I like to make a good American style breakfast at least one day of the week and for me, that’s always included a large serving of golden brown crispy hashbrown potatoes. The perfect start to a lazy Sunday reading the newspaper and lounging around the house. After years of dealing with with frozen hash browns that consistently turned out mushy or mealy, I discovered a better and cheaper alternative: Fresh or Dried hashbrowns. Either beats the frozen stuff any day of the week. Here’s how I make perfect Sunday morning hash browns.
[step 1] Go to Costco and pick up a 24 pack of Golden Grill Russet™ Premium Hashbrown Potatoes OR buy a bag of large Russet Potatoes.
[step 2] If you’ve got the dried hashbrowns, simply add boiling water to the cartons fill line and let stand for 6-10 minutes (or until most of the water is absorbed. Drain any remaining water after 10 minutes). NOTE: One carton makes about 6 cups, so you may want to use less if you’re cooking for two.
If you’ve got the bag of Russet potatoes, get a peeler and peel a couple. Then use a potato grater to make 2-3 cups of grated potato. Using a fork, mix in a dash of salt. NOTE: Don’t leave the freshly grated potatoes standing around for too long, they will oxidize and turn brown/gray…ew.
[step 3] Heat some vegetable or canola oil in a non-stick pan. Make sure it’s nice and hot. Then pour in enough hashbrowns to make a thin layer covering oiled surface of the pan. I use a spatula to squish them down and spread them out. It should sizzle a lot! If it doesn’t, your pan isn’t hot enough.
[step 4] Turn the heat down slightly and let them cook 5 – 7 minutes until nicely golden brown on the bottom. Your hash browns should look like a large thin pancake in your pan. You can use the spatula to gently lift an edge to see whether it is ready to be flipped.
[step 5] Now comes the dangerous/difficult part. Flip the entire hashbrown pancake over in the pan. Be careful not to set the hot oil on fire though. If all the initial oil got absorbed, add some additional vegetable/canola oil by drizzling it around the sides of the hash browns. It should sizzle a lot like when you first added the hash browns to the oil.
[step 6] Cook another 5 -7 minutes on the other side and place on a paper towel to absorb any excess oil. Now just remove the paper towel and serve with eggs and bacon.
