Hash Browns

Everything worked out perfectly! Thank you for this recipe, I added some fresh rosemary when seasoning at the end and that just lifted everything to the next level. Wonderful!

i have never been able to saute before this, but with the help of this recipe and lesson, i made perfectly sauteed hash browns. i love this site!!

I had a real "ah ha" moment with these potatoes. I've learned so much from Rouxbe, and have had many "ah ha" moments, but this was the best yet. Just humble hash browns. I'm an impatient cook. I've learned to take my time and follow the directions, but I"m not perfect, yet. Getting the pan hot, the oil etc... thank you for the cooking techniques and skills, seems to be working, for me at least, finally!

Thanks to the school, they didn't stick to my pans. WOW!!! I have been trying to cook potatoes for years in my stainless pans. I felt so great cooking in a pan without them sticking for the first time. Knowing how to properly heat a pan with hot oil and pan fry was a secret to me, NO MORE!!! Yippee! They potatoes were simple yet very tasty. I didn't have any clarified butter ready and I was in a hurry to eat, so I just used a little more Grapeseed oil. Wonderful taste. I can see how this simple recipe could be a great platform more complex seasoned potatoes. Thanks Rouxbe for making my morning.

I too am having fun with my stainless pans. Things don't stick most of the time, which is nice. I have been making a mess of my pans, though - especially with potatoes. Oil gets cooked on going up the sides of the pan, and it won't come off without abrasives (which are not recommended by the pot and pan people). The bottom stays pretty nice, but the sides are brown and gross. Do you guys have any suggestions?

Glad to hear that you are having success with the stainless steel pans. As for how to clean them, here is another thread on this same subject. Cheers!

I make the recipe and its just perfect. But took me so much time peeling and cutting the potatoes that I was wonder if I can cut the potatoes in advance and putting in the refrigerator or the fridge and use it in the following days. Thanks

You can certainly cut raw potatoes in advance. Just make sure they are completely covered with cold water. They can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days. When you go to cook them, make sure to drain and dry them well before frying. Cheers! (By your comment, I think you meant to say raw potatoes instead of frozen potatoes in the subject line - let us know if we're misunderstanding.)

yes I mean raw potatoes, Thank you.

This was extremely informative and helped me to understand why sometimes my sauteed cubed potatoes come out great (usually out of a frozen bag) and sometimes not so great (my own oil laden concoctions). Originally I'm from Illinois where actual hash brown potatoes are grated potatoes with a wonderful crust on the outside and nice and soft inside. I have lived in 14 states and traveled to most the rest of U.S and parts of Canada and few places call what I call hash browns, hash browns. Glad I finally made it to the Northwest and we're speaking the same spud language and I'm guaranteed grated fried potatoes when ordering has browns off the local menus! Anyway, I have tried to make fried/sauteed grated hash browns for 30 years with zero success. I would so LOVE for you to help me figure out how to do this. Seems simple enough, but the only hash browns I've gotten to come out relatively well are the ones in the frozen bag. Some say squeeze out all the starch, some say not to squeeze out all the starch. I know Rouxbe knows the answer to this and probably knows the correct term, hopefully in French so I can impress my friends of the precise word for grated fried potatoes. Thanks Rouxbe for your patience and always take your time getting back to me because I know I'm very long winded and you all are very busy.

I've had the same problem. I lived in California for years, and a favorite place for breakfast on the way to Napa, had the best hash browns. Hash browns that were grated. I've tried every way I could think of, to duplicate those darn potatoes, but they never turned out right, or even good in some cases. The cook at the restaurant said they boil the potatoes first, they grate them...didn't work for me! Now, I make the Rouxbe hash brown potatoes all the time now, and sort of forgot the frustration of not being able to get the grated hash brown thing down. Advice?

I have read your comments and will get back to you a.s.a.p. Just let me just do a bit of research and testing first. Cheers!

One question - Linda when you cooked the potatoes ahead of time did you cool them after cooking them? Also did you boil them or bake them?

Parboil?

I boiled them, but I'm not sure of the cool down thing. I expect I would have allowed them to cool enough to handle.

Often when we make grated potatoes we do the following. We bake them in the oven until just cooked through. You don't want them too soft and fluffy at this stage. We bake them rather than boil as this keeps the potatoes the driest. After that we cool them completely (until cold, we usually do this step the day before and then refrigerate them). After that, we then then grate the potatoes and continue on with frying them. The cooling of the potatoes is important as it helps to prevent the potatoes from becoming mushy. Hope this helps Linda. Let me say though that I know there are many other ways to make grated potatoes. Like I said, I will keep this on my list of "things to test and figure out". Cheers!

Roasting makes sense Dawn, I'll try that. Also, making them the day ahead may be what they did at the Highway 29 Cafe. When I'd peek into the kitchen, the potatoes were piled high in those aluminum bowls, waiting to be grated. I made the assumption that they may have been just cool enough to handle. Thanks for the tips. Do you think using a food processer, rather than a box grate makes a difference?

This way of cooking them makes sense to me because the ones in the frozen bag come out better than anything and I assume they are somehow precooking them. Do I have to call them grated fried potatoes, or is there another word for it? Linda, please let us know what you do and how it comes out! When I get the time, I'll start playing around with it too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_browns

Linda there should be no difference between a box grater or a food processor (if you are using the right size attachment and/or side of the grater). I imagine the restaurant used the food processor just based on the volume they were doing. Jude, you can call the potatoes whatever you like :-) The french a different name for every type of potato dish that they make but I am not sure that this would be considered a "French-style" of making potatoes. There is something similar (sort of), it's called pommes darphin...but it is not really the same thing so again it's up to you what you would like to call them. Hopefully you can just call them "delicious!". Here is a link to a recipe for pommes darphin, in case you were going to ask me :-) It is in French but it has lots of pictures. You could also translate the page on google if you wanted. Cheers my little hashbrown-lovin' ladies.

There was an episode of Tyler's Ultimate on foodnetwork last night and he made hashbrowns. He said the key is to use very starchy potatoes (the big ones like Russets), grate them raw (box grater or food processor, doesn't matter) and squeeze out the water. Put the grated potatoes onto a clean towel, pick up the ends and twist the 'ball' until the water stops coming out. It was amazing, he squeezed out almost a cup and half of water out of 4 potatoes.

Oh and he started out with rendering 4 slices of bacon cut up into slivers, plus a shallot. Then add 1 egg white and your favorite herb (parsley, rosemary, or green onion), fold everything into the grated potatoes and then put it in the pan. After searing both sides, he then put it into a 450 degree oven to finish.

All my French speaking friends are debating what to call these. Too confusing. So hence forth I'm deeming them: Grated Hash Browns. (Don't get me started on Home Fries!) Great Info Daniel!

Is there a handy potato-dicing tool for the lazy at heart? I'm trying to switch over to more homemade foods, but I haven't quite the stomach to make hash browns by hand often (and my significant other rather loves them).

Okay Colleen, my advice for you is simple. Improve your cutting skills. Most things in cooking start with the knife. So if you want to save time, become a great cutter. I can promise you that it will take more effort to set up a chopping machine and clean it, then it will to grab a chef's knife and dice up a few potatoes. I personal don't know of any machine that will do a nice dice other than maybe a french fry machine, but you will still have to dice the potato slices. Check out this intro lesson: http://rouxbe.com/cooking-school/lessons/95-handling-a-chef-s-knife Then watch and practice the simple tips to perfect dice in this lesson: http://rouxbe.com/cooking-school/lessons/104-how-to-cut-using-a-chef-s-knife :-)

Haha, I was afraid that would be the response. :) My significant other will probably never learn to dice, but I thought if I showed up with a gadget he might be convinced to use it. Oh well.

one that's way faster :-)

You know Joe, that is the best thing I've learned from Rouxbe. I used to hear people (chefs) talk about how much faster it was just to use a knife, and I'd just think "Oh sure" well, it's true, and I actually learned to do it well...ok, for me, I do it well.

Someone may have answered this already, but I am wondering if the potatoes for this recipe should be baked FIRST and THEN sauteed...the reason is that my mom always used to make "dill potatoes" where she would first bake completely, cool down, then cut into small pieces and sautee in butter with salt and fresh dill. But the secret is that the potatoes MUST first be cooked in order to really brown nicely. In this recipe, are the potatoes raw? If so, how does that work? Do they really cook this way? Does it take longer?

...where is the video for this recipe? I've searched for it a bunch of ways but all I can see is the text. Is there a trick to making the video for this one appear?

The potatoes in this recipe/technique are raw and indeed they do cook. When using cooked potatoes the cooking time is obviously shorter as they are already cooked. In this case, you are merely reheating them and giving them more texture etc. As for "where is the video for this recipe?" there is an entire lesson on this technique in the cooking school called "How to Saute". Cheers!

Thank you! Is there a video for the actual recipe of making hash browns?

Here at Rouxbe we are not so much about recipes. We are more about teaching you skills and techniques that will free you from recipes. If you watch the video and then practice sauteing you should be able to make these hash browns without a recipe. Much of the sauteing of these hash browns is also covered in the lesson. Good luck and let us know how it goes for you. Cheers!

Oh! Ok, sorry. I thought I remembered watching specific videos for recipes before, like the gnocchi video, the chicken saltimbocca, etc. Without those recipe-videos I would never have been able to make those items--they are great!

Indeed, many recipes do have videos with them, like the ones you mentioned; however there are many recipes that do not need a video once the technique has been learned. I would suggest that you start going through the cooking school part of Rouxbe and you will see that once you learn the skills and techniques behind cooking that the recipes become less important. At least in a "must always need and/or do what the recipe says" kind of way. Once you know how to really cook recipes, are used more for inspiration and ideas. Hope this makes sense. Cheers!

Thanks for this simple yet delicious practice recipe. I did this this morning and I added the same size chunks of green pepper. I put it in about 5 minutes into cooking so they wouldn't get done too soon before the potatoes. And best of all I ACTUALLY pan tossed and saw it mix! woo hooo. Up until I started taking these classes thanks to cooking club of America, I would never have even considered trying to make hash browns. Thank you for all of your great ideas. I'm having so much fun in my kitchen now. By the way, this says to season right at the end of the cooking. What is the reason for that?

Taken from Topic 5 of the "How to Saute" lesson. "Starchier foods are often seasoned at the end of the cooking process to prevent the nice, golden crust from softening." Cheers!

Made these this morning simply following the guidelines of the lesson and the text recipe using raw russet potatoes that were beginning to sprout. Yummm! My wife was impressed -- which is a very important component of my cooking!! As for shredded hash browns that Jude was asking about, I hope you don't mind me sharing my experiences with hash browns. There are probably more, but I have seen and tasted five different styles. 1. My mother used to make the worst fried potatoes ever and then chop them up and refry them to make the worst hash browns ever. (Sorry mom!) 2. leftover cooked potatoes (baked, or boiled), mushed with a fork and seasonings and fried. (Second worst hash browns ever -- sorry mom!) 3. shredded hash browns. 4. hash brown patties (a' la McDonalds) 5. Diced hash browns. (a' la Rouxbe) I like the shredded hash browns the best of all. I have done them very successfully with both raw and precooked or left over potatoes as long as the cooked potatoes aren't mushy and are stone cold from the refrigerator. I will detail what I do for raw potatoes: Step 1: Wash or peel the potatoes Step 2: Shred and soak shredded potatoes in a large pot of water. Step 3: Rinse several times until water runs clear Step 4: Put shredded potatoes into a large strainer, rinse again, and allow to drain completely. Step 5: While still in the strainer, dry potatoes with a large fan on high speed blowing through the strainer. The drier the potato the better. This should only take a few minutes. The potatoes may begin to turn color a little, but this won't matter as they will soon be crispy and golden. I don't like to squeeze the shredded potato to extract water as I like the shreds to remain completely separate. I want them light and dry. Step 6: Prepare your stainless steel saute pan following the instructions in this lesson, and add equal amounts of grapeseed oil and butter to the hot pan Step 7: Add shredded potatoes, toss to coat and then spread to cover the bottom of the pan to a thickness of about 3/8ths of an inch. Follow the same procedures, pan temperatures, etc as described in this lesson from Rouxbe Step 8: Resist the temptation to stir or saute the hash browns until they have had time to crisp to a golden brown. If the temperature of the pan and the oil/butter is just right, you should be able to flip the entire potato 'pancake' onto its top side in one motion. If the idea terrifies you, then cut into quarters, and flip each quarter with a spatula. Step 9: Season with salt and pepper. Enjoy My mother would be proud! Note: Even if the patty doesn't stay together, you will still end up with deliciously crispy hash browns simply by tossing occasionally and allowing time for the hash browns to come to a golden brown between tosses.

The shredded vs. diced is a matter of debate as has been discussed earlier. Neither need to be par cooked, its a matter of texture preference. If you choose to cook or prefer to eat shredded hash browns I would recommend baking them instead of frying. In a typical dry heat home oven you can get a crusty texture on the surface while maintaining a creamy texture on the remainder of the potatoes, just bake them in a hotel pan or casserole dish at 350 for 15-20 minutes. This works especially well if you prefer your hash browns with cheese and/or cream because you're basically doing a quick au gratin.

The recipe calls for 1/2 " X 1/2 " X 1/2" pieces, but I found it hard to get all of them to be the same size unless was willing to discard some of the potatoe as they were all different sizes etc..., in ordrer to make it a uniform shape before starting to cut. Am I wrong to think I need to waste some of the potatoe in order to get the uniform size the recipe wants, so all the pieces have the same cooking time? I have watched the knife skills video, just was trying to waste less if there was something I could be doing differently thanks

You are correct, when cutting ingredients into even sized pieces there is often some waste. However, it is not actual waste. The leftover or uneven pieces can be used in other things, such as soups or stocks (depends what it is really). Things are cut evenly so they cook evenly and also so they look visually appealing. The more you practice the more comfortable you will become. Also, the more you practice the less you will waste. You will also learn where and when you can use the leftover pieces the more you cook and experiment. Hope this helps. Cheers!

Thanks Dawn I tried the recipe and it turned out okay but took about 25 minutes to get completely done. most likely due to my uneven size pieces :) Question: I did not have clarified butter or Grapesee Oil so I just used 2 Tbsp of Vegetable oil as I thought 4 would make the dish too greasy. I wanted to see what flavour the butter would have added, and I was wondering if I could have used 2 Tbsp of normal butter with the 2 Tbsp of Vegetable Oil to get the smoking point of the Butter up to prevent any burning of the Butter. Would that have worked do you think? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks Mark

Yes using a bit of butter and oil would have worked to bring up the smoke point. Feel free to experiment Mark, after all, they are just potatoes and in the end this is how we all learn. Good luck and keep on practicing. Cheers!

there are many types of potatoes whats the best ones to use for hash browns ? I just use what i have at the time or the oldest ones ?

The ideal potatoes for hash browns are potatoes that are floury. Meaning, potatoes that are high in starch with a low water content. These types of potatoes become fluffy when cooked, which makes them the best choice for frying, roasting, baking, mashing and for things like French fries. Since there are over 4,000 varieties of potatoes, it's hard to say exactly which potato variety you should use. "Russets" (also called "russet Burbank"), are quite readily available and very common potatoes that would certainly fall into the "floury" or "mealy" category. Hope this helps. Cheers!

A few people were interested in grated hash browns. Here is a video link of a chef making them. Personally I am non ecumenical with my hashbrowns and will eat them either way :)

Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYhiIrlXY7I&feature=g-all&context=G2a473e0FAAAAAAAAGAA

Hi, I live in Thailand and the potato's tend to be high in sugar and tend to burn rather easily and go soft, imported ones are quite expensive. Do you have any tips that i can try so i can crisp up these potato's without them burning or going soft?

This can be challenging. You will need to experiment with this particular ingredient. Maybe try using a bit more fat and keep an eye on the heat, etc. Potatoes that are sweeter/have a higher sugar content are often just harder to pan fry (like sweet potatoes for instance). It can be done, but you just need to keep an eye on them. You also cannot expect the exact same results because you are using a different product. You may need to use other cooking methods that better suit this type of potato. Cheers!

Is the clarified butter used just to prevent burning vs regular butter? Are there any alternatives that would be flavourful besides clarified butter? Thanks!

Although this is Ms.Dawn's recipe; I'll go out on a limb and say the clarified butter is used for both. Flavor and smoke point. The flavor is a given and clarified butter has no milk solids therefore has a higher smoke point and can be used for frying and higher heat cooking. Split/mixed 50/50 with grapeseed oil, it creates an even higher smoke preventing burning but allowing for a crispy finish. As for an alternative: grapeseed oil, which is considered a neutral oil, slight nutty flavor, is clean (whereas other oils will have a bitter edge to them) and will retain the original flavor of the food. It can be split/mixed with your favorite olive oil, avocado oil or any infused flavored oil. Your options are endless! Hope this helps.

Yes the clarified butter is used as it has a higher smoke point than regular butter. Alternatively, you could use another oil like grapeseed or even coconut oil. Cheers!

Way back in July 2010, Jude had inquired about the name for grated hash browns. I used to manage a popular Swiss restaurant in Honolulu called The Swiss Haus, that served Rösti potatoes with its entrees. The Swiss call grated potatoes that are formed into flat cakes and fried "Rösti" or "Röschti" in Swiss German. Some Swiss people consider this a national dish of Switzerland. In America, it is often spelled "roesti", without the umlaut. Hope this was helpful.

Honestly, couldn't fault them. Really, really good

I cut the potatoes a little smaller than your recipe, would that cause them to stick?

Nope. The size of the dice will have little to do with the hash browns sticking, The biggest issues for a Stainless Steel pan are: 1. Temperature - make sure the pan is up to temperature before adding oil or the potatoes. (Water test is good idea here) 2. Moisture - the potato pieces must be dry. The smaller the dice, the tougher this is to achieve, especially since the potatoes will oxidize quicker. 3. Tossing too early - add potatoes in a single layer and allow one side to crisp for a few minutes before tossing. Not sure why the recipe specifies the use of a stainless steel pan, as non-stick pans seem to work well and as long as they are in good shape eliminate any sticking issues.

Thanks for jumping in there Leigh. I just wanted to mention why this particular recipe called for the use of a stainless steel pan. The first reason is because stainless steel will generally produce better color, crust and overall crispiness. And secondly we used stainless steel because this recipe was part of a lesson on "How to Pan Fry" and again, generally we call for stainless steel when pan frying over higher heat. Also, some folks do not like to use non-stick due to the materials that some of them are made of. Hope that helps. Cheers!

Cut the taters a uniform size and dried them before frying. Success! Even jazzed them up with some bacon, fresh thyme and cheddar cheese. Heavenly!

My family loves this recipe! I love that it is so basic. I made them the first time and they were gone asap. I made a new batch the next day and we are eating on those now. I use cast iron skillets for everything but I may have a stainless steel one for next time. Thank you for the amazing recipes on this site!!

Yeah, so glad that you and your family are enjoying the hash browns. That's the thing with cooking, sometimes it just knowing how to cook things that really makes all the difference. I know that hash browns (and potatoes in general really) are some of my favourite food(s). Cheers, Dawn

Hey, Colleen S, there is such a tool, or I should say tools because they make one for just about any and all veggies that need to be diced. However, I never used one. I think they're probably hard to clean well without cutting yourself.

Delicious recipe! Thanks for sharing!

Didn't work for me. Maybe if the recipe was more informative, like a russet potato at my location can vary from 1/2 to over a pound each. I cut up 3 and could only fit two in my 12 inch pan. It would also help if you give some reference to the times involved in each step. Maybe I overcrowded the pan, and cooled it down too much that allowed the potatoes to stick. After that it was a chain reaction.

Hi Bill. Sorry to hear that it did not work out. Your instincts are totally correct. This recipe is more of a guideline for the technique. The way I encourage students to cook is to choose the amount of food you want to cook and pick the right pan to fit that quantity- then trust the technique. That way we are less bound by recipes and more guided by technique. Thank you for your note on specifics though, it is gratefully noted. They key here is definitely getting the pan to the right temperature and enough floor space to achieve caramelization. Lauren

If someone cannot have oil is there a substitute for the oil

Hello Latoya—My suggestion would be to either air-fry them (no oil needed) or use a stove top and a non-stick (ceramic) sauté pan. You could also roast them in the oven (on parchment) at 400°F. Prior to roasting, I dip the diced potatoes with a low-sodium stock, then, air-fry. Hope this helps—and enjoy! Char

would there be any difference if you used sweet potatoes for a recipe like this? I've made these for my mom and she really likes them with russet potatoes. I'm going to try roasting without oil and see how it turns out.

Hi Laura, sweet potatoes can work well! Pay attention to them as they cook because the higher sugar content can brown and burn relatively quickly. Enjoy! Eric