Hash Brown Potatoes: The Breakfast Book

Hash brown potatoes are a quick and easy side dish.

I don't buy much that's frozen, but I've always used frozen hash browns. They seemed like a tough dish to get right so I figured I'd stick to the packaged variety. This chapter of our cook the book project, with Marion Cunningham's The Breakfast Book, features potatoes. I chose hash browns since it's one of the few potato preparations I have never made.

They tasted way better than the packaged kind. So light, flavorful and crisp, I couldn't stop eating them. My daughter did admit that the real potatoes tasted better than the pre-made ones (only after she made it known that she wanted the pre-made and why was I bothering to mess with perfection?).

I cooked them in bacon grease and served them with bacon, too. You can fry them in olive oil or vegetable oil, if you're not as much of a bacon fanatic as I am.

Check out the posts by my cook the book partners:  RachelAimeeEmily and Claudie.

Hash Brown Potatoes

serves 3

from Marion Cunningham's The Breakfast Book

Ingredients:

  • 3 tablespoons bacon fat, oil or shortening
  • 3 cups grated potatoes, raw or cooked
  • Salt and lots of pepper

Method:

  1. Heat the fat in a large skillet.
  2. Spread the potatoes in a layer, pressing down with a spatula.
  3. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Cook over medium heat for 6 to 7 minutes.
  5. With the edge of the spatula, cut the circle of potatoes down the middle.
  6. Turn each half over and sprinle again with salt and pepper.
  7. Cook another 6 or 7 minutes, or until the potatoes are crisp and brown on the bottom.
  8. Serve hot.