In North America, we have McCain hashbrowns that are tiny cubed potatoes you find in the freezer aisle. In Australia, hashbrowns are hashbrowns patties, and we don’t have the cubes. I haven’t been able to find them anywhere.
I was hit with nostalgia this morning, so I made hashbrowns. Just cut up whatever potatoes I had in to 0.5cm cubes and fried them up in the pan. Fried some onions and capsicum on the side and then added together.
Usually I put in a bit of bacon or sausage, but we’re going to a German restaurant for dinner tonight, so I’m saving my fatty meat allocation for later.
Seasoned with Hy’s seasoning salt.
Omg 😂 in my defence, they aren’t really browned when I find the commercial ones in the freezer aisle. I did try to brown them, but they started to stick to the pan, so the browned bits separated from the cubes. :( I think the McCain ones are flash deep fried so they don’t stick to your pan at home. I’ve only made these a handful of times, so I’m still perfecting it. One day, I will get it right!
The secret to hash browns like that is two step cooking. After cubing, put in a pot of boiling salted water for like 4 minutes. Drain them with a colander and spread out to let some of the excess moisture steam off. After that, fry them as you did and you’ll end up with fluffy on the inside, golden brown on the outside bits of deliciousness. Also make sure your pan and oil are really hot when you start cooking to stop them from sticking to the pan. The oil should just be beginning to smoke when you put the potatoes in.
You just need some fat in the pan-butter, olive oil, etc. I recommend a little of both as the butter adds more flavor while the oil keeps the butter from burning. Just don’t use extra virgin, it burns easier than plain olive oil.