- Today, most Jews light wax candles instead of oil.

But the oil plays another important role.

So what do we eat at Hanukkah?

- Fried food!

[Laughter] We eat oily foods on Hanukkah to remember the miracle of oil.

So we fry potatoes in oil and donuts in oil.

And anything you can think of to remind us of the oil that the Maccabees found.

What's the best part of Hanukkah?

- We like the candles.

Eat good food.

- The food.

- The food.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

We're big food fans.

- You eat- - Latkes!

My personal favorite is obviously the potato, the potato latkes.

It's a potato pancake.

It's like basically a hash brown.

Yeah.

Ow ow!

- But when a James Beard Award-winning chef fries up this Hanukkah classic, the result is nothing short of amazing.

- One year for Hanukkah, my mother bought me a KitchenAid.

When I was a little girl, I always wanted to have a bakery.

I always wanted to be a chef.

- Today she's showing me how to make latkes - crispy, just like her mom's.

Okay.

So - I like to take them and I liked, I'm gonna show you and you're gonna do a couple.

Okay.

- I'll do it.

Yeah.

- So- - The main ingredient, the humble potato, became a staple in Eastern European cuisine in the mid 19th century.

After farmers realized that the hardy tuber could withstand the region's harsh climate.

Prior to that, as far back as the 14th century, latkes were actually made from fried cheese.

But I digress.

- We're just gonna try to rinse off some of the starch.

- I know - It's not hard.

- I'm not a, you know, a big cook so I'm like, - Don't be afraid.

- I'm a little afraid.

Afraid.

So keep my fingers back.

- Yeah.

Look.

Look.

Oh look.

I'm doing it.

I'm doing it.

He's doing it guys!

He's doing it!

But then what you wanna do is you're gonna take them and you're gonna squeeze them with your hands.

And then you're gonna put it in here.

And while you're doing that, this feels good.

This is fun.

- I'm going to grate a half an onion.

- Okay.

And there's a little onion in there.

- I did.

I grated red onion.

And then all we're gonna do, and you can do this, is you're gonna squeeze - Awesome.

- Use all your might and all your power to do that.

Look at you.

It's a good workout.

And then we're just gonna mix it.

- Then it's two eggs, salt and pepper.

- Okay.

- And it's time to fry.

- But then the trick is, is that I fry them in schmaltz.

- Yeah.

Just give an extra Jewish feeling, you know, flavor, you know, 'cause all grandmas fry their stuff in schmaltz.

- Schmaltz is what, for those who don't - Schmaltz is rendered chicken fat.

- Rendered chicken fat.

She says any type of vegetable oil will also work.

- But I just keep turning them.

And then, you know, sometimes I add a little more.

- Well that's really thin.

- Very thin.

I like them crispy.

So hopefully that they're all gonna come out like this - Man.

Look at that.

- Yeah.

Look.

- Oh, look at that.

Look at that.

Beautiful thin.

So there's a, there's a, a kind of a brown edge that you want there.

Yeah.

So do you have like a lot of childhood memories of eating these?

- Yes, I do.

- She would line the kitchen with paper bags.

- Oh sure.

- Yeah.

- For the grease, right?

Yeah.

- Right.

And then she would like, the entire room would just smell - Both the grease and that smell can linger, but it's worth it.

Cheers.

Bubby might have stopped there, but not Chef Mindy Segal.

She makes magic happen on the plate.

- I like to serve them in two different ways.

- Okay.

Okay.

Yeah.

So - Traditionally sour cream and apples.

- Sure.

- So we have a little sour cream here.

And you know, you can make your own sour cream if you want.

- We're just gonna make it nice for you.

And this is like a, just a beautiful apple compost.

Okay.

This is not from the grocery store?

- No, this, this is just apples cooked cider and caramel.

I mean, and that's it.

That would be that.

And then we have another one that I like to do savory style, but I also like to serve it with brisket.

With brisket.

It's rich and it's hearty and it's just like insane.

And this is just like peppers.

- Okay.

- And the vinegarette just for a little acid.

And then we've got a little sprouts.

'cause I love the crunch.

Here you have it.

I want you to have the perfect bite.

L'Chaim!

- That is unbelievable.

I'm speechless.

And that's saying something.

But the perfect bite is a matter of great debate.

What do you put on top?

- We don't usually put sour cream on our potato pancakes.

Just applesauce.

- Applesauce - Sour cream.

- And I think mayonnaise.

- No sour cream!

- I meant sour cream.

And sometimes people put ketchup.

- Yeah.

Some of us like ketchup on our latkes.

- Whatever works.

I like both applesauce and sour cream.

And some people, I've seen some people putting caviar on their latkes Caviar?

Yeah.

You can get crazy.