For a dish with only two ingredients, Classic Hash Browns is really hard to make. I took this as a challenge.
I’ve yet to meet a fellow human who likes potatoes but doesn’t LOVE hash browns. As one whose great-great grandparents crossed the Atlantic to escape a potato famine, I am perhaps genetically predisposed to love the lowly spud in every form imaginable... especially hash browns. And yet, for someone who greatly enjoys cooking I have met with considerable frustration trying to make hash browns at home. I recently decided that this ends NOW, and I began searching for a solution worthy of sharing at Danny’s Table.
The Classic Hash Browns recipe is made by frying shredded potatoes in butter… simple, right? But the potatoes must be a specific type– Russets, a.k.a. Baking Potatoes. They must be properly shredded, rinsed, and then squeezed mightily in a towel that you won’t mind ripping with the force required to extract all possible moisture. Then you need to use them before they turn an ugly shade of gray. And the butter? It has to be CLARIFIED butter.
So, to make Classic Hash Browns, just get ¼” or so of clarified butter nice and hot, then drop in a handful of the shredded Russets you’ve squeezed dry. (Oh– you make these hash browns one at a time or else further invite failure.) Quickly marshal the mass into a somewhat circular and uniformly thick shape, and then let it cook. When the first side is properly browned, carefully flip it… and herein lies this recipe’s major rub– if you flip it too soon, you’ll have instant potato confetti, revealing, perhaps, why “hash browns” is plural. And if you wait too long… well, no one likes burned potatoes. So how do you know? You don’t, so you have to guess. And if you’ve guessed correctly, you still have barely more than a 50% chance of successfully flipping it because they are that fragile. But if the stars align– if your potatoes behave and your iron pan is in a good mood… if you manage to flip it and cook both sides just right… then maybe (but hardly always) you are rewarded with this–
A rare example of perfect Classic Hash Browns– made from nothing but potatoes and clarified butter, and every bit as delicate and beautiful as an almond lace cookie. The first time you nail one like this, you won’t know whether to eat it or have it bronzed.
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