I know, I'm old fashioned. I do things from scratch, but the best
hashbrowns are the ones that come from real potatoes.
You can leave the skins on or peel first, but the method is to just run
'em through a grater or a grater blade of a food processor.
IMMEDIATELY place the potatoes into ice water to strip off some of the
excess starch and to prevent discoloration. We're talking white
hashbrowns here.
When you've done as many as you want, DRY THEM using two or three towels
(please, not paper...real kitchen towels) and squeeze the excess moisure
out of 'em.
Meanwhile, back at the range, have your frying pan at pretty darned
close to high heat. DON'T USE SO-CALLED NON-STICK SPRAY added, and dump
'em in all at once. Yes, they will scorch unless you take some pretty
quick action.
Start aggrivating those spuds. Stir 'em up quickly as though you were
doing a stir fry.
Then turn down to a more moderate heat and cover the pan tightly.
Go polish your nails or find some other way to spend ten minutes.
Remove the cover and start turning the spuds over with a thingie (I have
aphasia and the word just won't come to me at the moment, so thingie has
to do). You may have to scrape the bottom a little firmly to get the
brown crust up, but turn 'em over section by section.
Brown the the other side, this time don't cover the pan if the potatoes
are starting to get mushy enough for you, else cover 'em again.
Another ten minutes and you've got scrumptious hash browns.
Now if you're after flavor (and who isn't?) add finely cubed red or
green pepeprs, chopped onion, a little bit of oregano...
>From an old scratch (but I won't reveal what it is that I scratch!)
cook.
Bev Kurtin
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