Our best-selling kugel comes from Estee Wallerstein, who taught me this very recipe with the hot oil method, while I was working for her husband, Rabbi Zecharya Wallerstein, a”h. Estee is a woman I look up to — a true Eishes Chayil in our day.

Ingredients

1 cup oil

1/2 large spanish onion 

8 Idaho potatoes, peeled (kept in water to prevent browning) 

6 extra-large eggs

3 1/2  tsp fine sea salt

1/2  tsp fine black pepper

Directions

Heat oven to 350°F. Pour oil into a 9×13-inch metal pan; place into the oven until very hot. 

In a large bowl, beat eggs with salt and pepper. 

In a food processor fitted with the string blade, grate onion first, then the potatoes. Add grated potatoes and onions to the egg mixture; mix very well. As you mix, with gloved hands, pull out any large pieces of onion or potato. 

Carefully remove the hot oil pan from the oven. Pour the hot oil into the potato mixture. (You should hear a sizzle.) Immediately stir with a spoon to combine. 

Return mixture to the hot pan. Smooth the top. Bake for 1½ hours, until deeply golden, with crisp edges and a set center. 

Variations 

Yapchik: After step 3, stir in 2 cups cubed flanken. 

Potato Pastrami Kugel: After step 3, stir in 2 packages sliced pastrami (cut into strips). 

For Yapchik and Potato Pastrami Kugel, after kugel has fully baked, leave in oven overnight, covered, at 200°F degrees for best results. If you prefer overnight kugel, warm with the same heating method for the Signature Potato Kugel (see Reheat Like a Pro). 

Kugel Muffins: Use a ½-cup measure to portion the batter into a well greased 12-cup muffin pan. Bake at 350°F for 50 minutes, until deeply golden with crisp edges. Be sure to spread mixture evenly into cups.

Reheat Like a Pro 

If reheating frozen, bake covered at 200°F overnight. For same day, bake at 350°F, covered, until heated through.