Well, not SUCK, but they’re not the amazing crispy things you get from Waffle House or out of a deep fryer.
I shredded two potatoes in the food processor, rinsed, then spun them dry, placed them in a pan on medium with a little oil on the bottom and a couple of tablespoons of water to steam the insides. Cooked them covered tor 6-8 minutes, lifted the lid to let them crisp, a little more oil, flip, season, serve
They’re cooked, but they’re not fantastic.
ETA: Suggestions?
I use as much as a quarter cup of water and do not cover the fry pan. Worked yesterday morning.
Couple things when I do them: 1) I don’t use any water. 2) I use probably more than what would be called “a little oil.” 3) Gotta get those puppies as dry as possible: squeeze them through a tea towel as hard as you can or some people even squeeze them in (but not through) a ricer.
I think you still have too much moisture in your potatoes. You can press them between paper towels or use a ricer to squeeze them, but either way you don’t just want them spun dry, they need to be as devoid of moisture as possible.
That could be it, and here I was thinking you needed SOME water to get them to stick together and steam.
Good hash browns, like a good cheese sauce, are something that have eluded me in 30+ years of increasingly skilled cooking. Which is why I always order them when they’re an option… and then grumble that the 20yo fry cook can whip them out so easily.
Are you seasoning them? Simple ground black pepper makes a world of difference.
I think the MOST difficult thing about cooking potatoes (hashbrowns especially!) is to LEAVE THE DAMNED THINGS ALONE. Potatoes take a helluva long time to cook, and you need to just let them do what they gotta do. Make sure the pan is HOT when you put the spuds inside, and that you have enough grease/fat, and that the grease is hot too. My mother told me to NEVER add cold grease to a pan that was already cooking.
Once you get the spuds in the pan, turn it down to low and then let them do their magic.
~VOW
My hashbrowns turn out best if I get them as dry as I possibly can and then get them even drier. Frankly, by the time, I’ve peeled, grated, patted and squeezed the potatos, I’m usually heartily sick of the whole thing and end up just having toast.
Weird. Hot pan, cold oil was always the mantra around here.
Anyhow, the “leave them the hell alone” is a great tip I forgot. Applies to a lot of cooking, in fact.
My suggestion is to use half-cooked potatoes. Boil whole potatoes for ~20 minutes (depending on size), peel, shred, cook with oil.
Shredding them with a food processor somehow strikes me as unholy. Are the shreds the right size and shape?
Actually, I found a good description of the potato ricer method. I’m quite surprised by how many folks add water to their hashbrowns or parcook the potatoes. I’ll parcook when I’m doing fried skillet potatoes, but seems to me you risk getting mush from parcooking something that is going to shredded.
When I make potato latkes I shred the potatoes and drain them a long time. I take a portion (quarter? half?) of the shredded material and process it in a food processor, then mix things back together.
I then let the liquid I collect settle, and retain the sediment to put back in the potato mixture. I never cover the pan, also.
Some types of spuds have more moisture than others. I’d use russetts or perhaps Yukon gold. I never precook, whether hash browns or home fries (larger pieces), and never add water. I heat the fat on about medium high, dump in the spuds and spread them around, reduce the heat to about medium and cover. When they’re browned on one side, flip them as one large mass and brown the other side uncovered to allow any residual moisture to evaporate. Sometimes I grate Parmesan on them after flipping. If you’re having problems with them getting done in the middle, you’re probably using too small a pan. If the layer of potatoes is too thick, they’re not going to cook through as quickly.
Ah, yes, Cooks Illustrated recommends doing that, too, IIRC.
BTW, if anyone wants a change of pace, there’s a kind-of beet version of this that is simply amazing. My wife, who doesn’t like beets, will even eat it. See here.
Next time you make baked potatoes, make a couple extra. Leftover baked potatoes make great hash browns.
The #1 most important thing is to get the water out. I use a tea towel to wring them out thoroughly, and I mean wring them out HARD, to the point that only a few drops of water are dripping out of the tea towel. That’s the only way to get high quality crispy hash browns at home.
I think the most important thing is to get the excess starch out. Works for me, anyway.
I shred the spuds and put them into a collander. I used to soak them in a bowl and change the water a couple of times, but the collander works just as well and is quicker. Run cold water over the potatoes, and toss with the hands so as to rince them well. Every couple of turns, squeeze them. Keep doing this until the water you’re squeezing out is clear. Then squeeze out as much water as you can.
Melt a lot of butter into your pan. You can use bacon grease instead, of course; but I prefer butter in this case. Spread the potatoes evenly in the pan, season with salt and freshly-ground pepper, and let them cook on medium-low heat. As others said, walk away and leave it alone. After five or ten minutes, the bottom will be golden brown and crispy. Add more butter to the pan and flip the potato disc over. (Or flip it and add butter. Or cut it into quarters and add butter and flip. Whatever. I like flipping it all at once.) Cook until the other side is golden brown and crispy. The middle will be cooked yummy and nice.
But you have to get the excess starch out, lest they come out gooey.
I cheat by partially nuking a potato in its skin. The skin comes off nicely while grating, and the hashbrowns turn out wonderfully. I’ve had a few people that won’t eat hashbrowns without ketchup eat mine plain. I like to mix in diced onions before pan frying.
