Festival of Lights

The Festival of Lights ends Thursday night. I talked about Hanukkah during my Vintage Holiday presentations, but there is little if any reference to it in most mainstream vintage cookbooks. You will find plenty of potato pancake recipes, or Rugelah, under different names and spellings. Recipes for this Jewish holiday center around oil to symbolize the oil-lit lamp in the temple, so Rugelah is not a traditional Hanukkah food though you'll see it in the grocery stores now, along with Matzo - which is for Passover.

One of the most popular posts on this blog was one mystery author Mary Welk did on Potato Pancakes. More folks have a favorite rendition of these, and find it criminal to make it healthier. This version is from my 1959 Farm Journal Country Cookbook:

"Serve with can or maple-blended syrup for breakfast, with meat for dinner." Um, blended with what?

3 egg yolks, beaten

2 tsp. salt

1 tblsp. sugar

3 c. milk

1 tblsp. melted fat (I am not sure, and don't want to hypothesize.)

2 1/2 c. sifted flour

3 c. grated raw potatoes

3 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Combine well-beaten egg yolks, salt, sugar, milk, and fat. Gradually stir in flour, beating to blend well. Stir in grated potatoes. Fold in egg whites. Bake at once on greased, hot griddle. Allow 1 rounded tablespoonful batter for each cake. Bake 3 minutes on each side, turning once. Makes 2 dozen.

Variation: Finely chopped onions may be put on top of batter on griddle, if you are serving the potatoes with meat.

Tomorrow readers here are in for a treat as my good friend award winning author Kathleen Ernst will be guest blogging. Kathleen writes children, YA and adult mysteries, and is an expert on historical things, including the Civil War. She has a wicked sense of humor as well.