can potato latkes be made ahead of time?

[AnjLM]

or do you have to fry them on the spot? I hate cooking the whole time I have guests over and would love to be able to fry the latkes the day before (or even that morning) and then just throw them in the oven when my guests come. Any tips/recipes for how to do this? Thanks!

[david kaplan]

My grandmother always made potato kugelettes in mini-muffin tins, which freeze well and re-heat nicely. You can make much bigger batches of kugelettes than latkes. Of course they're not the same as latkes, and part of the historical tradition of Hanukkah is to ingest grease in honor of the oil that lasted 8 days, so this alternative might not work for you in a festivity sense even if it does in a culinary sense.

[classylady]

david I dont think the latkes will be as crispy if you make them ahead of time. Also the potatoes then to turn black when standing or after shredding them. The best would be to buy the frozen ones (kinneret) to make in the oven or in the frying pan.

[lisaf]

My mom will bake up to a week before and freeze, then reheat in the oven at 350 degrees. Put the latkes on foil lined cookie sheets. They are ok, but not as good as fresh from the fry pan.

We usually fry them about half hour before our guests arrive and then put in a chaffing dish to keep them warm.

[coll]

I fry them just before people arrive and then reheat in oven. If you're having so many people over, they're not going to be analyzing them, just be amazed you made them at all!

[saraeanderson]

I had this same question a few weeks ago, which was answered pretty well on this thread:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/459817

I decided to scrap the plan of sweet potato latkes for 20 at a sit-down dinner, after reading that!