Hola! As some of you know I live in Mexico. My favorite breakfast place doesn’t know about hash brown potatoes. And their sliced potatoes are always not fully cooked. I was a breakfast cook when I was a student. But, we bought the hash browns frozen. Here we will be working with whole, raw potatoes.
Well, my big mouth opened and I offered to teach them this art. A few questions…
How to prepare the potato? Shred, rinse? Dry? Blanche?
If prepared in advance (maybe the night before), after what stage would it be best to store them in the refrigerator? Not many freezers here. I am thinking that the time from raw potato to finished hash brown may be long. And maybe the cook won’t have time to prepare them (start to finish) before the breakfast group appears. This is a small bed and breakfast place. Maybe 6-8 hash brown eaters for breakfast.
Can cooked hash browns be refrigerated for the next day without much loss of flavor? Wasting food is frowned upon here.
As I mentioned, I was a cook, so I have some vocabulary.
I would appreciate any help you Cafe Society gods can give me; to bail out my big mouth.
The correct way to prepare hash browns is with a peeled Russet potato. Accept no substitutes. Cut it up with the big holes on a large box grater.
Remove moisture from the grated taters by spreading them out on some paper towels and rolling them up. (You may have to do this more than once. It’s important to get them dry.)
Add seasonings and fry in a little oil on low heat. (Don’t drown them. You’re not making latkes.) Flip exactly once. Donezo.
I’ve worked withthis recipe before and it does well, and is easy to adapt to your preference if you like additions to your hash browns. The microwaving portion can be left out if you don’t have one available.
I doubt that leftover cooked ones would heat well, but I could be wrong on that.
And for your when to refrigerate question, I’d go with post-shredding (if you’re not microwaving and post-microwave (if you are).
It isn’t going to work terribly well in the restaurant setting with fresh potatoes, because they have to be grated just before frying. The only way to do it is to grate them right before you fry, then dry in a colander or on towels. it works if you fry them all up before service, let them cool completely before stacking, then reheat as the orders come in and season at the pass. If you grate and dry the day before, you will fry black potatoes.
Use nonstick pans or a very slick griddle, and use very high heat and lots of oil or clarified butter.
Bobby Flay likes to talk about his roots as a cook in a Greek restaurant. He says they made hash browns in a cast iron skillet with big chunks of russet (not grated) and the key to getting them crispy was pressing on them with a spatula.
Since I’m not a big fan of hash browns I’ve not tried Bobby Flay’s method. But I have tried the grating method and the results were mostly too crispy exterior and mushy interior and not worth it.
Those are more properly called “home (or home style) fries”. Most people (and restaurants) parboil their potatoes so that they’ll keep in the reefer and not turn brown. I prefer to make mine fresh. I brown them quickly, then turn the heat down and cover the pan for awhile to speed the interior cooking, then uncover and flip them all over to finish browning. Same for shredded hash browns and latkes that are made from fresh spuds.
As somebody mentioned, flip hash browns only once and the potatoes will hold together and not turn into mush. I use bacon fat to fry mine, but clarified butter works very well with its higher smoke point. I use a non-stick pan and medium heat.
I grate the potatoes, but them in sandwich bag with a couple small holes and Squeeze as much moisture out of the potatoes as possible
Empty the potatoes in a bowl, add some chopped onion, then I lightly salt and lightly flour the potatoes. (and red pepper) The flour absorbs the moisture residue. I let them set for 10-15 minutes and then I fry them in a little oil.
Flip them once and I add a slice of American cheese.
The biggest key is to get as much moisture out of the grated potatoes. Squeeze the shredded potatoes as much as you can. And then squeeze harder. Less moisture means you don’t need as much flour.
A good way to remove moisture from shredded potatoes is to pile them in the center of a clean towel, then gather the ends of the towel together and twist. Do it over a sink. If you’ve never done it before, you will be astonished at the amount of water that comes out.
Another vote for shred just before cooking- that’s the whole point of hash browns, something that you can fry up quick for breakfast. I didn’t know about drying them though, I’ll have to give that a try. You can use any clean oil or grease, but butter will give a nicer brown. Don’t stir, the crust is what’s holding it together- just flip once.
I squeeze them in a ricer after grating to remove as much moisture as possible. Not through the ricer, of course. (Not sure that’s even possible.) Works a charm. I can’t remember where I picked that tip up, but it sounds like a Cook’s Illustrated tip.
I don’t claim to be an expert, and I don’t make them that often, but I’ve made passable hash browns without drying them excessively. I just grate them into a bowl of water so they don’t turn brown, grab a handful, squeeze the excess water out, and throw them onto a hot, well buttered skillet. I’ll try the dry-dry-dry method and/or parboiling next time I make them.
I don’t dry them at all. I cook them part way as bakers. I do this either the night before on a grill or if in a hurry in the morning, I just nuke 'em in the microwave. The trick is to cook them only about half way. Let cool a little, then peel. Shred with the box shredder. I use a mix of cooking oil and butter – oil for the high temperature tolerance and butter for the flavor. Mash the shredded potatoes gently in the heated oil. Cook over medium-high heat and season if you wish (I use a little salt only). Turn them only once. Reduce heat a little and finish cooking.
Perfect every single time.
If you prefer your potatoes chunked, follow the same method, leave the skins on and cut into chunks. Fry as above, except don’t mash the chunks (obviously) and turn each piece on different sides frequently.
This is how I make hashbrowns, and we think they’re good.
Step 1
Shred the potatoes. Use a box grater if you must, but I am so glad the SO talked me into buying a food processor!
Step 2
Put the shredded potatoes into a colander. Rinse, turning and squeezing, thoroughly.
Step 3
Put the potatoes into a bowl and cover with cold water. Let them soak while you cook bacon or whatever. Let them soak for ten, fifteen, twenty minutes. OK, 20 minutes might be a bit long. The point is that you want to soak out as much of the starch as possible.
Step 4
Drain, and repeat Step 2.
Step 5
Dry the potatoes as much as you can. I don’t go as far as to roll them in a dish towel, but you do want them dry.
Step 6
Melt a nice amount of butter in a large frying pan. Divide the potatoes into portions. This will make them easier to turn later. Flatten them out and add salt and pepper. Cover the pan and cook over medium heat until the bottoms are crispy, brown, and delicious. Flip the potatoes, add more butter, and fry until the other side is crispy, brown, and delicious.
The rinsing and soaking and rinsing keeps the potatoes from becoming gooey. Covering while cooking the first side cooks the middle. You can shred extra potatoes and store them in a zip-top bag in the freezer after rinsing and soaking. They might turn brown, but the brown will rinse away after thawing and, well, rinsing.