There might be a war of words to explain the difference between potato pancakes and potato latkes. For the record they are essentially the same, the latter being the conventional term for this delicacy of Jewish cooking that are traditionally served during Hanukah. Prompted by a Facebook post a while ago by one of Portland’s leading food writers who claimed, in so many words, that she couldn’t get enough of the latkes made at Rose Foods, I decided it was time to try them.
They’re only available on weekends, and this past weekend they were my brunch meal. You can have them plain with sides of applesauce (homemade?) and sour cream or dress them up with caviar or smoked salmon.
I opted for the plain version. Any more than that would have meant nearly $20 for a plate of three potato latkes with the $8 surcharge to include either topping.
They were good but not my preference. These were more like fritters than thin creamy pancakes. Those are the kind I’m used to based solely on how the various cooks in my family made them. My mother’s version involved a painstaking grating of the potatoes on the small holes of a box grater. Many cooks just grate the potatoes on the large hole side (or the modern-day food processor grating blade). These become glorified hash browns made into little cakes with the addition of some onion, matzoh meal or flour and eggs.
The other style, and my preference is the smoother version-creamy within and crisp-edged pancakes. You can achieve this easily by grating the potatoes with the food processor’s grater blade and then pulsing them with the steel blade to form a rough potato mush.
Potato pancakes at Schulter and Herr servied with their house-smoked salmon, capers, radish and cornichons
One of the best methods that I found is from TV food maven Andrew Zimmern, in a recipe featured in a Food and Wine article. See killer-potato-latkes
Besides Rose Foods’ version, the potato pancakes served at Schulte and Herr are gossamer light. I’d love to know how chef and co-owner Brian Davin achieves such blissful deliciousness.
Either way, Rose Foods’ potato latkes are good. But I’d much rather have their bagels spread with the wonderful whitefish salad or a heavy schmear of the restaurant’s phenomenal chopped liver rich with chicken fat and schmaltz.
