Real Recipes From Real Home Cooks ®

milwaukee potato pancakes (latkes)

(2 ratings)
Blue Ribbon Recipe by
Dianne Ward
Aberdeen, WA

I was born in Milwaukee and my mother was of German/Czech heritage so my fondest memories are of things like this.

Blue Ribbon Recipe

These latkes use a combination of coarse and finely shredded potatoes giving them an excellent texture. Grated onion incorporates into the potatoes. We love the sweetness from the caramelization the onions get while frying. Flattening the scoops of potato give these latkes very crispy edges. If you want, sprinkle with a little bit of sea salt when they are out of the fryer for an extra pop of flavor.

— The Test Kitchen @kitchencrew
(2 ratings)
method Pan Fry

Ingredients For milwaukee potato pancakes (latkes)

  • 6 lg
    russet potatoes, peeled
  • 1 sm
    onion
  • 3
    eggs
  • salt and pepper to taste (I am a bit generous with the pepper)
  • 1/4 c
    all-purpose flour
  • good quality vegetable oil for frying
  • FOR SERVING
  • sour cream
  • apple sauce

How To Make milwaukee potato pancakes (latkes)

  • Grated and shredded potatoes.
    1
    Either by hand or with a food processor grate or finely shred the potatoes. I usually use about 1/2 grated and 1/2 finely shredded. The resulting potatoes should be a lot finer than hash browns.
  • Squeezing liquid out of the potatoes.
    2
    Now, very important... Squeeze as much liquid out of the potatoes as you can. Either by hand or by twisting them in a clean dishtowel.
  • Grating the onion.
    3
    Grate the onion.
  • Eggs, salt, pepper, and flour added.
    4
    Add the eggs, salt and pepper, and flour. Stir to blend well.
  • Heating the oil.
    5
    Heat the oil to a medium frying temperature. A little bit of bacon dripping added can't hurt.
  • Adding scoops of potato mixture to hot oil.
    6
    Using a cookie scoop, put the potato mixture into the oil.
  • Flattening the potato pancake.
    7
    Flatten the potatoes with a pancake turner. Fry until golden brown on the bottom.
  • Frying the other side of the potato pancake.
    8
    Flip them over and fry the other side.
  • Draining grease on paper towels.
    9
    Drain on paper towels.
  • Serving with applesauce and sour cream.
    10
    Serve them immediately with applesauce or sour cream on top or on the side. (It's a dunking kind of thing...lol) While this recipe is actually based in Jewish cooking it's even better with pork than beef.
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