In North America, we have McCain hashbrowns that are tiny cubed potatoes you find in the freezer aisle. In Australia, hashbrowns are hashbrowns patties, and we don’t have the cubes. I haven’t been able to find them anywhere.
I was hit with nostalgia this morning, so I made hashbrowns. Just cut up whatever potatoes I had in to 0.5cm cubes and fried them up in the pan. Fried some onions and capsicum on the side and then added together.
Usually I put in a bit of bacon or sausage, but we’re going to a German restaurant for dinner tonight, so I’m saving my fatty meat allocation for later.
Seasoned with Hy’s seasoning salt.
I really wish I had a potato in my apartment right now.
I believe potatoes grow like mad, so throw one that’s growing legs in to a box of soil and you’ll have lots in no time!
As for right now… I’d send you some, but it’d take way longer than going to the shops for a bag!
You forgot to brown them, those are hashwhites.
Omg 😂 in my defence, they aren’t really browned when I find the commercial ones in the freezer aisle. I did try to brown them, but they started to stick to the pan, so the browned bits separated from the cubes. :( I think the McCain ones are flash deep fried so they don’t stick to your pan at home. I’ve only made these a handful of times, so I’m still perfecting it. One day, I will get it right!
The secret to hash browns like that is two step cooking. After cubing, put in a pot of boiling salted water for like 4 minutes. Drain them with a colander and spread out to let some of the excess moisture steam off. After that, fry them as you did and you’ll end up with fluffy on the inside, golden brown on the outside bits of deliciousness. Also make sure your pan and oil are really hot when you start cooking to stop them from sticking to the pan. The oil should just be beginning to smoke when you put the potatoes in.
Thank you for the detailed instructions! I’ll report back the next time I make these. 🫡
You just need some fat in the pan-butter, olive oil, etc. I recommend a little of both as the butter adds more flavor while the oil keeps the butter from burning. Just don’t use extra virgin, it burns easier than plain olive oil.
I did use quite a bit of oil (canola), but I think my fatal mistake was frying onions in the pan first. Should have used a clean pan for the potatoes. :(
Or just add more oil before doing the potatoes. You could also oil the veg before putting it in the pan, then the pan just needs enough oil to coat it. Personally, I would just do the potatoes and onions at the same time, depending on the size of my equipment and how much I need to make.
Yeah, my pan wasn’t big enough for the amount of potatoes I had. I’ll keep your tip in mind for next time when I make just one serving, thank you!
The other common trap you might be hitting is trying to turn them too early.
Once most foods (but potatoes especially) sear properly, they’ll release their hold on the pan and you won’t lose the skins/outer layer quite as easily.
I tried that, actually… It was the burning smell that alerted me that something was wrong 😬 So perhaps it is that I fried onions in the pan just prior, or I haven’t prepped the potatoes properly. I ended up with a lot of forbidden potato in the sink drain, lol (?).
lmao
We call them “home fries” rather than hash browns. I prefer them a little larger and crispier but even these are nice.
Exactly what I was thinking (grew up in Ohio, USA)
I can’t remember where you’re from, sorry. Tbh, I will devour anything potatoes no matter what it’s called 🤤
I’m in the United States but this term can be regional. There are parts of the country where you don’t know what will show up on your plate if you order “hash browns.” There are parts that don’t even know diced potatoes are a thing that exist. It’s all rather unstandardized.
Ohhh right. Hmm, maybe more of a Canadian thing, then. I grew up seeing McCain hashbrowns in cubes, so that’s what it is for me. Thanks for teaching me something today. 😊 Maybe I’ll spend a few weekends making different kinds of hashbrowns in the next while!
Even as a Canadian, I never knew these things were called hash browns. Hash browns have always been those things you can get at McDonald’s (patties, as you called em). I thought these were hashed potatoes.
I love regional differences.
Which part of Canada are you from? Maybe hashbrowns are a West Coast thing…
I’m from Ottawa, but admittedly, I didn’t talk to many of my friends and neighbours about potatoes so I don’t really have a good sample to base my assumption on. It could very well have been just my family, haha.
Oh, same. Tbh, all it says is “hashbrowns” on the bag, so that’s what they were to me, haha.
I’m from California and have always seen those cubes ones on menus as “country potatoes.”
Hmm… Maybe it’s just a Lower Mainland BC thing…
All hash browns matter.
all fried potatoes have a place in my heart (lodged into the arterial walls, secured with cholesterol glue), but I’ll always insist that hashbrowns are shredded potatoes, not cubed. don’t get me wrong, I’d happily house this entire bowl and ask you for seconds, but these are what I usually picture.
did you hand cut the potatoes? they’re very neatly done. I’m useless at consistency when it comes to anything smaller than 1 cm dice.
Oh, I also LOVE hashbrowns in shredded potatoes form, but I don’t get those often since I’ve only seen them in some restaurants. Never in Australia so far in either Sydney or Melbourne.
Thank you! Yup, all hand cut. I can do the first and second direction of slices very uniformly, but when it comes to the cubing step, 0.5cm becomes 0.3-0.8cm 🥴 so I end up getting some cubes overcooked and some undercooked, but still entirely edible.
I hear you. I’m blessed with more choices for potato ingestion than I need or deserve in the supermarket aisle. a benefit of living in middle-America, I suppose. I’ve heard that you can approximate them by squeezing as much moisture as possible out of grated potato using a cheesecloth or tea towel, and then freezing the shreds before frying them off in a pan, but that degree of foresight and prep work doesn’t factor into most of my breakfasts lol.
Oh, definitely. I’ll have to give your hashbrowns a go next time I have a lazy Sunday. I think I’ve tried this year’s ago, but I can’t remember. I think you mix flour in it so it holds better? I’ll have to research this again. Thanks for the idea!
Reminds me a lot of the Swedish dish Pytt i panna.
That look so good… I didn’t eat beetroot until I came to Australia. I had a housemate serve it to me, and it was actually quite pleasant! Haven’t had pickled beetroot yet, though.
Haven’t had pickled beetroot yet, though.
It’s pretty alright. It’s my favourite way of eating beetroots, which I guess isn’t saying much given that I’m not that into them.
Even then, you’ve introduced me to them, and I’d like to try them. I’ll do that when I stop over in those countries next! Thanks for sharing.
All good!
For checking out the true Classics of Swedish cuisine, look for dishes belonging to the Husmanskost-family. Pytt i panna is one, meatballs is another, fried pork with onion sauce is one of my all-time favourites.
Thank you!! I’ve copied this down and put it in my notepad of travel tips. If I’m going to Sweden, I will try all of the foods! Except maybe surströmming. I have a pretty strong gut and smells don’t usually bother me, but I have seen so many videos online, and I feel like they’re over exaggerating for the views… But maybe I am underestimating it. 🥲
Surströmming is an interesting case. Most of the country does not eat it, and it’s not the kind of thing you usually go pick up in a restaurant - eating Surströmming is an occasion, one that warrants a special feast that you arrange at home and invite friends and family to.
Most of the videos online (intentionally) eat it wrong. Don’t open cans indoors, don’t drink the liquid and don’t eat the fish themselves without anything accompanying them.
To eat surströmming properly, you want to first open the fish and clean out the bones, then make them one component in a flatbread sandwich (hard flatbread is traditional) along with butter, potatoes, chopped red onions, sour cream, and chives. They should then be accompanied by large quantities of snaps, hard liquor consumed as shots.
Surströmming is kind of like fish sauce - the production method is similar, they both smell kind of wild, and taste very different from what they smell. I also think they serve similar culinary functions - surströmming is in my opinion best thought of as a condiment adding interesting flavours to the dish they are used in.
The smell is ghastly though. I was not a fan of the Surströmming parties my parents hosted as a kid, and tried my best to stay clear those days.
That’s really interesting, thanks for sharing! If it’s something sort of kind of similar to fish sauce, then it might be too bad for me. I would love to try, but I couldn’t commit to buying one for myself because I’d hate for it to go to waste if I didn’t like it. I’d feel awful. :(
Maybe I’ll save it for when I get invited to an event, haha. My best guess that it adds a strong savoury flavour? I’m thinking the Aussie equivalent is Vegemite where a little goes a long way.
I love that you recreated these frozen hash browns! I have had them too but forgot about them. Now I will do them too! 🥰 Thanks! Had a thought on the boiling then frying comment. I do this thing with potatoes where I put some water in the pan, just a little, cover and steam them for a bit, then uncover and cook it off and add more oil for the frying part. That might do it too, but in one pan. Not sure if you need this step though for such small pieces.
I’m not sure, but I’m going to keep trying… For the love of potatoes. 😂 Leg us know how you go, I’d like to see how yours turns out. It’ll be delicious regardless!
