The Conservative Cave
Current Events => The DUmpster => Topic started by: franksolich on January 19, 2014, 04:43:54 PM
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/115737760
Oh my.
struggle4progress (76,632 posts) Sat Jan 18, 2014, 10:35 PM
Any advice on how to do hash browns?
I made them a couple of times for house guests over the holidays, using some tricks I'd picked up here and there but essentially flying by the seat of my pants. They tasted great but it was a pain to do and I'm hoping there's an easier way
Here's what I did:
Scrub and de-eye potatoes
Microwave potatoes until hot but stop before the potatoes become soft
Slice potatoes thinly in food processor
Cook a single layer of potato at a time in hot bacon grease, turning now and then until slightly browned on each side. Remove potatoes to a bowl as they become slightly browned and replace with unfried potato until all potato has been fried once and slightly browned. Do not de-grease at this stage
Increase heat and add a touch more grease to skillet if needed. Crisp the once-fried potato in the skillet by refrying until golden brown, removing crisped potato to drain on paper towel and replacing with uncrisped potato until all potato crispy golden brown
As I've indicated before, they were delicious -- but it was too much work. The guests requested these hash browns again a few days after I first served the side with breakfast, and I was happy to oblige them
I think the half-cook and then the half-fry gets the potatoes cooked without producing a gummy mess in the pan and prepares the potatoes for the final pretty quick gold-brown crisping. But it just takes too long to do often: the half-fry was a special pain-in-the-ass
Any ideas on how to speed this up?
<<<buys bags of frozen hash browns at the grocery store; never has a problem.
Major Nikon (12,924 posts) Sat Jan 18, 2014, 10:48 PM
1. Here's how I do them
When I plan on making hash browns in the morning, I make baked potatoes the night before and I bake a few extras and then refrigerate them. In the morning the skins peel right off, then I shred them in the food processor and brown them in a hot and oiled cast iron skillet. Since they are already cooked all you have to do is brown them and refrigerating them overnight allows the starches in the potato to set up a bit so they aren't gummy.
Major Nikon (12,924 posts) Sun Jan 19, 2014, 11:01 AM
3. It's one of the best ways I've found to make them at home for a lot of people.
If you try to cook at large amount of uncooked shredded potatoes in a cast iron skillet, they will either be properly browned and uncooked in the middle, or you have to stir them which doesn't brown them like restaurant hash browns so the texture is still not the same. I've thought about using uncooked potatoes and finishing them in the oven after browning them. In theory this should work, but my method is quite easy and since everyone seems to like them so well I haven't felt the need to experiment with other methods.
At restaurants, they have huge commercial griddles that give them a lot of surface area for cooking. They spread several individual portions of hash browns out and dredge them in butter. They are quite tasty that way and the potatoes are a bit firmer than with my method, but it's impractical to do at home for more than a couple of people. My method produces hash browns which are a bit softer than restaurant hash browns, but people seem to like them. I just flip them once halfway through the cooking process and with a lot of them you have to divide them up to make flipping them manageable. However it makes hash browns which are browned on the outside and still cooked in the middle.
Naturally you'll need to season them as desired, and you can also incorporate other ingredients like onions or peppers. If I have the time I like to caramelize onions first in the skillet and then incorporate them into the potatoes.*
* :puke:
Kali (36,505 posts) Sun Jan 19, 2014, 12:59 PM
4. to me hash browns are shredded spuds
you are making fried potatoes (YUM!)
Home fries are similar but more chunky and often have peppers and/or onions too.
however you do them, I find boiling them a little to precook the best, followed by micro or baking.
although leftover bacon greased, foil-wrapped, coal-baked spuds make some good fried breakfast potatoes too
other than boiling instead of baking, I agree with the major on technique (plenty of butter/bacon grease for browning too)
spinbaby (11,219 posts) Sun Jan 19, 2014, 03:35 PM
5. Here's how I do breakfast potatoes
They're not technically hash browns, but it's how I do potatoes in a wok. A wok might be non-traditional, but I find it makes fine potatoes.
Peel a couple of large russet potatoes and cut into half-inch cubes--red potatoes or Yukon gold work, too, but I like russets. Heat a small puddle of oil--I use coconut nowadays--in the bottom of a wok. When the oil is hot, dump in the potatoes, salt and pepper, and cook until there's a nice brown crust on the bottom of the potatoes. Stir to redistribute the potatoes and again cook until they form a nice brown crust on the bottom. Repeat until done, which is when the potatoes are cooked through and nicely browned. If you want fancier fried potatoes, you can add a sprinkle of chopped onion, green pepper, and/or mushroom* when the potatoes are about halfway done.
* :puke:
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There are two things only DUmmies could **** up.
Hash browns and a wet dream.
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Any advice on how to do hash browns?
<<<buys bags of frozen hash browns at the grocery store; never has a problem.
My thoughts exactly.
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I like cheesy hash browns. I like them at Cracker Barrel, the Duck Dynasty depot.
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I buy them in the refrigerated section. They're called Simply Potatoes and they're very good. They have several different options besides the hash brown type. No mess, no fuss. Don't have to ask a bunch of DUmmies how to make them either.
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My thoughts exactly.
The only "homemade" hash browns I bother making--bags of frozen hash browns at the grocery store are cheaper than doing it from scratch, and they're nothing but pure potatoes anyway--is when I have leftover mashed potatoes.
I'll fry that in a little bit of real butter and with some real bacon bits sprinkled in them, and it's good to go.
But both hash browns and fried mashed potatoes are even more excellent if covered with real beef gravy, or if mountains of sour cream are piled on them.
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I peel and grate them onto a micro-wave safe plate.
Spread them evenly on the plate and microwave about 3 min.
Heat oil in skillet and brown potatoes on med-high heat.
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But both hash browns and fried mashed potatoes are even more excellent if covered with real beef gravy, or if mountains of sour cream are piled on them.
I like sour cream (although not to the point that you do), and it never struck me try it on hash browns.
I don't understand why someone would bother with making their own hash browns, when there isn't anything wrong with the frozen ones at the store. I suppose if you were bored, or didn't live within so many miles of a store, then it might be feasible. But beginning to prepare hash browns the night before? Forget about it.
It makes me think you may have inadvertently stumbled on another of the primitives' "Bigs", such as Big Pharma and Big Oil:
Big Potato.
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I don't understand why someone would bother with making their own hash browns, when there isn't anything wrong with the frozen ones at the store. I suppose if you were bored, or didn't live within so many miles of a store, then it might be feasible. But beginning to prepare hash browns the night before? Forget about it.
Thaw out a bag of frozen hash browns in the refrigerator, dry them off with paper towels, and fry them in a skillet. Perfect every time.
Don't forget the Vietti chili.
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Thaw out a bag of frozen hash browns in the refrigerator, dry them off with paper towels, and fry them in a skillet. Perfect every time.
Don't forget the Vietti chili.
If that were a primitive recipe, you'd fry the paper towels with the hash browns, to add roughage.
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If that were a primitive recipe, you'd fry the paper towels with the hash browns, to add roughage.
Why do you hate the planet?
Waffle House now has a "country" option on their menu. On top of your scattered, smothered, covered, you can now get it with country gravy.
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Why do you hate the planet?
Waffle House now has a "country" option on their menu. On top of your scattered, smothered, covered, you can now get it with country gravy.
I like Waffle House. Sadly, the ones around here aren't what I would call a dining delight. Dirty, filthy, nasty.
When we're south of here anywhere though, WH is always a place we frequent.
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I like cheesy hash browns. I like them at Cracker Barrel, the Duck Dynasty depot.
Not Duck Dynasty, Duck Commander Depot. I ate breakfast at a crackerbarrel near Memphis this morning and checked the DC Corner. No chump change for A&E, 100% Robertson Clan cash
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Not Duck Dynasty, Duck Commander Depot. I ate breakfast at a crackerbarrel near Memphis this morning and checked the DC Corner. No chump change for A&E, 100% Robertson Clan cash
Smart move.
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Hell, I like taking a couple of dried cheesy hash browns when Scoobs and I take the kids camping. They look like little milk cartons. Just fill 'em up with hot water, let them sit for 15 minutes or so, then toss them in the skillet with a little oil.
Pretty darned good, if I do say so.
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I really enjoy potatoes that are harvested by illegals that are denied amnesty and social programs; the preparation of the potatoes always is better when prepared by homosexual kitchen slaves working for minimum wage at any local restaurant. They just taste better.
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I really enjoy potatoes that are harvested by illegals that are denied amnesty and social programs; the preparation of the potatoes always is better when prepared by homosexual kitchen slaves working for minimum wage at any local restaurant. They just taste better.
There's an extra je ne sais quoi that you don't get from legally-harvested vegetables.
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There's an extra je ne sais quoi that you don't get from legally-harvested vegetables.
I see what you're doing there.
:rotf:
omnia bono est!
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There's an extra je ne sais quoi that you don't get from legally-harvested vegetables.
:-)
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I like cheesy hash browns. I like them at Cracker Barrel, the Duck Dynasty depot.
Hi5 :rofl:
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Only dummies could screw up shredded taters. I swear you got to be some kinda stupid to screw up taters!!!! :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:
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I really enjoy potatoes that are harvested by illegals that are denied amnesty and social programs; the preparation of the potatoes always is better when prepared by homosexual kitchen slaves working for minimum wage at any local restaurant. They just taste better.
When I eat hash browns, I want to taste the blood, sweat, and tears of the wetbacks as they were whipped while picking the potatoes.
But I don't want any homosexuals touching my food. You never know where their hands have been. My kitchen wenches must be straight, and be prepared to prove it on demand.
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When I eat hash browns, I want to taste the blood, sweat, and tears of the wetbacks as they were whipped while picking the potatoes.
But I don't want any homosexuals touching my food. You never know where their hands have been. My kitchen wenches must be straight, and be prepared to prove it on demand.
:lmao:
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There are numerous recipe sites available to us, including DUmmies, where one can find answers to these questions.
When the DUmmies ask "Does anyone know how.....?", the answer is "yes". Google can be their friend.
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Well, the recipe in the OP does sound like a gigantic pain in the ass. If I had guests requesting that I slave over a hot stove for hours making these things from scratch, I'd say, "doesn't Cracker Barrel sound good? We can check out the Duck corner."
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Good Lord. :thatsright:
DUmmies:
Wash potatoes, grate, rinse the "shreds" to get rid of the extra starch, pat dry, add S&P, fry in a pan till browned.
Idiots.
:hammer:
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There are two things only DUmmies could **** up.
Hash browns and a wet dream.
Three things.
Remember the DUmbass f'ed up the grilled cheese sandwiches.
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I think I see the DUmmies problem.....
cleaning
slicing
cooking
hash browns
is
to
much
like
work.
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Thaw out a bag of frozen hash browns in the refrigerator, dry them off with paper towels, and fry them in a skillet. Perfect every time.
Don't forget the Vietti chili.
Mrs. Jukin likes to cook things from scratch. Me, I like to take available food and adjust it to taste. She has tried to do hash browns from scratch. The closet she has come to the delicious frozen ones I do is:
1. Take raw potatoes and grate them.
2. Put those grated potatoes in cheese cloth or a dish towel and twist/squeeze the hell out of them to get the water out.
3. make the patties.
4. Cook with copious amounts of EVO and salt.
5. Wait longer than you think to flip.
6. Wait less time than you think to pull off and serve.
I eliminate steps 1-3. Tastes just as good, maybe better and no extra dishes to do.
For lurking DUchebags, don't use a plastic spatula or a stainless steel pan. You ****ing idiots.
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Mrs. Jukin likes to cook things from scratch. Me, I like to take available food and adjust it to taste. She has tried to do hash browns from scratch. The closet she has come to the delicious frozen ones I do is:
1. Take raw potatoes and grate them.
2. Put those grated potatoes in cheese cloth or a dish towel and twist/squeeze the hell out of them to get the water out.
3. make the patties.
4. Cook with copious amounts of EVO and salt.
5. Wait longer than you think to flip.
6. Wait less time than you think to pull off and serve.
I eliminate steps 1-3. Tastes just as good, maybe better and no extra dishes to do.
For lurking DUchebags, don't use a plastic spatula or a stainless steel pan. You ****ing idiots.
Paper towels are cheap. I haven't used cheesecloth since my first restaurant job at some overly-fancy place out by the airport that served escargot.
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3. make the patties.
Rather than patties, I 'scatter' them, and keep stirring them until done.
When done, I pile them onto the plate, and put one, sometimes two, sunnyside up fried eggs on top of them. The eggs CAN go beside the potatoes, but I like them on top.
Two sausage patties go alongside.
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If they don't have southern style grits....I'll eat hash browns.
If I am visiting someone, I eat whatever they put on my plate....just like momma told me to do.
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If I am visiting someone, I eat whatever they put on my plate....just like momma told me to do.
You mean you don't have a list of invented 'allergies' as long as your arm, and a screwy diet which means you can't eat anything normal people would cook for you? That's definitely not the DUmmy way.
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If I am visiting someone, I eat whatever they put on my plate....just like momma told me to do.
I think this is a lost lesson with the current generation of mommas. I have had soooo many kids tell me, "I don't like that," oftentimes right in front of their momma, who just looks at me expectantly to see what I will substitute for Junior.
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If they don't have southern style grits....I'll eat hash browns.
If I am visiting someone, I eat whatever they put on my plate....just like momma told me to do.
It is just courtesy. I dined at my girlfriend's family recently, and was warned that her mom is a rotten cook. I actually liked the meal, but only ate what I knew I could stomach.
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I think this is a lost lesson with the current generation of mommas. I have had soooo many kids tell me, "I don't like that," oftentimes right in front of their momma, who just looks at me expectantly to see what I will substitute for Junior.
What's with that? If their kids are that picky, why didn't mama bring something her kids would eat.
My kids always ate what everyone else got. No way I would be a short order cook or encourage a fussy appetite. And if they really, really, really didn't like something, they at least had to try it.
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You mean you don't have a list of invented 'allergies' as long as your arm, and a screwy diet which means you can't eat anything normal people would cook for you? That's definitely not the DUmmy way.
I have no food "allergies" myself, but damn, there are some things I just will not touch.
Such aversions don't appear to be a matter of taste--a great many things I don't like have a lot of sugar or chemicals or grease in them--but just simply the body (rather than the brain) instinctively saying "no, it's not good."
Usually, generally, most of the time, no one serving me as host or hostess has to go out of his or her way for me; I just pick-and-choose from what's offered, even if it's just a whole-wheat roll with real butter, and coffee, while everybody else is dining on six or seven different dishes.
That's not the problem--that I nibble while others are chowing down; temporary deprivation doesn't harm anyone.
The problem comes when others some times--not all the time, but some times--insist that I must try this or that. That is where physics comes into work; an irresistible force meeting an immoveable object. This object remains steadfastly unmoved, but it's a titanic, epic, thing to see.
As for concerns about whether or not I'm "enjoying" myself, I'm there for the social company, not for the food. Food, I can get myself. And on the Head of St. John the Baptist, that's the utter truth. Food, I can get myself.
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If they don't have southern style grits....I'll eat hash browns.
If I am visiting someone, I eat whatever they put on my plate....just like momma told me to do.
Is there another kind of style of grits? And yeah, I do the same. If I didn't I would feel the rath of my ancestors smacking me upside my head, just like the olden days. :-)