Mashed Potato Pancakes - Recipe for Holiday Leftovers (2024)

FAQs

Why do my potato pancakes fall apart? ›

If the potato pancakes are falling apart while you're shaping them before you start cooking, they are either either too wet or they need more flour to hold them together. You can also mix the flour a little more the mix to develop gluten and then let it rest before cooking.

Russet potatoes are the best potatoes for potato pancakes because they are extra starchy and bind and crisp up well. Yukon gold potatoes are denser. Potatoes are a good source of carbohydrates, fiber, and vitamin C, as well as vitamin B6, potassium, and manganese.

How Long You Can Keep Leftover Mashed Potatoes. Mashed potatoes should easily last three to five days in the fridge if stored correctly and within two hours of cooking. This means ensuring there isn't any moisture buildup under the lid that could encourage the growth of bacteria.

What Are Latkes? A latke is a type of potato pancake or fritter found in Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine. The dish, which is traditionally served during Hanukkah, can be made with grated, shredded, or mashed potatoes. This top-rated recipe is made with shredded russet potatoes, all-purpose flour, an egg, an onion, and salt.

I can barely flip a pancake without it falling apart on me.

Your batter could be too loose—add a little flour.

During the Jewish holiday, eating crispy, fried, slightly oniony potato pancakes represents perseverance, and a little bit of magic. But miraculously it lasted eight days. Centuries after the fact, Jews were told to celebrate by eating foods cooked in oil.

Potato pancakes have a creamy, almost mashed-potato-like center, with a thin, golden, crisp exterior. Latkes, on the other hand, should have a deeply browned crust, with wispy, lacy edges. Latkes also aren't hash browns.

– Always serve latkes hot and fresh if possible.

When ready to reheat, place in a 375 degree oven for about 10 minutes (7 if using a convection oven) until heated through just prior to serving. A convection oven setting will produce a more crispy result.

Get the Tips. As you are peeling potatoes, immediately submerge them, either whole or in chunks, in acidulated (a few drops of lemon or vinegar) water to prevent oxidation or they will quickly start to turn brown/gray.

How long can mashed potatoes be safely refrigerated? A: You can typically mash the potatoes and keep them refrigerated for about two to three days. Be sure to keep them in an airtight container because if you don't, the pulp will oxidize and turn gray.

Can I eat mashed potatoes after 7 days? ›

Cooked potatoes and other cooked vegetables can be safely kept in the refrigerator 3 to 4 days.

Once cooked, potatoes last up to 4 days in the refrigerator and 1 year in the freezer, though the quality of cooked mashed potatoes suffers with freezing (4, 5). The chart below details shelf lives for various types of potatoes, including sweet, russet, Yukon Gold, red, and purple varieties.

It is the national dish of Belarus, Ukraine and Slovakia. In Germany, potato pancakes are eaten either salty (as a side dish) or sweet with apple sauce, or blueberries, sugar and cinnamon; they are a very common menu item during outdoor markets and festivals in colder seasons.

Previously, people referred to them as Indian cakes, hoe cakes, johnnycakes, journey cakes, buckwheat cakes, griddle cakes, and flapjacks. Early American pancakes were made with buckwheat or cornmeal. Thomas Jefferson loved pancakes so much that he sent a special recipe from the White House to his hometown!

Potato latkes are a more recent Ashkenazi invention that gained popularity in Eastern Europe during the mid 1800? s. A series of crop failures in Poland and the Ukraine led to mass planting of potatoes, which were easy and cheap to grow. But before potatoes came on the scene, the latke of choice was cheese.

Overcooking: Potatoes can become mushy and fall apart if they are overcooked. To avoid this, it's important to boil them for just the right amount of time, usually around 10-15 minutes, or until they are tender but still firm.

Gently Boil

Once the water reaches a boil, carefully add the potatoes and reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Boiling the potatoes too vigorously can cause them to break apart.

Most often, then, the solution to evenly cooked potatoes is cooking them twice: First, boil, steam, or steam-roast (a fancy term for cooking them with water in the oven) until they're mostly tender but not fall-apart finished. Second, brown the outsides and finish cooking the interiors on the stovetop or in the oven.

Your Latkes Fall Apart

Luckily, the fix for both of these problems is the same: add some more starch — ideally in the form of matzo meal — which will soak up that extra moisture and bind the ingredients together more tightly. Flour works too, but it sticks together and makes for denser latkes.