"chanukah" news and stories

Hannukah Beer Pairings

by Joshua M. Bernstein, Posted Dec 11th 2009 @ 4:30PM

hannukah beer Photo: Jenene Chesbrough

While the holiday season is all about tradition, here's one to break: serving wine with dinner. Craft beer's varied styles and flavors mean you can match any Hannukah meal with beer.

Kick-start your Festival of Lights feast with crispy potato latkes crowned with applesauce. They're tastiest aside Unibroue Éphémère, a cloudy, well-spiced blanche brewed with apples, which provides a tartness that matches well with applesauce.

Alternately, try a Belgian like Chimay Tripel. The 8 percent ABV cuts through the grease, while the Tripel's bready nature goes well with potatoes.

Filed under: Drink Recipes, Holidays

Frozen Latke Taste Test

COMMENTS 1

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Dec 10th 2009 @ 4:00PM

by Trisha Thompson

What would Hanukkah be without latkes (potato pancakes)? Skinny candles, chocolate gelt, driedel gambling and one long Adam Sandler song. In other words, not enough and not satisfying.

Latkes are satisfying. But just because they're essential to this Jewish holiday (and to homes that don't even celebrate Hannukah), doesn't mean you have to make them, at least not from scratch.

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Best Frozen Latkes

by Trisha Thompson

We tested various supermarket brands of frozen latkes that are most widely available, rating them on crispiness, potato-onion flavor and the all-important grease factor.

Rachel Been, AOL

Getty Images North America

Best Frozen Latkes

by Trisha Thompson

We tested various supermarket brands of frozen latkes that are most widely available, rating them on crispiness, potato-onion flavor, and the all-important grease factor.

Rachel Been, AOL

Runner-Up: Dr. Praeger's All Natural Potato Pancakes

Crispiness (1-5): 3, fairly crispy
Potato-Onion Flavor (1-5): 4, a good balance of potato and onion
Grease Factor: Low, could use a bit more (if the doctor would let us)
Comments: "Better than expected, given that they're made by a doctor wearing white coat and stethoscope on back. Brand motto: 'Where you recognize all the ingredients.' And we did. Wish these cookie-cutter circles looked a little more like free-form homemade latkes, though."

Keith Morrison, AOL

Runner-Up: Ratner's Traditional Potato Pancakes (Latkes)

Crispiness (1-5): 3, fairly crispy
Potato-Onion Flavor (1-5): 4, very mashed potato-y inside, but it could use more onion
Grease Factor: Not too much, not too little
Comments: "More like a flat knish than a latke, but tasty."

Keith Morrison, AOL

Winner: Trader Joe's Traditional Latkes (Potato Pancakes)

Crispiness (1-5): 4, nicely crisped
Potato-Onion Flavor (1-5): 5, satisfyingly oniony/potato-y
Grease Factor: just right
Comments: "The crispy outside, potato-onion clumpy texture inside makes it taste homemade," said one tester. Good ingredients (nothing scary), and at a good price too. If you're lucky enough to live near a Trader Joe's, you're all set. If not, go to the runners up.

Keith Morrison, AOL

Honorable Mention: An Alternative Latke Trader Joe's Vegetable Bird's Nests

A carrot-onion latke with an Asian name. Swap out the soy dipping sauce for applesauce and sour cream, and you've got a new spin on latkes. Bake these a few minutes longer than the package says to get them crisp.

Rachel Been, AOL

Next to Worst: Golden Potato Pancakes (Traditional Latkes)

Crispiness (1-5): 2, a notch above gummy
Potato-Onion Flavor (1-5): 2, gluey and floury
Grease Factor: Adequate, but given the other flavor and texture issues, not a save
Comments: "Meal (wheat flour) is listed as the second ingredient, and we think that could be the problem."

Keith Morrison, AOL

Worst Overall: Kineret Potato Latkes

Crispiness (1-5): 2, a notch above gummy
Potato-Onion Flavor (1-5): 1, none whatsoever
Grease Factor: fake tasting fat
Comments: "This is terrible," said several testers. "Chemical-tasting." "Leaves a film on my tongue." Even extra sour cream and applesauce didn't make it more palatable. Perhaps the manufacturer went overboard on the "disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate (to promote color rentention)" listed in the ingredients. Keep away.

Keith Morrison, AOL

Filed under: Taste Test, Holidays

Bubbe Wendy's Hanukkah Latkes

COMMENTS 0

by Erik R. Trinidad, Posted Dec 10th 2009 @ 11:30AM

fancy fast food latkes Photo: Erik R. Trinidad

Hey everybody, it's Hanukkah! It's Chanukah! No matter how you spell it, it's time for the Jewish festival of lights -- eight crazy nights of dreidels gone wild, a time when latkes are as abundant as old yentas around a mah-jongg table.

But you don't need to be Jewish to partake in Hanukkah traditions, particularly the gastronomic treat of latkes (or lattkes). No matter how you spell it, latke is Yiddish for fried pancakes, typically of the potato variety.

These oily treats are oddly similar to McDonald's hash browns. But, Bubbe Wendy has guilted us into using her Fancy Fast Food recipe ("If you just want to use McDonald's hash browns, then I guess that's fine by me..."), so here goes. Oy. ...

Filed under: Fancy Fast Food

Perfecting Potato Latkes - Tip of the Day

COMMENTS 0

by Alanna Kaufman, Posted Dec 19th 2008 @ 10:04AM

Sick of soggy latkes? Hanukkah's only a few days away, but there's plenty of time to perfect the art of frying potato pancakes...

Filed under: Tip of the Day, Holidays

Potato Latkes and Applesauce - A Little Late

COMMENTS 1

by Sarah J. Gim, Posted Jan 3rd 2006 @ 7:35PM

So Hanukkah ended yesterday. So I'm a little late with the latkes. So sue me. (Actually, since celebration always starts the night before, the last night of Hanukkah was actually the evening of January 1st.)

I fried the latkes on time, I just didn't post anything about them right away. Nicole already pointed us to another blog with some beautiful latkes, so I won't go into all the delicious details today about grating vs. shredding potatoes, keeping or tossing the onion juice from grating,and whether one should use matzo meal or flour or nothing at all. I will say that I made the accompanying applesauce.

Filed under: Vegetarian, Vegan, Ingredients, Methods