I have a question about potato pancakes

[punkrockmama]

I'm making some to go along with pancakes and sausages for breakfast Christmas morning. I've never made them before but found a recipe on allrecipes.com that I'm going to try.

My question is, can I use a thawed out bag of frozen shredded potato (hashbrowns I guess)? Or is that just a bad idea? I don't really mind using regular potatoes as then I would just grate them with my food processor. But is that even a good idea? I read one review that said using a hand grater gives better texture over the fp.

Thanks in advance! :)

[juliasmom05]

I have always grated the potatoes with a fp since I don't have the patience to use a hand grater. IMO, unless you are a potato pancake expert, I am sure you would never be able to tell the difference :-).

I've never tried it with frozen or refrigerated uncooked shredded potatoes, but have seen recipes which call for them. I think I may have seen somewhere that the refrigerated are better than the frozen.

Marci

[urquie]

we've always used left-over mashed potatoes from x-mas dinner... make a patty shape and dip in bread crumbs (also cracker crumbs, japanese panko crumbs, or crushed cereal would work). then fry up in a little butter/oil.

[sdbc]

I normally shred by hand, but one year I used refrigerated shredded potatoes, and they were decent--not sure if frozen would change the texture. Food processed potatoes would give a different texture. They would probably still taste good, but they would be different from traditional latkes. Oh, and I *am* a latke expert. :D

I do food process the onion with the egg, though. No way in h*** am I hand-shredding onions!

[punkrockmama]

Thanks guys. :) I didn't even know there was such a thing as refrigerated shredded pots. I thought there were only the frozen kind (I'm dumb).

The recipe I found is a "latke" recipe so that's why it calls for actual shredded pots. But I love the mashed potato idea. I think my mom used to do something like that when I was kid. Thanks for reminding me. I will do it the day after the next time we have mashed potatoes. :)