My wife and I must go out for breakfast every other week when our housekeeper comes in the morning. And because of that I’ve discovered how much I like having some kind of potato with my ham and eggs. And Chef Jerry Pellegrino agrees, there are a few classics we can talk about, and a few new ideas.
Of course, the two most popular are hash browns and home fries, which are ideal for a classic breakfast. Of the two, the home fries are the easiest to prepare, and maybe that’s why you’ll see them more often. But well-made hash browns are hard to beat.
Let’s start with the kind of potato we want to use. The good old Russet potato is perfect, since it has a lot of starch that fries up nice and crisp. For hash browns, you’re going to peel it, and then grate it fairly coarsely. Now this is where you make or break your hash browns: you need to squeeze the water out of the grated potato before you try to fry it. If you don’t it just won’t really fry. It’ll just kind of steam in the skillet. And getting that nice crisp finish is the whole point. The thing to do is to scrape the grated potato onto a kitchen towel, squeeze the heck out of it, then scrape the potato back into a bowl.
Depending on the recipe, you don’t need anything else. We have seen a recipe or two that calls for an egg, but we’re not sure that’s necessary. Just salt and pepper, and perhaps some finely chopped up onions, or onion powder for a bit of a diverse taste.
As for the frying pan, it’s a good time to dig out Mom’s old cast-iron skillet. Heat it up pretty good and pour a fair amount of olive oil or butter into it. Let the fat get nice and hot, then add in the grated potatoes. I’d spread them out to cover the entire bottom of the skillet, and just let it fry away.
And patience is a very good idea here. Do not flip the potatoes over the moment they start to brown up. You must let them get really brown and crispy. Iit’s OK to peek underneath to see how they’re doing. But don’t flip too soon. And when you do flip, don’t necessarily expect to flip the entire disk of fried potatoes at one. It’s fine to do it one portion at a time, because they’re going to be broken up on the plate when you serve them.
Moving onto Home Fries, it’s a very simple matter. Just peel a potato, cut it up into whatever size chunk you want, add any ingredients that strike your fancy; let’s say onions and peppers. Some people like to parboil their potatoes before frying them. That’s OK, just pat them dry before tossing them in the skillet. And one thing we’ll say is, don’t overcrowd the skillet. Work in batches if you need to, but piling too many on at once results in a lot of them just getting steamed.
During this holiday season it’s a sure bet that you will have left-over mashed potatoes. To take advantage of them, you can blend them with an egg or two, make patty out of the mixture, and fry ‘em up. And this would be a good chance to use some herbs to brighten the flavor.
