A gangsta Hanukkah

December 12, 2020 • 1:15 pm

Happy Hanukkah! It’s the third day of the holiday and the second full day. It ends at sundown on Friday, and it’s a time to eat latkes.

I adore latkes, but they’re too laborious to make, so I almost never get them. (Trader Joe’s has frozen ones, but they’re dire.) Here we have two gangstas showing us how to make them properly.

This is pretty damn funny, though there’s one mistake. You never put both sour cream and applesauce on a latke. You’d have to be a meshugana to do that! The proper way is to put sour cream on one latke and applesauce on another, alternating to your taste, and until you’re sated.

(This duo has several other videos, too, including one for Passover.)

h/t: Moto

28 thoughts on “A gangsta Hanukkah

  1. I also alternate sour cream and applesauce on latkes, never both in one.

    We were too lazy to make them this year and instead made banana muffins with pecans and chocolate chips and take-out orange duck and crab fried rice from a Thai restaurant.

        1. No, I didn’t receive an email. I found Appa myself by Google imaging six legged ox or something like that, and was very pleased to find it, and also see that it might have been modeled on the Catbus in My Neighbor Totoro, my favorite vehicle in one of my favorite movies. Many thanks! I found it outside my office door this a.m.; delivery goes to another part of the University and delivery to our department is often very slow.

          Appa is now sitting on the headboard of my bed. Thanks again.

          1. You’re most welcome, PCC(E)! I hauled out the cherished stuffed toys belonging to my kids and put them in the windows of my house (all others had been steam-cleaned and donated). They provide a bit of company and the neighbours get a kick of them.

  2. I have to respond about applesauce, sour cream and latkes. IMHO, a schmear of applesauce topped by a blob of sour cream is the ideal latke topping. And the video made me laugh out loud.

      1. Try to have an open mind, Jerry! I’d love to invite you for homemade latkes with homemade and homegrown apple and pear sauces, but you’d have to get in your car now to travel to Boulder. But you could meet our two somewhat standoffish cats.

  3. Trader Joe’s has frozen ones, but they’re dire.

    C’mon, boss. Latkes are like pizza or sex — even when they’re bad, they’re still kinda good. 🙂

    Agreed on the sour cream and applesauce; I like ’em both, but one latke, one topping.

  4. My mother-in-law made a mean latke. But she was Boston-Irish, called ’em puhdahdah-pancakes. 🙂

    1. I remember the first time I went over her house for Thanksgiving dinner, back when I was first dating her daughter. She was running around, overcooking everything (as the Boston-Irish are wont to do), so I asked if there was anything I could do to help.

      “Can you mash the puhdahdahs?”

      “Sure,” I said. “What’s a ‘puhdahdah’?”

      The future missus gave me a hard nudge to the ribs and said, sotto voce: “She’s talking about ‘potatoes.’ Don’t ask; it’s a long story.”

      1. I’ll admit that I’ve had worse and I did finish them off. “Meh” is not the bottom end of the scale.

        I’ve had Golden Potato Pancakes which are readily available in local supermarkets. I haven’t had them in a while but I remember them as being perhaps a little better than TJ’s. I also once bought Linda’s Gourmet Latkes which were expensive and shipped from New York. They were also pretty bad, especially considering the price. Finally, I’ve made them myself using the Manischewitz mix. They aren’t bad but, due to using powdered potatoes, they have a much finer texture than a proper latke. I guess it is hard to find a good latke unless one makes it from scratch or goes to a good deli.

  5. The last time I had a latke was at Manny’s Deli in Chicago. Not New York, but better than store bought.

  6. I’m very sad not to be having latkes this year, but they’re too much of a patshke for my mother to make when we can’t all celebrate together 🙁

    Regardless, I wish everyone a happy Hanukkah and holiday season!

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