Wow, you guys. Never have I gotten so many desperate pleas for a recipe as I have in the past few days after the mere mention of hash browns. It's nice to know that I have such a discerning/obsessed readership. Now that we've had a chance to dig ourselves out of the foot and a half of snow that fell yesterday, I'm happy to share my technique. It produces a well-seasoned potato patty that's crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. In short: perfect.
Crispy Hash Browns
3 medium Yukon gold potatoes (or other starchy potato)
Kosher salt and black pepper
Olive oil
Peel and grate potatoes using the large holes on a box grater (watch your knuckles!). Line a colander with cheesecloth or non-linty dishtowel. Set grated potato on towel in colander and sprinkle with several pinches of kosher salt, tossing to distribute. Let sit 5 minutes.
Heat a large skillet (I like cast iron) with 2 Tbsp. olive oil on medium heat. (If you're making the hash browns to go with sausage and vegetable hash, you may have some fat left over in the skillet so you can use less oil). While the pan is heating, gather up the sides of the towel, twist, and squeeze the potatoes hard over the sink so all of the moisture drips out. Repeat several times. You want the potatoes dry, dry, dry before they hit the pan. You should be left with a wad of potato pulp about the size of a baseball.
When the pan is good and hot, take 1/3 of grated potatoes, pull apart, and spread out into a potato pancake no more than 1/2-inch thick. You want the potato loosely packed with lacy edges. Sprinkle with black pepper, press down with a spatula, then leave it alone for about 10 minutes. Time will vary depending on your pan and the flame. When you see the edges start to brown significantly, carefully loosen with the spatula and lift up an edge. If the hash brown is merely golden on the bottom and kind of sags, let it cook more time. What you want is a crust on the bottom that can withstand the weight of the hash brown itself. It's called hash brown for a reason (just take care not to make it a hash black). Flip and repeat on the second side. When nice and crispy brown, let drain on paper towels and season with salt. Repeat with two more batches of potatoes, squeezing any additional moisture that may have been drawn out by the salt, and adding more oil to the pan as necessary. Serves 2 adults and 2 kids (who split the third).
A few other notes: You could probably use a food processor fitted with the grater disk, though it takes less time to grate three potatoes by hand than it would for me to locate and later wash all of the parts of the food processor. Don't let your peeled/grated potatoes sit out too long before cooking or they will turn brown. Also, be sure to rinse out the squeezing towel with water soon afterwards so it doesn't stain brown. If you need to speed up the frying process, use two skillets simultaneously. Finally, if your kids turn up their noses at your beautiful hash browns, just say they're like hamburgers made out of French fries and suddenly at least one of them is chowing down.
Local Ingredients:
Potatoes: Waltham Fields, Waltham, MA/Picadilly Farm, Winchester, NH
I have no words for just how delicious those look.
And "hamburgers made out of French fries" is a brilliant description.
Posted by: adele | January 13, 2011 at 07:11 PM
I generally make hash bricks. I'm super excited to try my hand at a delicious hash brown. Just need some taters...
Posted by: melch | January 14, 2011 at 01:24 AM
Thanks for the recipe - I have serious 'skillet envy' looking at your photo. Never have I managed to temper a cast iron pan to that state of fabulousness - I always end up throwing them out in disgust and going back to non stick, but it's not the same!
Posted by: SarahC | January 14, 2011 at 07:59 AM
thanks and YUM. wish i had seen this post yesterday. the dish towel trick would have saved me some muscle, squeezing shredded potato (yukon gold no less) between two plates to get all the water out for a pie crust. i might have to scrape more skin off my knuckles tonight and make hashy for supper...
Posted by: snippyscissors | January 14, 2011 at 02:07 PM
i am so making these for weekend brunch!
Posted by: steph (whisk/spoon) | January 15, 2011 at 10:33 AM
steph: Hope they turned out perfect!
snippyscissors: The dishtowel trick is awesome. There's nothing more disappointing than soggy hashy.
SarahC: The secret is bacon! Lots of it.
melch: Good luck!
adele: Ah, the things you have to say to trick your kids into eating something delicious!
Posted by: Tammy | January 18, 2011 at 01:34 PM
Yummy variation: substitute a good sized celery root for one of the potatoes. :)
Posted by: Jay L | January 26, 2011 at 10:19 AM
Excellent recipe these were delicious...I didn't have a proper dishtowel to use for the potatoes, but something I learned not to long ago, is that it isn't the water that makes soggy hash browns, its the starch in the potatoes! So I rinsed them and got as much starch out as I possibly could until the water ran clear, and put them into the skillet still damp. They were still perfect! Although the using the towel like you did is much easier
Posted by: Phill | August 16, 2012 at 02:22 AM
Love this recipe! Another option for super crispy hash browns is using a Potato Ricer! Simply use the ricer to grate the potatoes as well as remove the moisture (it removes a LOT of moisture), and continue with your steps as above. Wonderful!
http://www.potatoricerguide.com
Posted by: Potato Ricer | November 26, 2012 at 10:53 PM