Streit's Potato Pancake Latkes Mix

I loooooooove latkes. LOVE them! And I am far from alone. As is often the case, what was once a humble peasant food has found its way into mainstream culture. Even my local IHOP has potato pancakes on the menu (that said, I have not reviewed them for a reason).

Latkes are made in two different styles, and I like them both pretty equally. One way of making them resembles hash browns. Potatoes are thinly shredded, along with some onions. Sometimes there is matzoh meal added as a binder, and egg holds the whole thing together. Then they are fried -- either in a shallow pan, or deep fried.

I consider this the safer style. At worst it is merely a hash brown patty, and let's face it -- hash browns are one of those foods that are pretty hard to screw up.

The other style uses mashed potatoes instead of shredded potatoes. Again, there is onion added for flavor, and matzo meal helps to form the mixture into something more of a potato croquette. This version can also be fried, but I have also seen them oven baked. It can resemble the really firm stuffing of a twice-baked potato. At its worst, if the potato is not mashed finely, it can be lumpy.

Honestly, the single best latkes I have ever had came from the hot case at Whole Foods (specifically, their Upper West Side of Manhattan location). It was actually a zucchini and potato latke. It was crispy, and had onions that were very thin and fried so that they had that great caramelized taste. They had a crunchy crust, yet were just soft enough on the inside that there was a nice contrast in texture. And the flavor was well worth parting the sea of boorish, arrogant yuppies and unwashed, badly aging hippies that I had to wade through to get to the case. I don't know if this is an item carried at more than one Whole Foods, or even if they still have them available. It might be something done just as a local item. But should you see them at your local store, get them. And at the very least, prepare for no other hash brown -- let alone potato pancake -- to ever be as good.



I had never tried to make my own latkes before. I have helped other people make them (well, I dropped them into the oil), and that resulted in what were possibly the worst latkes/hash browns on the planet. So yeah, I was a little nervous.

This time my luck was better.



Streit's directions are simple. The box contains two bags, each of which makes about ten latkes. For each bag, you mix one large egg and one cup of cold water in a bowl. You then add the contents of the bag, mix well, and let stand for ten minutes. Then -- regular old pancake style -- you drop tablespoon-sized dollops into hot oil and fry on both sides.



I, of course, chose to fry in lard because that makes everything taste better...

OK, that was wrong, I admit it. That was probably even more wrong than saying that Moses used The Force to part the Red Sea. No, I did not in fact use lard. But I did -- maybe -- break the rules a little, depending upon your point of view. I used vegetable oil (which, according the label, is all soy but is not a certified as kosher product). Yes, I could have used olive oil. I always have olive oil in the kitchen, and olive oil can in fact be kosher (the bottle I have is, at least). And there are olive oils available that are kosher for Passover. I just personally do not like the flavor of things fried in olive oil. Yes, I know that there is a particular shrill-voiced television "personality" who will expound upon the uses of olive oil for absolutely everything. But I don't agree, so I didn't do it.



The reason I say I may have cheated on the kosher for Passover rule is because soy, while not considered chometz, is part of a group of grains and legumes called kitniyot. These are avoided because visually they are so similar to chometz that the two could be confused. But, not all Jews consider kitniyot to be unusable during Passover. Ashkenazi Jews will not consume kitniyot products, whereas Sephardic Jews will. So, depending on which side of the fence you're on, I may have cheated. Or maybe not. Personally, I am just going to say that it was close enough for me. For more information on the topic than you may ever care to know, check out this link for "Ask The Rabbi" at about.com.



So after all that preamble, how did Streit's latkes actually taste?

Well, because these came from a powdered mix, they are the mashed potato style of latkes. Granted, it was like instant mashed potato. But I actually like instant mashed potatoes, so I am not holding that against them. And for once, we actually followed the instructions (mostly), and the one-tablespoon dollops of batter did in fact form nice silver dollar sized latkes.



They crisped up well. The inside was sort of a generically smooth mashed potato. The main flavor note is onion, and it's fairly pronounced. I wish I had thought far enough ahead to get some sour cream or applesauce (both traditional toppings) to try with them.

Honestly, for a boxed mix, it's really good. Have I had better? Yes, but these were quite enjoyable. I did notice that, on the individual latkes that were made from slightly larger blobs of batter than the instructions called for (like I said, we mostly followed the directions) actually came out better than the others. There was enough to sink your teeth into, and the flavor seemed more rounded out. I will definitely make these again, but I know I am going to doctor it up a bit -- maybe add a little garlic, possibly some crispy onion strings, etc. And I will make sure I have the aforementioned toppings available.



PURCHASED FROM:
Vons Supermarket

PRICE:
$3.19

CALORIES:
90 calories per 3 pancakes (assuming each pancake was made with 1 tbsp of mix).

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Contains wheat. Kosher, kosher for Passover, parve, sulfite free.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
streitsmatzoh.com

Trader Joe's Latkes

Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah and I thought it fitting that we have a review of a traditional holiday food. (At the absolute last minute, I thought it would have been fun to do "Eight Crazy Reviews" of Jewish foodstuffs. But, since it was indeed the last minute, I couldn't source enough items that I thought would be interesting. So next year, guys, I promise I will start earlier and we will do a Hanukkah week. Until then, we have Trader Joe's latkes to hold us over.)

For my non-Jewish friends who may not be familiar, latkes are a type of fried potato pancake that often also includes grated onion. They are often topped with apple sauce or sour cream. And while I am sure there are some who won't appreciate this comment, I will stand by it: in a nutshell, they are basically like the best hash browns ever.

I have never made them from scratch myself, though I have "helped" to make them (and for the record, that version was pretty much like the worst hash browns ever). But it doesn't seem like Hanukkah without them.

So how does Trader Joe's stack up?

According to the box, these latkes can be either fried or oven baked. Since I had no desire to deal with the mess of frying, I oven baked mine.



Each latke is about the size of a silver dollar pancake. They browned up nicely in the oven. The texture is sort of like mashed potatoes that have been fried and had bits of hash browns added to them. I know that might sound weird, but it's actually pretty good.



You can taste the onions, but you can't see them. This is a good thing for me, as I like the taste of onions but not actual onions themselves. (Yes, I am a freak). The potato, again, is kind of in a weird middle ground between mashed and hash browns, but it works. The crusting adds some crunch, which I happen to love. It's a little salty, but I think good latkes need salt.



Unfortunately, when I picked these up, I didn't think far enough ahead to get either sour cream or apple sauce, but I am sure either would have been a nice touch. Yes, I could name several places in New York where the latkes are better -- but I am not in New York (sadly), and for a frozen option these are pretty tasty.

So I can have these for seven more nights in a row, right?




PURCHASED FROM:
Trader Joe's

Swanson's Hungry Man Turkey Dinner

While other companies may have made frozen dinners first (so says the all-knowing Wikipedia entry), it was Swanson's original that made the whole concept catch on. And here we all are years later still eating "TV Dinners." (And yes, that is what Swanson actually called them.)

Should I also admit that I remember, back in the day, when the trays were still metal and you couldn't microwave them? And we only had six television channels...and no Internet...and the only kinds of coffee you could get were "regular" and "decaf"...damn you kids! (insert fist shaking here)



Anyways...Swanson still makes the classic frozen dinner -- and this "Hungry Man" version, which boasts 1 pound of food, which really sounds like a lot. The meal features 3 slices of breast meat and 1 slice of what I think is supposed to be dark meat, but in reality is just a scarier beige color than the rest of the turkey. There is also mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, and what I consider to be the highlight of the meal -- the apple cranberry dessert.

Let's talk about the components, one by one:

The turkey:
It seems to be more of a "pressed turkey" product than I remember it being the last time I ate one (well over two years ago). It's kind of patchy in terms of color. The texture is like a really thick piece of processed deli meat. The flavor is good; it's got a strong "roasted" taste to it. But at the same time, it seems like it tastes that way because it was injected or altered in some fashion to give it a stronger turkey flavor than it would have on its own.



The Stuffing:
I am not a big stuffing fan, so I am probably going to be less critical of this stuffing than someone who loves it would be. For me, the bread crumb stuffing reminds me of a drier version of Stove Top. You can taste the onion, celery and sage. I have to admit I would actually chose this stuffing over many others -- but again, I am not a huge stuffing fan to start with.

The Gravy:
Super-processed (not that the rest of the meal isn't), too salty, and only vaguely poultry flavored. Hmmmm, can I think of something nice to say about it? Well, it's wet...to the best of my knowledge it is not classified as a weapon of mass destruction...sorry, I can't think of anything much nicer than that.



The Corn:
There's not much one can really do to either improve or to screw up frozen corn. It is what it is: butter-flavored frozen corn. If you've ever had frozen corn, you know exactly what this tastes like.

The Mashed Potatoes:
I know I lose foodie cred every time I say this, but I really do love "fake" or powdered mashed potatoes, including the ones in this frozen dinner. No, they don't really taste like the real thing, but they are smooth and creamy. Also salty...in fact, a little much on the salty side, but I still like it. Probably raised my blood pressure about fifty points, but what the hell. What fun is life if you can't be a daredevil, right?



The Cranberry Apple dessert:
Little chunks of apple and whole berries in a sweet gel. There is nothing remotely natural about it, but it is just good!

Overall this meal is salty, overly processed, and in the whole foodie scheme of things, not something that is likely to be reinterpreted by Daniel Boulud. But there is something about it that's comforting and good in an embarrassingly lowbrow, kitschy way. You know your favorite aunt who is very sweet-natured and kind, but there's no way to get around the fact that she's also a complete idiot? Well, this might be her food equivalent.

It's okay to like this. You just need to be circumspect about whom you admit it to.



PURCHASED FROM:
Vons Supermarket