RUSSIAN “LATKES” Smoked White Sturgeon and Potato Cakes with Horseradish Sour Cream 2019 Latke Festival Winner (tie): Most Creative Latke by Sasha Shorr, Jewish Food Society
Cakes: 2 lbs Yukon gold
In a medium sized bowl, mix the sour cream, horseradish, mayonnaise, lemon juice, lemon zest, and caper brine until well combined. Season with salt and white pepper (black pepper is fine if you don’t have white). Cover the sour cream mixture tightly and place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or up to a few hours to allow for the flavors to marry. Remove from the refrigerator 15 minutes before serving. To make the cakes: Place the cubed potatoes into a large pot of salted water and bring to a boil. Boil until they can be pierced with a knife, but not crumbling or breaking apart. Drain and spread out on a sheet pan to cool. Once cooled, break up a little with a fork so you have pieces in a variety of sizes. Do not mash or make too small. You want different textures of potato in the cakes. Prepare a wire cooling rack set over a paper-towel lined sheet pan, and a second sheet pan to place formed cakes. Set aside. In a large bowl, mix together the cooled potato chunks, smoked fish, scallions, dill, capers, mayonnaise, lemon juice, lemon zest, and eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Mix gently so as to not break up the potato too much. After it’s mixed, sprinkle the flour on top and give it one more mix to incorporate all of the flour. Scoop out the mixture and with lightly oiled hands, form into uniform balls, resembling large meatballs. Place the formed balls on a sheet pan and transfer to the refrigerator for 30 minutes to firm up. You can make these a few hours in advance and keep chilled until ready to fry. Once the cakes have chilled, heat schmaltz and vegetable oil (50-50 mix) in a large frying pan (cast iron or nonstick work best) to medium high heat. Oil should fill pan to 3/4” in depth. Dust the potato balls lightly with flour on all sides and add them to the pan with at least 1-2” between them. After a minute, flatten the balls down into a cake with a flat spatula so they are about 1 ½” high. (It’s ok if the edges separate a
potatoes (approx. 5 large potatoes), peeled and cut int 2-inch cubes 1½ c (12 oz) smoked
white sturgeon, flaked into 1-2” chunks scallions, green and white parts
½ c finely sliced
3 Tbsp fresh dill,
roughly chopped
1½ Tbsp capers,
roughly chopped (reserve 1 tsp brine for sauce)
1 Tbsp mayonnaise ½ lemon, zested and juiced 2 large eggs, lightly beaten 2 Tbsp AP flour, plus more for dusting Salt Pepper Schmaltz and vegetable oil for frying
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