Welcome to The Be A Kitchen!

I'm Adam Rapoport, and I'm here with my assistant food editor Alison Roman today. We're making my mom's famous potato latkes, and we're excited to share this recipe with you. Any ladka starts with potatoes, and that's exactly what we're doing.

First things first, we need to grade our potatoes. You can use a box grater or a food processor if you want. I often use one at home because it's just so much easier to get those nice, fine shreds of potato. We're working with one pound of onions and three pounds of potatoes, which is a lot, but trust me, it's necessary for making great latkes.

Now, let's talk about the importance of wringing out all the moisture from the onion and potato. This step is crucial in making latkes, as you want to remove as much excess liquid as possible so that your latkes don't end up too soggy or greasy. To do this, take a big handful of potatoes and wrap them in a towel along with some onions. Then, just wring those bad boys out like you mean it! If you look at all the juice coming out, you'll see just how much moisture is being removed.

With our potatoes all nice and dry, we can add the rest of our ingredients. We've got salt, baking powder, a little bit of black pepper, some regular old bread crumbs, and schmaltz - which is basically chicken fat and vegetable oil mixed together. I like to use a mix of both because it gives the latkes a richer flavor.

The question is, how do you know when the oil is hot enough to start frying? The best way to tell is to put a little bit in the pan just to test it out. You want it to sizzle and smell nice - that's when you know it's ready to go! My whole thing with making latkes is not to pack them too tight, but rather to lay them gently in there so they cook evenly.

As we're frying our latkes, I like to keep an eye on the temperature of the oil. You want it to be hot enough that when you add a small amount of water to the pan, it should sizzle and bubble - that's your goal! Now, it might seem counterintuitive, but I actually don't like to pack my latkes too tightly together. Instead, I just lay them in there gently so they have some room to breathe.

As we continue frying our latkes, you'll start to see the edges brown and crisp up - that's when you know they're done! It's a beautiful thing, let me tell you. And when you take those first bites... wow. Just like the magazine says, my renditions of Maxine Rappaport's famous ladka are crispy, golden, and full of sweet onion flavor. I think they're perfect, but hey, what do I know? Let's just eat them and figure it out, shall we?

Happy Hanukkah, everyone! We hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. And remember, with a little bit of practice and patience, you'll be making latkes like a pro in no time.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwelcome to the be a kitchen I'm Adam Rapoport here with assistant food editor Alison Roman and today we are making my mom's famous potato latkes alright any ladka starts with potatoes and on so I'm gonna grade them on a box Raider you can use a food processor if you want and height full full disclosure I often use one at home you have to have a lot of onions what are we working with here we're working with one pound of onions and three pounds of potatoes now I think this is going to be most important step in making latkes wherein we wring out all the moisture from the onion potato correct so take a big handful of potatoes you take some of the onions and you just wrap them up in the towel and you just ring away and if you look as I look at all that juice coming out it's crazy that's just from one little handful so we have that pretty dry potato and onions now I'm going to add the rest of the ingredients all right so what do we got here I can't even remember we got salt no one wants an unceasing lock up and then we've got baking powder a little bit of black pepper just regular old bread crumbs yeah try not Coors dump those in and then finally to hang out you just said I don't have to beat that I can just dump them in and use my hands to incorporate it all together it's all going in the same place all right time to start trying I like to use a mix of schmaltz which is chicken fat and vegetable oil I guess the question is how do you know when the oil is hot enough to start prob the best way to tell is to put a little bit in the pan just to just a pinch just a little bit assman a smidge uh yeah and you basically you want it to sizzle oh you know that's gonna taste good now my whole thing is when you're when you're making the latkes I don't like to pack them tight kind of lay it in there I just laid in and just kind of pack it down a little bit just like that it's as simple as that all right the edges are starting to brown oh yeah their view oh that's just like the magazine I know that you're maybe gonna be goin all right there you go mine and Alison's renditions of Maxine Rappaport's famous ladka they're crispy their golden you've got the little wispy edges and they're sweet with onion flavor correct me inside sir I think Parker the perfect but you know what enough talk let's eat I'm going with this guy all right Happy Hanukkah everybody hmm oh thank you they really are perfect I know there's a bet I won't need 42 of these I'll take the recipe makes hmm youwelcome to the be a kitchen I'm Adam Rapoport here with assistant food editor Alison Roman and today we are making my mom's famous potato latkes alright any ladka starts with potatoes and on so I'm gonna grade them on a box Raider you can use a food processor if you want and height full full disclosure I often use one at home you have to have a lot of onions what are we working with here we're working with one pound of onions and three pounds of potatoes now I think this is going to be most important step in making latkes wherein we wring out all the moisture from the onion potato correct so take a big handful of potatoes you take some of the onions and you just wrap them up in the towel and you just ring away and if you look as I look at all that juice coming out it's crazy that's just from one little handful so we have that pretty dry potato and onions now I'm going to add the rest of the ingredients all right so what do we got here I can't even remember we got salt no one wants an unceasing lock up and then we've got baking powder a little bit of black pepper just regular old bread crumbs yeah try not Coors dump those in and then finally to hang out you just said I don't have to beat that I can just dump them in and use my hands to incorporate it all together it's all going in the same place all right time to start trying I like to use a mix of schmaltz which is chicken fat and vegetable oil I guess the question is how do you know when the oil is hot enough to start prob the best way to tell is to put a little bit in the pan just to just a pinch just a little bit assman a smidge uh yeah and you basically you want it to sizzle oh you know that's gonna taste good now my whole thing is when you're when you're making the latkes I don't like to pack them tight kind of lay it in there I just laid in and just kind of pack it down a little bit just like that it's as simple as that all right the edges are starting to brown oh yeah their view oh that's just like the magazine I know that you're maybe gonna be goin all right there you go mine and Alison's renditions of Maxine Rappaport's famous ladka they're crispy their golden you've got the little wispy edges and they're sweet with onion flavor correct me inside sir I think Parker the perfect but you know what enough talk let's eat I'm going with this guy all right Happy Hanukkah everybody hmm oh thank you they really are perfect I know there's a bet I won't need 42 of these I'll take the recipe makes hmm you\n"