Latkes in a Blender!?!?

[muzzlet]

I was at my MIL's house for a Hanukah party on Sunday. She makes her latkes (potato pancakes) in the blender!! I had never heard of such a thing! They were pretty bad, spongy and greasy. I took one, covered it with sour cream and sort of mushed it around on my plate, hoping no one would notice I wasn't eating it.

I asked her how she made them, just out of morbid curiosity. She peels and quarters the potatoes, then purees them in the blender, adding eggs and flour. Gross!

Has anyone else ever heard of this?

[VeraBlue]

Unfortunately, her method for latkes reminds me of my father's method for sunday morning pancakes when we were kids. He'd start with Aunt Jemima, and how can you mess that up?? Easy, when you mix it to death in a blender.

Being a nice italian girl, I don't know much for latkes...until my mother in law gave me her mother's recipe. It called for grated potatoes, grated onion, eggs, flour and seasoning. My grandmother in law clearly told me never ever to overwork the mixture, to be very gentle with it. It was this touch that keeps them light and airy. That blender method breaks down all the starches in the potato and toughens the gluten in the flour making mortar, not latkes.

You know, they really are easy to make, and so much worth the effort. If you try making them, and are successful, you could always suggest making them next year. At least you'll enjoy actually eating them.

[Michael in FtW]

Sounds like what my grandma did with leftover mashed potatoes .... but that ain't no latkas!

[lyndalou]

My mother made "potato pancakes" like Michael's grandma did, and he's right they are not latkes by any stretch of the imagination.
I saw Martha Stewart use her food processor for grating the potatoes, but then she fried them the way I always do.

I've gotta make some soon.

[CharlieD]

I've used food processor when I had to make latkes for 100 people, but never heard of using blender. For sure not the way you describe. Sounds Bad. Even using food processor is by far not the prefered method. The big hole cheese greated is the way to go. Sorry.

[muzzlet]

Yeah, my bubbe always used the box grater. The running joke was always that whoever got the piece of fingernail in their latke got a prize!!
I usually use the food processor shredding disk for mine, but was just curious if anyone else had to endure those soggy sponges passing for latkes. I have even used this organic boxed mix that comes with dehydrated shreds of potato and you just add water. They were actually pretty good! I can't remember the brand, but I'll have to go look at Whole Foods or Trader Joes.

[CharlieD]

Neah, shreded potatoes also not good for latkes. All you get is fried hash brown paties.

[ella/TO]

This year I made mine so:...I did the onion in the food processor with the knife. I then shredded the potatoes with the cuisinart shredder, I took most of it out of the bowl and then processed a little bit of the potatoes and mixed that in with the shredded taters.....eggs, lottsa salt and pepper and a bit of matzo meal....they came out quite "dandy"....I always like to experiment....lol

[*amy*]

Originally Posted by muzzlet

I was at my MIL's house for a Hanukah party on Sunday. She makes her latkes (potato pancakes) in the blender!! I had never heard of such a thing! They were pretty bad, spongy and greasy. I took one, covered it with sour cream and sort of mushed it around on my plate, hoping no one would notice I wasn't eating it.

I asked her how she made them, just out of morbid curiosity. She peels and quarters the potatoes, then purees them in the blender, adding eggs and flour. Gross!

Has anyone else ever heard of this?

It's an interesting concept. Have never made potato pancakes in a blender, but I have seen a few recipes on the net. (Try a google.) Some reviews say let the mixture sit, and different approaches to the blender method. I use to use a box grater for the potatoes, then a shredder, with a few different plates (mincing etc.). The only problem I ran across was the shredded potatoes release a lot of water & start turning red... so am curious if you could post the recipe in its entirety. With a couple of tweaks it might turn out okay.

[CharlieD]

It is normal for potato to release the water. Just drain it. However latkes are not potato pancakes and should not be treated as such.