Crispy Potato Latkes - Cooks Illustrated

Published November 1, 2012. From Cook's Illustrated.

For truly crisp latkes, we had to eliminate the one thing potatoes are loaded with.

The Problem

Many recipes produce latkes that soak up oil like a sponge. Others are crisp outside but gluey and starchy within. Still others are simply undercooked and tough, with the texture and flavor of raw potato.

The Goal

We wanted to produce a crispy specimen with real contrast between the crust and the center.

The Solution

Raw potatoes exude tons of moisture when their cells are broken, and excess water is the enemy of crispness, so we knew that the variety of potato and how we processed it would greatly affect the latkes’ texture.

One quick test settled the spud question: Russets, with their high concentration of moisture-absorbing starch, produced the driest and crispiest pancakes. As for the cutting method, shredded potatoes yielded superior texture.

To get our potatoes as dry as possible, we defaulted to the test kitchen’s favorite method: wringing out the shreds in a dry dish towel. We also microwaved the shreds before mixing.

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Crispy Potato Latkes

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