I love latkes and I love my family, but I have to be honest: There is nothing fun about spending hours at the stove frying dozens of latkes while everyone else is drinking, spinning dreidels and kibbitzing. Yes, it is wonderful to see their faces when they taste your delicious food, but if you’re stuck in the kitchen working over a hot stove, will you even?
Enter liberation, in the form of oven-fried latkes. Faster, cleaner, just as or maybe even more delicious. Because they don’t need constant supervision, you can pop out of the kitchen between batches, or make them all in advance and reheat so you don’t miss one single thing. And I have to say, there is no reason why you should.
Feminist Latkes
Ingredients:
- 3 large Russet potatoes (about 2 pounds), peeled
- Canola oil for frying
- 1 medium onion, skinned and halved with root intact
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp salt
- Grind of fresh pepper
- Flaky finishing salt
Method
In a large work bowl, shred potatoes on the biggest holes of a box grater. (If you prefer, shred in a food processor, but I find cleaning all those parts annoying.) Transfer shredded potatoes to a cheesecloth or clean tea towel and squeeze out their starchy liquid. Rinse and dry bowl before transferring potatoes back into it.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (if you have convection, turn it on. If you don’t, don’t worry).
Place a half sheet pan on center rack of oven. Pour oil into pan until it covers the whole bottom to about ¼ inch. Carefully slide rack back into place and close oven door to let oil get hot.
To finish latke batter, grate onion on the finer side of box grater and add to potatoes. Add eggs, flour, salt and pepper and mix well. Working quicky, drop latke batter onto hot oil by the spoonful, making 6-8 latkes (depending on your preferred size) in the simmering oil. Close oven door and allow to cook about 20 mins or until crisp and brown on one side. (If you’re mingling, just check them from time to time.)
Flip and cook on second side.
Remove latkes to a kitchen-paper-lined platter with a spatula and repeat with remaining batter. Sprinkle with finishing salt, if you like, and enjoy with sour cream and homemade gravlax. Latkes, light and love for all, the feminist way.
Homemade Gravlax
I love smoked salmon – on a bagel, with scrambled eggs and especially, on top of my latkes. But truthfully, large amounts of smoked food are not so good for you and, if you’re feeding a crowd, the price can get crazy. That’s why I learned to make my own gravlax. The salmon here is cured rather than smoked, a simple process that’s easy to do at home. The results are silky and a bit fresher-tasting than smoked fish – possibly even more delicious atop your Feminist Latkes.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 pounds skin-on center-cut Atlantic salmon, very fresh, never frozen (ask at the counter)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/3 cup kosher salt
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoons vodka or aquavit
- 1 cup chopped dill
Method:
Rinse salmon and dry with paper towels. Place in a rectangular glass baking dish. Sprinkle with sugar, salt and lemon zest. Drizzle with vodka or aquavit. Cover salmon with a blanket of dill, then cover dish with parchment paper. Using heavy cans or a bottle of wine, weigh fish down and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Remove fish from baking dish and place on a cutting board, using a paper towel to pat off extra salt, sugar and moisture. Using a sharp serrated knife, slice fish across the grain, straight down to the skin, then angle the blade horizontally to lift off skin. Repeat until the entire piece of fish is thinly sliced. Transfer gravlax to a platter, garnished with lemon slices and extra dill, or assemble latkes and salmon in the kitchen and serve with a dollop of sour cream on top.
Bonny Reichert is a chef and author of the culinary memoir How to Share an Egg: A True Story of Hunger, Love and Plenty, an NPR Best Book of 2025.
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