{"id":1193,"date":"2012-01-05T01:53:58","date_gmt":"2012-01-04T17:53:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marga.org\/foodblog\/?p=1193"},"modified":"2013-12-10T03:05:21","modified_gmt":"2013-12-09T19:05:21","slug":"one-hanukkah-two-briskets-dozens-of-latkes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marga.org\/foodblog\/2012\/01\/one-hanukkah-two-briskets-dozens-of-latkes\/","title":{"rendered":"One Hanukkah, Two Briskets, Dozens of Latkes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dec. 2013 UPDATE:\u00a0<\/strong>I repeated this same menu at my Hanukkah party this year.\u00a0 Making the latkes at the last minute was great in that they tasted amazing, BUT I did spend half the party in the kitchen, so I will have to come up with another strategy. Of the two briskets, the one with ketchup was the most popular one, though I still prefer the one with onions.<\/em><\/p>\n

(Almost) every year I hold a Hanukkah party for my Jewish and semi-Jewish friends.\u00a0 It’s my excuse to make latkes and socialize with people I may not see every day.\u00a0 My Hanukkah parties used to be more involved, but getting my house clean is complicated enough nowadays, so this party had 3 menu items only: latkes, brisket and store-bought doughnuts.<\/p>\n

For the latkes<\/strong><\/a> I used my old trusty recipe from epicurious.com.\u00a0 They couldn’t be simpler or more delicious. I served them with store-bought sour cream and apple sauce.<\/p>\n

For the brisket, I decided to go with a pretty traditional ketchup-based recipe for Jewish Style Sweet and Sour Brisket<\/strong><\/a> that I found at allrecipes.com.\u00a0 It got great reviews and was also very simple.\u00a0 I made it using half of the 15lb brisket Mike had bought (which I thought was excessive for my dinner party), but after I removed it from the oven it had shrunk so much that I didn’t think those 7.5lbs would serve 10 adults and 10 children (though I personally don’t believe children ever eat actual food at parties).\u00a0 So I decided to use the rest of the brisket and cook it in the morning using a different recipe (which would have to be simple and only use ingredients I had at home).\u00a0 Fortunately, I came across this recipe for Beer-Braised Brisket with Onions<\/strong><\/a>, which fit both requirement.\u00a0 Both briskets turned out great.\u00a0 I received lots and lots of compliments from my friends, some who even dared say they might be better than their own versions.\u00a0 Of the two, I think I prefer the latter, specially because the leftovers kept getting better and better as the days went by.<\/p>\n

Now, the secret of the briskets is, of course, slooooow cooking.\u00a0 Don’t overcook, however, as it may become too soft to cut.\u00a0 As with any braise, resting overnight helps fortify the flavors.\u00a0 And make sure you wait until it’s cold to slice, and then reheat in the sauce. —<\/p>\n

<\/a>Latkes<\/h2>\n

The secret to great latkes is to make them right before serving them.\u00a0 I see it as a two-person operation.\u00a0 One peels them, while the other one shreds them.\u00a0 Once they are ready to cook, one person can fry multiple batches (it helps to have plenty of frying pans), while the other one drains and serves them.\u00a0 I did find, however, that if the person doing the frying is 8-years old, you may end up with lots of broken latkes and bad heat control. Make sure to shred the potatoes into a bowl of cold water.\u00a0 This will slow down the oxidation process considerably. Also, drain the latkes on a cooling rack rather than on paper towels, to avoid them getting soggy.\u00a0 Finally, make sure you have LOTS of olive oil at hand \ud83d\ude42 Ingredients per 2\u00a0 guests<\/em><\/p>\n