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.
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You forgot to brown them, those are hashwhites.
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.
lmao
Reminds me a lot of the Swedish dish Pytt i panna.
We call them “home fries” rather than hash browns. I prefer them a little larger and crispier but even these are nice.
I can’t remember where you’re from, sorry. Tbh, I will devour anything potatoes no matter what it’s called 🤤
I’m in the United States but this term can be regional. There are parts of the country where you don’t know what will show up on your plate if you order “hash browns.” There are parts that don’t even know diced potatoes are a thing that exist. It’s all rather unstandardized.
Ohhh right. Hmm, maybe more of a Canadian thing, then. I grew up seeing McCain hashbrowns in cubes, so that’s what it is for me. Thanks for teaching me something today. 😊 Maybe I’ll spend a few weekends making different kinds of hashbrowns in the next while!
Even as a Canadian, I never knew these things were called hash browns. Hash browns have always been those things you can get at McDonald’s (patties, as you called em). I thought these were hashed potatoes.
I love regional differences.
I’m from California and have always seen those cubes ones on menus as “country potatoes.”
All hash browns matter.
I love that you recreated these frozen hash browns! I have had them too but forgot about them. Now I will do them too! 🥰 Thanks! Had a thought on the boiling then frying comment. I do this thing with potatoes where I put some water in the pan, just a little, cover and steam them for a bit, then uncover and cook it off and add more oil for the frying part. That might do it too, but in one pan. Not sure if you need this step though for such small pieces.
all fried potatoes have a place in my heart (lodged into the arterial walls, secured with cholesterol glue), but I’ll always insist that hashbrowns are shredded potatoes, not cubed. don’t get me wrong, I’d happily house this entire bowl and ask you for seconds, but these are what I usually picture.
did you hand cut the potatoes? they’re very neatly done. I’m useless at consistency when it comes to anything smaller than 1 cm dice.
Oh, I also LOVE hashbrowns in shredded potatoes form, but I don’t get those often since I’ve only seen them in some restaurants. Never in Australia so far in either Sydney or Melbourne.
Thank you! Yup, all hand cut. I can do the first and second direction of slices very uniformly, but when it comes to the cubing step, 0.5cm becomes 0.3-0.8cm 🥴 so I end up getting some cubes overcooked and some undercooked, but still entirely edible.
I hear you. I’m blessed with more choices for potato ingestion than I need or deserve in the supermarket aisle. a benefit of living in middle-America, I suppose. I’ve heard that you can approximate them by squeezing as much moisture as possible out of grated potato using a cheesecloth or tea towel, and then freezing the shreds before frying them off in a pan, but that degree of foresight and prep work doesn’t factor into most of my breakfasts lol.
Oh, definitely. I’ll have to give your hashbrowns a go next time I have a lazy Sunday. I think I’ve tried this year’s ago, but I can’t remember. I think you mix flour in it so it holds better? I’ll have to research this again. Thanks for the idea!
