“My parents made latkes” for Chanukah, said Miriam Carneol, who married Phillip Carneol this past May in Israel, “but it was nothing like this.”
“This” is the Carneol family latke-making contest, which has been a clan tradition for the past 12 years.
And it is much enjoyed by all the participants. “This is the best competition I could ever be a part of,” said Miriam.
“I love it,” said Sam Carneol, 19 and the son of Sue and Allan. “It is the epitome of our family — chaotic and crazy. Then we sit down and eat and it’s all good.”
And Flo Carneol, who has been married since 1998 to Mitchell, said, “I just like the togetherness, doing something together, and the trash talking, and the camaraderie. It’s just fun.”
The family had its most recent contest on Nov. 24, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, at the Glendale home of Ruby and Marty, whom the children called the “matriarch and patriarch.”
The Saturday after Thanksgiving is the usual day for this, said Ruby, because it is the best and easiest day for the family members to come together – they live in Iowa, Chicago, Portland, and Spring Green as well as the Milwaukee area.
Present were 18 people (not counting an observing Chronicle reporter): the five Carneol children — Allan, Mitchell, Spyder (Jessica), Stephen, and Phillip — plus their spouses and children — and one guest Israeli, Shin Shin (Third Year of Service) volunteer Nitzan Livni, 18.
Livni has been staying with Flo and Mitchell, and “from the moment I came here, this was the biggest thing they were talking about,” she said. “This is a new tradition for me, too.” She added that she has never heard about any family in Israel doing this sort of thing.
The participants divided into seven teams. Deb Carneol, one of Sam’s two sisters (the other is Haley), served as one of the referees (she called herself “support”) and explained the rules involved.
No one is allowed to do any “prep” before 4 p.m., she said. After that time, the teams go into the basement where a ping-pong table is set up, and they can begin peeling potatoes and mixing batters. “People like to start at the same time, so everything is as fresh as possible,” said Deb.
Then “everyone cooks. It is fun to see 18 people in one little kitchen,” said Deb.
At this contest, Deb and Ruby sorted the teams’ efforts and assigned each a number. Then they brought out platters of latkes, and the participants can write numbers on their paper plates and put samples on the corresponding number to keep them straight.
After sampling, the tasters fill out printed forms, called the “rubric,” evaluating the latkes for such characteristics as taste, texture, crispness, appearance, and originality of recipe. (One of the men suggested that another category should be added — bounce.)
Finally, the scores are added up. True either to the American way or the Carneols’ way, the results at first were disputed, and a recount was demanded and held.
But the findings were the same, and team number five — comprising Spyder, her daughter Disa, and Flo and Mitchell’s daughter Dara — took the prize.
They won not only “bragging rights” for a year, but also a physical prize — a colorful large spoon mounted on a plaque, with space for names to be engraved.
There was no contest, however, for the last place, or the “hockey puck” award. Allan Carneol, who by himself formed team one, took that prize, probably because his were the thickest latkes of the bunch. He won a chef’s hat, the usual prize; but this year the Carneols added to it a new potato grater, presumably for use next year.
But there are no sore losers here. In fact, said Deb, over the years, “every team has won at least once” and had their names engraved on the plaque.
Sue explained most of the history of this family custom. She said that about 12 years ago, during a family Chanukah party in Iowa, Stephen and Mitchell started arguing about the best way to make latkes. (Mitchell still insists that he knows the secret. “Safflower oil is the key,” he said.)
So at the following year’s gathering, two batches were made and voted on. “Each year, it became bigger,” Sue said, and family members began forming teams. Then in 2002, Sue said she found the spoon at an art fair, and Stephen’s wife Debra had it mounted on the plaque. (Their daughter Avery was also present at this year’s contest.)
Participants said it took some time before the Carneols got the hang of running the contest and making latkes. “The first year was utter chaos,” said Phillip Carneol.
Spyder said that the first batches of latkes often were disastrous — they would fall apart or become burned. But now “we’ve got it down to a science,” she said.
Contestants also tried to be creative over the years. Deb Carneol recalled that she won in 2010 with a recipe that included white sweet potatoes and cumin.
Nevertheless, the family is “pretty traditional” and “traditional latkes seem to win” most of the time, she said.
Once the contest is done, the family continues with dinner and a gift exchange. But something of the contest lingers on.
As Deb said, “This house will smell like fried food forever.”
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