Top Pastry Chef Rachel Binder’s Latke Secrets
The most common mistake is adding too many ingredients, according to pastry chef Rachel Binder. Image by Courtesy of Padoca Bakery
We pried potato pancake preferences from a few of our favorite chefs around the country — and compiled them into a tell-all to help you make the best latkes of your life.
Image by Anya Ulinich
Chef
Rachel Binder
Restaurant
Pastry chef formerly of Maialino, Savoy and Union Square Cafe, whose holiday treats are sold at Padoca Bakery, New York
Secret ingredient?
The secret is grating the potatoes by hand.
Type of oil used for frying?
Vegetable oil. The trick is to put a piece of carrot in the oil to prevent splattering.
What’s the one thing home cooks should not do?
I think the most common mistake is adding too many ingredients. Keep it simple.
Preferred potato?
Yukon Gold, but I do love sweet potato latkes.
Applesauce, sour cream or other?
Both!
Main components of your recipe?
Potatoes, eggs, salt and pepper.
Best latkes you ever had?
My cousin Sue made the best potato latkes I’ve ever had.
More Chefs’ Latke Secrets
Michael Kaminer is a contributing editor at the Forward. Contact him at [email protected]
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
