg Liu
Wednesday, January 13, 2020

Hannukah is a favorite time of year for my family, and while we were not able to gather over the holiday itself this year, we got together after the new year to make latkes, a family favorite.

There are two schools of thought on latke preparation revolving around the form of the potato. The other ingredients remain the same - onion, matzoh meal, egg, and salt.

As far as I know, the “traditional” method involves basically whirring everything together in a food processor to make a sort of paste that is then shallow-fried. Simple and delicious.

The other method, which I asked my family to try out a few years ago, uses shredded potato and the result is similar to a swiss rösti. It is more elegant but in my opinion refinement isn’t everything with latkes.

I have never been an apple sauce person (alone, yes, but not with latkes) - instead, we order a variety of fish and roe from Russ and Daughters and use the latkes as a vehicle. A hot crispy latke with sour cream and salmon roe or caviar is a perfect bite, especially with a glass of Blanc de Blancs Champagne!

A “traditional” latke with an appropriate amount of salmon roe

The shredded version