Griddle/Pan Fried: Help! a potatoe is making a fool out of me!

Subject: Help! a potatoe is making a fool out of me!
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
From: Rick Hake (rd1 at my-dejanews.com)
Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 07:38:06 GMT
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Can some one out there tell me what the secret is to making hash browns like you get in the resturant. I wind up getting shredded, gooey, dark blue patty's that don't even come close to hash browns. Thanks for the help.
From: dhmec at albatross.co.nz (Miche)
Date: 6 Sep 1998 09:44:24 GMT
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After you've grated the spuds, rinse them well by putting them in a sieve and running water through them, then dry them as well as you can. This gets the excess starch out and stops them going blue/black and soggy.
From: Jeff (jtbarker at my-dejanews.com)
Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 16:43:59 GMT
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If you shred the potatoes into a large bowl of cold water, the excess starch will wash off. That's what is making it so gooey.
From: B. Burlingame (bburling at u.washington.edu)
Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1998 14:35:37 -0700
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Try using leftover (already cooked) potatoes. I use baked, boiled, or microwaved (quickest). I think most restaurants do it this way to use up their potatoes from dinner the night before.
From: TJ (tsingh at gte.net)
Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 14:18:15 -0700
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The breakfast joint I ran my feet off in the summer I was 17 boiled the pot of potatoes until half done, and let them sit in the water all night, cooling. In the a.m (and I mean a.m.) they were peeled, grated, rinsed, and then refidgerated on plates. The real secret is a flaming hot griddle with plenty of space and alot of oil. But you knew that. I used it nuke mine, but now prefer 'homefries', which I also use nuked taters for.
From: Ivan Weiss (ivan at blaze.accessone.com)
Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1998 23:16:32 -0700
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I make hash browns a *lot!* I use a cast iron frying pan and olive oil. I quarter *raw* potatoes lengthwise and grate them in the Cuisinart, using the round insert thingie so the shreds won't be too long. For every potato I throw in 2 cloves of garlic.

When the oil is hot I throw in the potatoes. In fact, I grate the potatoes while the oil is heating up. I mold them into a "pancake" that fits the contours of the pan. I keep poking at it till the bottom gets crispy and I can get my spatula under the potatoes and can flip them in one piece.

I get perfect hash browns every time. Use plenty of oil. Get your pan hot before you add the oil, and get the oil hot before you add the potatoes.

A little hot sauce and a couple fried eggs on top, and some steeped black coffee with a dash of chicory and you're ready to kick some major butt.
From: shaitan at macwhiz.com (Heather Allen)
Date: 07 Sep 1998 04:21:41 PDT
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*snipped all the hash brown stuffs*

I used half baked potatoes... shred them with the KA grater attachment. I agree with the poster who said to heat the pan, then heat the oil in the pan.

If I know I'm going to be lazy and want hash browns on a weekend or something, sometimes I will used fully baked potatoes and grate them, put them into saver bags and flatten into single serving sized patties and then vaccuum them up and toss in the freezer. Cook the same way.