How to make hash browns
June 28, 2007 10:56 AM   Subscribe

How do you make hash browns so that they don't all stick together?
posted by stuffedcrust to Food & Drink (24 answers total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
They're supposed to stick together.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 10:58 AM on June 28, 2007


Yeah, bro. Let em stick together. Them eat em all up cause they're delicious.
posted by billysumday at 11:01 AM on June 28, 2007 [2 favorites]


Relatively dry leftover potatoes.
Lots of fat.
No over-crowding in the skillet.
posted by kmennie at 11:01 AM on June 28, 2007


I don't know if this is technically accurate, but maybe you want more of a home fry recipe? I think of hash browns as being stuck together and home fries as being separated.
posted by KAS at 11:01 AM on June 28, 2007


yup- kmennie's got it- leftover, already cooked potatoes are the way to go. Sort of like how fried rice only works right with leftover rice.
posted by small_ruminant at 11:02 AM on June 28, 2007


Response by poster: The way they serve them in restaurants is the way I want to try and make them.
posted by stuffedcrust at 11:06 AM on June 28, 2007


Response by poster: How do you dry them. I tried putting them in newspaper to soak up the excess water but they soaked through it.
posted by stuffedcrust at 11:09 AM on June 28, 2007


The way they serve them in restaurants is the way I want to try and make them.

Can you be more specific? When I have them in restaurants they are shredded potatoes stuck together in a sort of patty and browned on the top and bottom. They look like this. What do you want stuck? What do you want unstuck?
posted by jessamyn at 11:10 AM on June 28, 2007


To some people, hash browns are cubed potatoes, not shredded. What, exactly, is meant by "hash browns", whether in restaurants or not, varies a good deal by region, actually, so you'd better clarify.
posted by Wolfdog at 11:14 AM on June 28, 2007


I think you need to precisely define what you mean by "hash browns" (as opposed to 'home fries'), as well as the effect you want to create. I think there are regional differences both in the food you're referring to, and in how it's prepared.

For starters do you mean shredded, only-slightly-crispy potatoes in a loose pile, or do you mean chunks of cubed potato fried up with onions and peppers? (Easiest way to describe what you want might be with an image. Running a Google Image Search for 'hash browns' returns lots of possibilities.)
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:22 AM on June 28, 2007


I like diner food and greasy American breakfasts. I've eaten hash browns made of shredded potatoes, cubed potatoes and sliced potatoes. I've eaten hash browns that were soft and moist, and others that were as dry and crispy as French fries. Some have contained other ingredients like onions, peppers, tomatoes or paprika, and others were nothing but potatoes alone.

You're going to need to be more specific.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:24 AM on June 28, 2007


To some people, hash browns are cubed potatoes, not shredded.

These people are confused. Those are home fries.
posted by oaf at 11:24 AM on June 28, 2007


Best answer: Boil the potatoes until nearly cooked through. Let them cool completely. Cut them into whatever size pieces you want. Put them in the fridge - in a single layer, not piled up - for a while. When it's time to cook them, lots of fat in the pan, salt & pepper on the potatoes, and in they go.

You want the potatoes to be cool before you cut them up because if you cut them up while they're still warm, they'll be releasing lots of moisture and starchy goodness, and this will encourage them to stick together. Putting them in the fridge once they're cut up will help dry the cut surfaces further.

If you want home fries (as I would call fried potatoes that are cut into pieces, and not shredded) for breakfast, start the process the night before.
posted by rtha at 11:24 AM on June 28, 2007 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: The hash browns are shredded potatoes that are browned and slightly crunchy but the individual shreds don't stick together when you cook them.
posted by stuffedcrust at 11:26 AM on June 28, 2007


If you don't want to start with cooked or parcooked potatoes, you can soak them after cutting/ cubing/dicing, then dry 'em in a kitchen towel. This rinses off a good deal of the surface starch, which is the glue that's causing them to clump.

I, too, think of hash browns as being a big cohesive cake of shredded potatoes, and home fries as the cubed, loose mass of fried potatoes. (Um, that makes them both sound so delish!) An interesting little regional dialect thingee going on here, maybe.

When a friend started up a short-lived 'zine, I was assigned as restaurant critic. In addition to a review of our higbrow restaurants, I did a photo-essay of the coffeeshops and peirogi palaces in our neighborhood, identifying which form of potato each restaurant served, and whether they called them "homefries" or "hash browns." The results showed a surprisingly inconsistent attitude toward the key terminology.
posted by Elsa at 11:33 AM on June 28, 2007


Best answer: Oh, upon seeing the latest bit, here's how you can do that:

Don't cook the potatoes first. Shred 'em and rinse 'em in warmish water. Then wash 'em again. Then a third time. Then let 'em dry out a bit. Then use hot oil and fry the ever-lovin' shit out of 'em.

Really what you're doing is washing the starch off, which is what makes 'em stick. Frying 'em hot and clean will help reduce clumping (a basket would be best, even).

You're also creating an abomination unto the Lord with your wrongness hashbrowns, but that's between you and your maker.
posted by klangklangston at 11:36 AM on June 28, 2007 [4 favorites]


1. Boil the potatoes the night before and refrigerate them overnight.

2. Do not overcook the potatoes. They should be just cooked through (around 20 min AFTER bringing to a complete boil for large potatoes). They should shred cleanly.

3. Shred just prior to cooking. Heat butter on med-high heat, put potatoes into pan, reduce heat to med, let cook for 15-20 min. Let them go without dicking around with them for best results, around 15 min lift a corner a bit to check the browning state. Turn and cook until browned (peeking less a factor on the second side).
posted by nanojath at 11:39 AM on June 28, 2007


I was shopping in the local restaurant supply and came across a package shaped like an oversize milk carton that contained a mix for hash browns. The cook fills the box to a certain level with water and lets it stand for a certain amount of time. This reconstitutes the contents of the box into un-fried hash browns that turn into this when fried. I haven't ordered hash browns since I discovered this. Since restaurants use this product to make hash browns, I'd guess it is impossible to reproduce this dish at home from fresh potatoes.
posted by partner at 11:43 AM on June 28, 2007


You can avoid the step of boiling and refrigerating if you shred the potatoes, wash them to get the starch off the surface as Klang says, broil them without oil until they are light brown on both sides, and then fry them in oil to the brownness you desire.
posted by jamjam at 11:49 AM on June 28, 2007


Don't bother cooking them first, you wont be able to shred them.

I rinse mine to get rid of the starch then squeeze them to get the water out. Works perfectly, just make sure you use enough oil.
posted by mphuie at 12:16 PM on June 28, 2007


Now I'm starving.

In addition to salt and pepper, you can add some fresh thyme (lemon thyme is fantastic). Saute some onion in the pan first, o that you get that good carmelized oniony flavor. Add some hot sauce once they're on the plate and weep with joy.
posted by rtha at 12:19 PM on June 28, 2007


Best answer: I agree in general with rtha's comment above, except in degree of details.

Use russet potatoes. They are the highest solids potato generally available, and will crisp better than other varieties, while absorbing less oil.

For the least sticky, most crispy hashbrowns, you want to rinse the potatoes thoroughly after dicing or shredding raw, to remove excess sugars and starches caused by crushing potatoe cells while cutting. Using a very sharp knife, or a Combi-Chef, or kitchen guillotine greatly reduces the amount of surface starch you generate when cutting. Dull cutting tools crush and tear potato cells, releasing a lot of starch immediately, and continuing to leach more starch throughout the cooking process from cells damaged just behind the surface layers.

Immediately after rinsing, you want to blanch the potatoes, breifly. It's good to do the blanching in several quarts of boiling water, as you want to cook the outside of the potatoes, to stop oxidation and further release of starches from the outside surfaces of each piece of potato as quickly as possible, without cooking the potato through. So, you don't want to drop the water temperature significantly by adding cut potato you're trying to blanch; a ratio of at least 1 quart of water at boil for each 5 oz medium russet potato is a minimum. If you've coarsely shredded your potatoes, you only need to plunge them in boiling water for about a minute to blanch. If you've cubed them into 1/2 " cubes, make that 2 minutes. As soon as the plunge time in boiling water is complete, remove the potatoes immediately to iced water, in similar proportions, to stop the cooking process. This can be done with a basket, or with a large colander in a sink, pouring ice water over the potatoes, but a small basket makes it much easier. A salad spinner is the fast, easy way to dry the potatoes after blanching.

Ideally, you get everything going on the stove, before you start peeling potatoes. Your blanch water must be boiling, and your iced water must be cold when you're ready to blanch. From plunging the blanched potatoes into ice water, to having them dried out of the salad spinner, is only about 3 minutes, so your skillet should be heated, too. And if you want onions in with them, well, you need to start the onions well in time for them to turn clear, or brown, which means you start onions well ahead of beginning blanching. In any event, the oil or fat you're going to cook potatoes in should be at 350 to 360 degrees farenheit for shredded potatoes, and perhaps up to 375 degrees for cubed potatoes, when starting the fry. A small water droplet should dance on the surface of the oil without sinking, for several seconds, if the temperature is correct. If the oil is too hot, a water droplet won't "dance," but is likely to cause an oil spatter, so be careful, if you're not using an oil thermometer (I don't). A skillet with high latent heat, like a 10" or larger cast iron skillet is the preferred cooking implement for pan fried potatoes. If cooking on an electric stove, don't go larger, but if you have high output gas rings, and want to make hashbrowns in volume, larger cast iron skillets, or even griddles are good to have.

It sounds like more of project, written out like this, than it actually is. And I think if you'll try this method, you'll be astounded by how good the results can be.

posted by paulsc at 12:25 PM on June 28, 2007 [7 favorites]


One more thing: if at all possible (e.g., you're not a vegetarian), use duck or goose fat to fry the potatoes. Unbelievably delicious.
posted by rtha at 12:44 PM on June 28, 2007


Or just save all your rendered bacon fat (the clear stuff left in the pan after frying bacon), and make your hashbrowns (or homefries or whatever) with a couple of tablespoons of it. It's liquid gold, and will give your potatoes heft without actual sticking.
posted by J-Train at 1:22 PM on June 28, 2007


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