Bubie's Latkes

Peel and chop 4 large russet potatoes and a medium onion. Add the the potatoes and onions to a food processor until they are the consistency of a chunky apple sauce. You can also use the coarse side of a box grater to shred the potatoes and finely dice the onions with a knife. Strain most, but not all, of the water out of the potato/onion mixture. Optionally, reserve the potato skins to fry up in oil until crispy as a separate snack.

Mix in eggs (2) and flour (1 cup) to potato/onion mixture. The batter should be somewhat stiff. If it's too watery, add more flour about one tablespoon at a time.

Heat up 1-2 cm of oil within a cast iron pan set at medium-high heat. When the oil is up to frying temperature (batter should bubble when it's added to the pan), spoon a scant 1/4 cup of batter and flatten to form each latke. Let each latke fry on the first side until bubbling on top. Fry until crispy golden brown, and flip to fry the other side similarly. Try to only flip latkes once for best result,

Keep the whole surface of the pan covered with oil at all times. This will require a LOT of oil, but you want to make sure you're always frying your latkes and not sautéing them.

Once a latke is fried on both sides, set on a paper tower to dry off oil and cool.

Enjoy on their own, with apple sauce, sour cream, or other fix-ems.

This recipe is from Bubie Sheila, Erin's grandmother, creator of the best latkes, in our completely biased opinion. For generations Jewish people across the world have eaten food with lots of oil in the month of December to celebrate the miracle of Hannukah, where oil meant to burn for just one night instead burned for eight. When Erin was in undergrad, Bubie passed her latke recipe on so Erin could celebrate Hannukah while away at university. The first time making these latkes were by form of hand, grating all the potatoes and frying up enough latkes to feed about 10 people.

The biggest mistake people usually make is not using enough oil for the shallow frying; when you don't use enough oil, the latkes end up floppy. The other thing you should keep in mind: hot oil will make your clothes and your home smell strongly of fried potatoes for a while afterwards. A splatter screen and apron will mitigate both the hazard and mess.

L'chaim!