A Recipe from Tempting Kosher Dishes from the B. Manichewitz Co. (1930)

About the Recipe

It’s wintertime holiday season, which means it’s time for some latkes! And who better to give Becky and I a perfect latke recipe, than the Manichewitz Company? This is a basic, excellent recipe and hit the latke craving spot just right. Since it’s not Passover, we subbed in flour for the matzoh meal which worked just fine. We also splurged a little bit and fried it up in schmaltz, and I’m not going to lie – it’s divine!

Pro tip: To keep your oil / fat from going wonky and getting brown and burnt, stick a mini carrot or part of a full carrot in your pan. It sounds odd, but it really does keep everything tasting great.

For more recipes from my Weekend at Becky’s click here!

About the book

This book is cool for a number of reasons. We’ll start with the book itself. This is the third edition of the 1930 book and comes with one half in English, and the other half in Yiddish. We can imagine that at that time Yiddish may have still been spoken in the home. As the unifying language of the Jewish people, it was guaranteed that whether you were a recent immigrant or first generation American, you were able to enjoy all of the recipes. (Author’s Note: an earlier version of this blog incorrectly described the language as Hebrew.)

Now the history of this particular book. It belonged originally to Becky’s namesake – the original Rebecca, and her great-grandmother on her mother’s side. She was born in 1891 in Poland, and lived in Brooklyn according to her naturalization record, dated April 18th, 1939 on Ancestry. It’s just so cool that this book has made it 2 generations down the line.

About the glassware

It’s only fitting that a family book should have its recipe plated on a family plate. This plain, lovely white dish came from Becky’s Dassie (grandma), and was passed down to enjoy in her kitchen. We don’t know much about it, but it’s pretty and it does an outstanding job as a latke platter.

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

5 or 6 grated raw potatoes (about 3 cups)
1 grated onion
2 eggs
3/4 cup Manischewitz’s Matzo Meal
1 T salt
1/2 t pepper

Directions:

Drain off most of the liquid from the grated potatoes, then mix them with the other ingredients. Drop by tablespoonfuls into deep fat heated to 375*. Fry until golden brown. Makes 10-12 pancakes.

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