Your memoir brings back memories for me, too. I learned how to make platzki, as my grandmother used to call them. This year, while visiting my in-laws for Christmas. As you know Chanukah fell on Christmas night this year. Dinner that evening was a Tofurky roast and my platzki, made from memory, according to my grandmother's and eventually my mother's recipe. A recipe? Moja babusia i matka didn't have one. What I saw them do, I've tried to replicate. I make them every year on the first night of Chanukah. And I too have found the Whole Foods versions quite passable. I stumbled on them several holiday-times ago, but they are for desperate moments. Making platzki is just as much a part of the holiday season as it is eating them.
We had a Jewish restaurant and deli nearby, now long gone. The matzo ball soup was famous. I'll bet they had your pancakes, and I didn't even know it. Dang : )
Pierre Franey, I think, has a recipe for zucchini pancakes that is superb. Unless it's from The Joy of Cooking. I like it a lot, but not at Hannukah. :-)
Yes to zucchini pancakes. I found a recipe for Zucchini pancakes in America's test kitchen, which are wonderful! Only some grandchildren like them, but my children do. We eat them all year. One of my grandmothers made latkes all year round. I loved your food memories, Lev.
Your memoir brings back memories for me, too. I learned how to make platzki, as my grandmother used to call them. This year, while visiting my in-laws for Christmas. As you know Chanukah fell on Christmas night this year. Dinner that evening was a Tofurky roast and my platzki, made from memory, according to my grandmother's and eventually my mother's recipe. A recipe? Moja babusia i matka didn't have one. What I saw them do, I've tried to replicate. I make them every year on the first night of Chanukah. And I too have found the Whole Foods versions quite passable. I stumbled on them several holiday-times ago, but they are for desperate moments. Making platzki is just as much a part of the holiday season as it is eating them.
Food memories are lovely this time of year.
WF's pancaked are definitely closer to platzki than they are to traditional latkehs.
I enjoyed reading this heartwarming personal essay. I'll bet your mother knew how to make potato pancakes.
Ah, but knowing how and making good ones aren't the same thing, eh? :-) She had very high standards.
Good point!
Terrific essay, Lev! I too failed at making latkes.
Thanks. Letting go was liberating, and when I have latkes of any kind, anywhere, I think of my dad and it brings me joy.
My uncle was the latke maker in my family, and so your essay resonated with my memories as well.
We had a Jewish restaurant and deli nearby, now long gone. The matzo ball soup was famous. I'll bet they had your pancakes, and I didn't even know it. Dang : )
There is Detroit-style deli near us that has amazing matzoh ball soup. And their Reuben sandwiches are gigantic and terrific.
: )
Pierre Franey, I think, has a recipe for zucchini pancakes that is superb. Unless it's from The Joy of Cooking. I like it a lot, but not at Hannukah. :-)
Yes to zucchini pancakes. I found a recipe for Zucchini pancakes in America's test kitchen, which are wonderful! Only some grandchildren like them, but my children do. We eat them all year. One of my grandmothers made latkes all year round. I loved your food memories, Lev.
Thanks! You might enjoy this lighthearted one if you haven't seen it: https://writewithoutborders.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Streetwalker-Stew.pdf
I have also passed the torch to my kids! They are verey good at it.
That's so cool when food connects generations.