How to Make the Best Damn Latkes You've Ever Tasted—No Potatoes Necessary

There's no wrong way to fry a potato, and the Chosen People have endlessly proved this with the latke. Like its sibling the rösti and its cousin the hash brown, the latke is some kind of perfect expression of the potato, crisped to golden-brown crunchiness and schmeared with a hit of sour cream.

But as Jenn Louis of Portland's Lincoln and Sunshine Tavern points out, latkes don't even need to be made with potatoes. Wha?

Her first deviation replaces spuds with celeriac and carrots, grated and bound together with a little flour and fried in chickeny schmaltz. Instead of mealy applesauce, she pairs her latkes with a sauce of apple cider, pears, and vanilla, along with a dollop of crème fraîche and a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds.

But even Jenn couldn't resist the potato's call entirely. Her other recipe uses equal parts potato and butternut squash, which gives the latkes an extra layer of nutty sweetness. As if that weren't enough, she tops her latkes with softened gorgonzola dolce—a funky blue cheese—and a drizzle of maple syrup.

Hanukkah, hell yeah.

This first appeared on MUNCHIES in December 2016.