Over at Slate, L.V. Anderson tells me, You’re Doing It Wrong: Latkes. First things first: no I’m not!

The truth is that Anderson and I agree on the nature of the perfect latkes. She explains that people who claim that latkes should be nothing other than potatoes and salt are apparently mistaking them for hash browns. But even apart from this, people often get very opinionated about the amount of flour that should go into a latke. As I try to stress: the amount of flour is a very personal thing. If, like me, you really squeeze your grated potatoes and get most of the water out of them, you really don’t need that much. But you do need some. Experiment! And the great thing is that you can experiment as you go along. Try a little flour, and then try a little more.

Anderson suggests a really interesting idea: use instant mashed potatoes instead of flour for part of the recipe. I’ve never done this but it sounds like it would make latkes even more delicious (if that’s possible). Otherwise, she offers nothing new. She suggests adding baking powder. Oh! Where did you learn that? The Joy of Cooking, first published in 1931? She also suggests using olive oil, which seems to me a very bad idea. But over all, I’ll bet her latkes are wonderful—perhaps as good as mine.