Busy in Brooklyn founder breaks down the significance of Hanukkah while cooking her famous crispy, perfect potato latkes

Amissa Pitter

Chanie Apfelbaum shares her secrets and tricks for her crisp recipe with her children and explains bringing light into the world through love, food, and tradition.

Video Transcript

CHANIE APFELBAUM: We're making potato latkes. Actually, my perfect potato latkes. So we start off by peeling our potatoes. We put them in a bowl of water, so they don't brown. Thank you.

- I just want to see if that's--

CHANIE APFELBAUM: Good job.

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We're going to get that into a towel. Really, the secret to the crispiest latkes are getting out as much liquid as possible. So you want to really squeeze it. Add some milk and some salt. Now we're going to go in. You don't want to skimp on the oil. It's got to-- we're frying it after all. So I pack my batter into a quarter cup measuring cup. And then I use the bottom to press down on it to create these lacy edges.

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I like to put it on a rack. I mean, look at those crispy edges. Should we go in for a bite?

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Hanukkah is really all about, like, our survival. The Jews, you know, they had a huge victory and the miracle of the oil and bringing light into the world. And that's what I'm trying to do in my small way, bringing light through love and food and tradition. And I want to continue doing that.

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