[Bonanza]

Originally Posted by senior citizen

Mostly everyone would realize that the people who remember these humble potato pancake versions have ancestors that came to America from many different Slavic countries.......plus Germany, etc., etc., etc.

Each region used different ingredients, unique to their particular country/area/family recipe.......mostly just put together from memory this country, we choose to "fry" in whatever we think is healthier........even though frying has not been a popular method of cooking for quite a long time now.
Believe it or not.........in the old country, plus with the immigrants of the late 1800's / early 1900's THEY USED LARD.
Now, if I put that into a recipe...........you would no doubt complain about that.
I only have olive oil. Some use canola oil. Some people years ago would even save up their BACON GREASE to fry up various foods.[/SIZE ]I think any good cook out there, can "tweak" any recipe to use whatever they desire in place of an ingredient not to their liking.

]In Italy, which you also have a problem with the Italians it seems........the different regions prepare their foods totally differently.........so yes, no matter if it is SLAVIC ORIGIN or ITALIAN ORIGIN , the "stuff" used will vary. Common sense to me.

Why not share your recipe. Variety is the spice of life.
p.s. The Jewish friends we have do make latkes for all of their holidays..........after all, this is 2015.

Just like I never made octopus for my family, but my Italian grandma did. I still remember it in the jars. Someone must have imported it or brought it on one of their trips back from Italy.........scared the hell out of me.

Well, I'm not exactly eating humble pie. Those who came to this country did have slight variations in their potato pancakes or latkes, but corn meal was not and is not one of the variations in latkes.

Fried foods have never gone out of style and are still a very popular method of cooking. When Americans think about frying
something, "healthier" is not a term that enters into anyone's mind. Lard is seldom used today but is known best for its use in many desserts. You can get a delicious "short" pastry for desserts using lard. Your comment to me regarding lard is unnecessary.

Yes, most good cooks can and often do tweak a recipe. But your neglect to not mention to squeeze excess water from the potatoes is a gigantic error. Without doing that potato pancakes would be a disaster!

I will cover Italian things in your other thread. Peppers and eggs don't go particularly well with potato pancakes. Also, I don't post recipes. There are enough incredible recipes in cookbooks and on the Internet and we don't really need them on this forum, especially when a key factor is omitted.

Latkes are not only made for holidays. They are made all year long and go particularly well with a pot roast or brisket.

What's with octopus in your post? Where did that come from? Wierd.