Obama’s empty cabinet

We asked members of our Kitchen Cabinet to briefly share some of their strongest holiday memories with us, and well share them with you all this week. Today, our resident wine experts talk about looking into their holiday kitchens and staring into the abyss.

From Steven Kolpan, professor and chairman of wine studies at the Culinary Institute of America:

Twenty-five years ago, when I was not yet a JewBu (a Jew listing toward Buddhism, a bubbaleh for Buddha), I celebrated Hanukkah with a latke party fraught with scandal and miracle.

Getting the Champagne was easy, but making the latkes was hard. I wanted them to be thin, almost crepe-like, but a thin potato batter fried in a very hot Griswold is a recipe for burning. I added more potato, more matzo meal, more onions and more eggs to bind it together, and soon the latke batter just laid there in a lump.

In a subdued panic, I called my mother, who told me the secret to making the lightest latkes was to use seltzer in the batter. The bubbles, according to my mother, would open the pores of the dough, unlike flat water, which just makes things wet. I had no seltzer, but a couple of bottles of Gerolsteiner fizzy mineral water in the fridge. My mother was dubious, even scornful: German mineral water for Jewish latkes was her idea of a shandah a scandal.

I added the Gerolsteiner, and suddenly the batter was perfect; the pancakes were transformed into potato pillows. Idaho spuds, Italian extra virgin olive oil, Hudson Valley eggs, apple sauce and sour cream, and that German mineral water conspired to produce hot, crunchy, oily, rich, light, sweet, savory delights all to be enjoyed with French Champagne. My friends enjoyed themselves immensely all smiles and shiny, oily lips.

The symbolism of latkes is really about the oil theyre fried in: During the revolt of the Maccabees, the story goes that there was only enough oil in the temple to provide light for one night, but by some miracle it lasted eight. On that Hanukkah 25 years ago, in a small way, I discovered more than I realized I had, too. And now I always have seltzer in the house; it reminds me of my mother.

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From Tara Q. Thomas, senior editor at Wine and Spirits magazine:

My sister married a Thai guy. Super sweet, with a mom whos even sweeter. That first Christmas when she joined our family for the holidays, we wanted to do whatever it would take to make her feel welcome.

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Obama’s empty cabinet