Tips for perfectly fried latkes

Throughout Hanukkah, Yahoo Food has promised to post a series of recipes and tips to make the best latkes, jelly doughnuts, and other Hanukkah treats.  To kick off the celebration, they posted an interview with food writer Leah Koenig. She offered the folks at Yahoo the following tips to avoid mistakes when frying latkes:

Be sure to drain those taters - When water hits bubbling oil, the latter begins to pop and sputter and that can be dangerous. She suggests bundling grated ingredients in a paper towel or clean dish cloth, then squeezing to release the liquids within, before adding them to oil. Do this two or three times. “There’s a surprising amount of liquid in potatoes and onions,” she said. “It’s a little extra work, but it really does make a big difference.”

Make sure the oil is hot enough - “The whole purpose of deep or shallow frying is to sear the outside so that the food cooks all the way through, but it doesn’t soak up a lot of oil,” Koenig explained. If you have a thermometer, check that the oil temperature is between 325 and 375 degrees. “Keep adjusting the heat until you notice that the latke is browning pretty quickly,” she said. “If it’s not bubbling furiously, you want to start over.”

Use the right oil - Keep olive oil far away from your latkes. “Olive oil has a low smoke point, which means that it starts to smoke pretty quickly when you put it on high heat,” Koenig said. Instead, choose a mild-flavored vegetable oil such as sunflower, peanut, vegetable or safflower oil.