Diner-Style Hash Browns


You'd think there'd be nothing easier than to make than an American diner-style hashbrown. It's just grated potato fried on a griddle or skillet right? I made many a pile of starchy, metallic tasting, greasy, mushy-in-the-middle hashbrowns before I finally settled on this method for really good hashbrowns.

And now it IS easy. Once you know the trick is getting your hands on one of these...


The key to hashbrowns is removing the moisture and starch in the grated potato. And that's where the ricer is essential. I've tried patting down the potatoes with paper towels, squeezing them in tea towels, giving them the centrifucal force treatment in salad spinners and par boiling and refrigerating overnight before grating. The only thing that really worked for me was the ricer method.

2 large Russet potatoes
1 tbs olive oil
1 pat butter
salt and pepper

Peel the potatoes and grate with a cheese grater into a large bowl. Rinse the grated potatoes until the water runs fairly clear, drain and place a handful at a time of the potato into the ricer and squeeze until all the water is pressed out.

Heat the butter and olive oil into a large skillet on medium high heat. When the oil and butter is done frothing but not burnt put in the potato, spreading it out equally over the bottom of the pan. Salt and pepper. When browned on the bottom, turn. I wouldn't worry too much about forming neat patties of hashbrowns. Just make sure it all gets turned over so it browns fairly equally. They taste just as good in a big pile than a neat restaurant style patty. Personally, I like to break them up and move them around to get a more even browness.

Serves 2

1 comment:

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