Latkes - the Chanukah worm says mazel tov!

In the best Chanukah spirit, we spent Christmas Eve with an old friend making latkes, enjoying her childhood tradition of eating them fresh from the pan. The ingredients are:

4 lbs. - ca. 1,5 kg - baking potatoes

1 big onion

2 tbsp/spsk matzoh meal, wheat flour is fine, too

2 eggs

salt and peper

The potatoes were peeled and grated along with the onions on the Acme Special Safety Grater. Dangerous tool. We took turns. No bloody knuckles.

Remove some of the water with a few paper towels. Then mix the egg, flour, salt and pepper with the grated potatoes.
Heat up 1 1/2 inches of oil. Drop spoonfulls of the potato mixture into the hot oil and flatten the cakes. Turn them over when they're nicely browned on the first side. When they're finished drain them on some paper towels to absorb some of the fat.

Latkes are best right from the pan. If they make it to a plate, they're good with applesauce. Mott's is a classic, I'd rather have my mom's.

The latkes were delicious, much better - more delicate - than the ones I traveled uptown to get at Zabar's last time I was in this mecca-city of Jewish cuisine. Secrets, says Melissa, are minimal amounts of egg and matzoh meal, flattening the cakes when they get on the pan and having the right temperature oil.
Happy Chanukah!