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Old World Foods
Cleveland, Ohio |
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When most Americans hear "potato pancake," they think first of the Jewish-American latke. Ashkenazim Jews prepare latkes, especially during Hanukkah, and associate the cooking oil with the miraculous oil that is a part of the Hanukkah legend. In fact, potato pancakes are widespread in Central and East Europe. In Poland, they are known as placki kartoflan and sometimes include chopped bacon, cheese, or poppyseed. Russians call them oladyi and sometimes add fresh or dried herbs. Germans, who know them as either Kartoffelpuffer or Reiberdatschi, have a variant that includes grated apple. Czechs call them bramborak; Lithuanians, bulviniai blynai. Byelorussians, who make their potato pancakes with sour milk or yogurt, call them draniki. Andy Emrisko, who comes from Cleveland, one of America’s greatest multiethnic communities, and who is himself Slovak and Hungarian, faithfully uses his mother’s recipe for potato pancakes, which he makes and sells through Old World Foods, Inc. He also provides haluski (fried cabbage and dumplings), cabbage rolls, and "city chicken," other eastern European favorites learned from his family. |
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