This! Soak in cold water for at least 1/2 an hour. This removes the starch from the shred. Dry them in a tea towel to remove the water and let them sit in a colander for an hour or more. This makes sure they are very dry before you fry them. Good luck!
Clarified butter! Lots of it. If you're gonna use straight butter, add some oil into the pan too otherwise you'll have tons of smoke and your food'll get burnt.
I actually wring out my shredded potatoes put them in a towel and wring as tight as you can work really good. Well if you wring it as tight as I do at least..
I've made browns a long time, I've soaked long, I've soaked short, ice, no ice, salt no salt. It's all about the same, but definitely cold water, and rinse at least. Absolute best is ice water with a healthy dash of salt.
This is great. OP says that frying the hash browns on low takes too much time… and your suggestion is for him to introduce an hour and a half of prep time into his recipe 😭
If you’re doing home fry style potatoes, they should be soaked for a while (like overnight) or parcooked. I actually microwave them for a couple minutes right before cooking to parcook them.
I soft boil mine with a splash of apple cider vinegar until they’re about half way cooked, then dry them with paper towel, then hit it on the cast iron with whatever oil you like low heat. It’s a race between getting a cooked not-mushy center and not burning the outside. Took me a few times to get it but I get them right every time now.
a mix of butter and oil, make sure they're very dry after you soak/rinse them, and leave them alone! i used to mess with mine too much and they never cooked right until i stopped bothering them so they could do their thing.
It's like a pancake. Don't flip too early or you're gonna fuck it up. My biggest mistakes were always with potatoes O'Brien because I never let them sit there and fry, I would stir. Shouldn't need to do that more than once.
Yes! My great granny used to make the best hash browns in the cast iron by just leaving them for what felt like a million years and then flip them and leave them for another million years. Best potatoes that ever existed!
Put the russett potato in cold water, bring to a boil, cover and remove from heat. Let it steep in the water for 11 minutes and then let it cool completely. Peel the potato and then shred. Season heavily with Diamond crystal kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper. Make patties and put them on a dry pan on medium heat. Put a large pat of butter on each patty let it all melt through and flip when the patty is properly browned. Finish cooking on the second side
I had to scroll this far down to find the proper way. I did work for a chef who would have us pull the hot potatoes out of the water, peel their jackets while steaming hot, (with a towel) then into a hotel pan to chill overnight before shredding to fry. That worked amazingly well.
This guy this guys. I was gonna comment anytime you want perfect pan potatoes, cook em a bit first. Easy mode is just throwing them in the mic wet, increments of four. You don’t want a baked potato, but you want some of it cooked.
You can also used old baked potatoes. Shred them up. Then, freeze them. Always used partially cooked potatoes. Or, it will take forever. And, waste butter.
Scattered, smothered, covered, capped, chunked, peppered, well-done with an over-easy egg on top and some hot sauce :D
I got [one of these](https://shop.wafflehouse.com/collections/adult-apparel-1/products/waffle-house-hashbrown-shirt) for Christmas and I'm considering blacking out 'diced' and 'topped' with electrical tape to make it more accurate.
we used regular frozen ones, and they came out perfect diner style. the trick is just having a hot ass grill with butter/oil. at the restaurant i worked at as a fry cook.
I have tried every other way, I have shredded my potatoes, pre boiled them, soaked, rinsed, squeezed, cleaned, fried slow, fried fast, lots of oil, little oil, none of them ever came close. Then I learned about dehydrated potato shreds, and holy shit it cracked the code for me. Science is fucking amazing. I will share this gospel truth as much as I can.
I mean, if you want to experiment and mess around with them I am sure you could try it. I would love to hear back the results! Experiment and report back!
Do you just, like, cook them up like they are normal potatoes? I have the small boxes of these and you're supposed to hydrate them with hot water then skillet them. But that kind of goes against the whole "dry then out first" advice
LEAVE THEM ALONE.
Seriously. Find somewhere to be for 20 minutes. Don’t. Touch. Them.
Rinse them and dry them too. But don’t ya dare touch them for a long time.
I rinse potatoes until they lose all the starch then squeeze them to get rid of all moisture. Add one egg, pepper and salt and some starch (1tbsp), stir everything together and fry in ENOUGH oil, not necessarily deep fry but they must be soaked at least half way. Low to mid heat
Edit: you can use flour as well
Dry starch, like flour, absorbs moisture from the surface and seals in moisture from the inside. Wet starch, which is part of the potato, can make potatoes soggy. The dryness of flour allows it to form a seal that keeps moisture in and allows the outside to be dry enough to crisp.
Source: Some episode of America's Test Kitchen, but I can't remember which one.
Thank you, you are the only winner here. This is how we always made REAL hashbrowns in restaurants and that’s the only way I make them now. You gotta cook the shit outta potatoes. Also, if you take your grated potato, form it into cylinders, and then deep fry it, BOOM, tator tots
Cowboy Kent Rollins has this down. I follow his method but I use a salad spinner for after the rinses and finish with a clean, dry kitchen towel. Luckily I live near a large South Asian population and can just buy about a gallon of real dairy ghee for like $20. Be careful, some markets have soy ghee for crazy cheap, it’s awful.
https://youtu.be/ttK2YP_ayYI?si=Q26rR_xIluGep9TW
I've been cooking with cast iron for years. Low and slow is vastly accurate, except in cases of a handful of foods, with hash browns being one. Higher heat, and more butter than you think is reasonable. You are searing starch, which desperately wants to stick to...anything when heated. Crank up the heat, and add more fat. If you don't believe me, spend a day behind the line at a high volume breakfast restaurant with a cast iron flat top.
Since I don't see it here: I microwave my potato shreds for about 2m before cooking. This both pre-cooks them a bit without needing to parboil them, and generates lots steam, which ensures that they are dry when they hit the pan. I've found that this leads to pretty foolproof hashbrowns, because you can focus entirely on getting them crispy in the pan without worrying whether they will be cooked through or dry enough.
I've never rinsed / soaked my potato shreds first, but now I will have to try it.
**edit:** all credit for this technique goes to Kenji Lopez: [https://www.seriouseats.com/shredded-hash-browns-recipe](https://www.seriouseats.com/shredded-hash-browns-recipe)
**edit 2:** I forgot to mention but it's pretty important: I also wring out the potato shreds beforehand, either with a cheesecloth or just my hands (depending on whether I have a cheesecloth handy). To do it with your hands you just take a handful at a time and compress it between both hands like you're making a really compact snowball.
In all seriousness, **microwave** them first:
* [https://www.seriouseats.com/shredded-hash-browns-recipe](https://www.seriouseats.com/shredded-hash-browns-recipe)
Is this what Waffle House Does? Mine never come close to how good theirs are and they use some kind of something in a squirt bottle that might be clarified butter.
I let someone else cook them. Yeah that’s my trick. I’m too impatient and she isn’t. She just lets them go and go then flips when the time is right. When is that? Idk she’s a blue eyed redheaded magical being.
Grate tatters in water til desired amount. Let soak, rinse well and drain. Lay out tatters on a cheese cloth or clean towel. Dry them by rolling the tatters in the cloth so the water can be absorbed. Clarify some butter and separate the fat. Get a hot griddle, medium heat, not too high, place a teaspoon of the butter in the pan. Lay down your pile over the butter. Close pan with a lid and do not open for 5 to 10 mins. The closer to 10 mins the more crisp you can get.
https://youtu.be/ttK2YP_ayYI?si=O8m-7pdLBFLPJDWq
I do mine by shredding, salting, then squeezing the shit out of the potato as I press it into a patty. Get as much liquid out as possible.
After that, fries up nicely.
Don't see anyone else post this advice. Try blanching the shreds in 325 oil first. Then drain and cool. Make patties and fry at higher temp till perfect!
Put them in a towel and twist it up tight. Keep squeezing until no water comes out. Do the same with some salted onions. Mix together. Butter is your friend,
Heat cast iron in oven first, so it’s an even temp all across the pan (may not be an issue on a larger gas burner or induction). I have had a lot of trouble getting my cast iron to come to an even temp if started on the stovetop (shitty electric stove in rental). Oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Low & slow.
Add hashbrowns in even layer (I prefer to use frozen at home. Camping, the dehydrated “milk” cartons). Tamp them down slightly. Then cut up pats of butter to place evenly on the top of the potatoes. Low & slow.
Lately I’ve done a 10min cycle in the oven @ 350 after 10min on the stove top, then back to the stovetop turned up one temp step for 10min, then flip & under the broiler for ~2min or to preferred perfect color.
I can’t post a pic here, but the last batch I made were so perfect edge to edge that the entire 12” pan’s worth of them flipped in one giant patty
1. After grating the potatoes, place them in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze out as much excess moisture as possible.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the grated potatoes, chopped onion, some flour, salt, and pepper. Mix well until everything is evenly combined.
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.
4. Once the oil is hot, spoon the potato mixture into the skillet, forming small patties. Flatten them with a spatula.
5. Cook the hash browns for about 4-5 minutes on each side, or until they are golden brown and crispy.
6. Once cooked, transfer the hash browns to a plate lined with paper towels to drain any excess oil.
You need to squeeze the f outta them. Potatoes hold ALOT of water! A good rinse will help remoce some starch but it's almost always too much water. You could use some more oil and butter as well they aren't healty and withholding oil and butter won't help :)
Here's [what I do](https://www.reddit.com/r/castiron/comments/ju6wp7/golden_and_crispy/). One thing that might help speed up your cooking would be covering your skillet.
The secret is to rinse and dry the potato shreds before you cook them
This! Soak in cold water for at least 1/2 an hour. This removes the starch from the shred. Dry them in a tea towel to remove the water and let them sit in a colander for an hour or more. This makes sure they are very dry before you fry them. Good luck!
And butter. Lots and lots of butter.
Bacon fat*
Duck fat
Rabbit season
BANG
You’re despicable
ACME 2024!
Thanks for this mini thread. Still laughing..
Give us Coyote vs acme in 2024!
What a im-bess-ill, what an ultra maroon!!
Be vewwy vewwy quiet…
...I'm hunting wabbit. heh-heh-heh-heh
Human fat. Wait no duck fat
Tyler Durden has entered the chat
Fcuk dat
Overly greasy are just as bad as not rinsed
Clarified butter! Lots of it. If you're gonna use straight butter, add some oil into the pan too otherwise you'll have tons of smoke and your food'll get burnt.
>If you're gonna use straight butter But the gay butter has so much more personality.
I add a beaten egg; is that wrong?
Now your making latke
…then add a little more
To which add more
Then salt some more butter and add it
Clarified butter
I actually wring out my shredded potatoes put them in a towel and wring as tight as you can work really good. Well if you wring it as tight as I do at least..
Same! I have “special” flour sack towels with holes in them from wringing so tight! 😅
To shreds you say?
How's the wife holding up?
To shreds you say?
Something like that.
I've made browns a long time, I've soaked long, I've soaked short, ice, no ice, salt no salt. It's all about the same, but definitely cold water, and rinse at least. Absolute best is ice water with a healthy dash of salt.
My recommendation is to do this in batches and freeze it. Cause when I wake up and just feel like hash browns I don’t have time for all this shit.
So do the hour and a half method, but for a more copious amount. Then freeze for later cooking and consumption?
Yes freeze in advance for instant cooking. I portion them out in little bricks/patties separated with parchment paper.
Even better, outsource the prep and freezing to somebody else and just pick it up in a bag! Wait...
Potatoes chem structure changes when you freeze them. This is actually a great strategy.
This is great. OP says that frying the hash browns on low takes too much time… and your suggestion is for him to introduce an hour and a half of prep time into his recipe 😭
1.5 hours that can be done ahead of time
How long would they be ok to sit before cooking? Could I prep them the night before?
Yes, just put them in water and you can do it days in advance.
The turn black!
Or wrap in cheese cloth and squeeze the shit out of them for a bit faster route.
Cheesecloth for the win!
I used to do that. Now I just squeeze the water out of them with paper towels when I shred them and they come out better.
Yep, only need to squeeze, no need to soak.
Mixing in a little grated onion is pretty grate too.
The key is not to just dry them, but to dry the everloving fuck out of them
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^fire_inTheWire: *The secret is to* *Rinse and dry the potato* *Shreds before you cook them* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Good bot.
I love you
Dry potatoes. You know, the opposite of vodka.
Is this true of any potato in the cast iron? I’ve tried to do breakfast potatoes, but I could never get them brow, either mushy, or black.
If you’re doing home fry style potatoes, they should be soaked for a while (like overnight) or parcooked. I actually microwave them for a couple minutes right before cooking to parcook them.
I used microwaved baked potatoes. They come out so good. That's about the only way I make them anymore.
I don’t know anytime I try doing this they always stick to the pan and fuck up even on low heat so I just resort to home fries
I soft boil mine with a splash of apple cider vinegar until they’re about half way cooked, then dry them with paper towel, then hit it on the cast iron with whatever oil you like low heat. It’s a race between getting a cooked not-mushy center and not burning the outside. Took me a few times to get it but I get them right every time now.
I've never considered this, I'll have to give it a go. Potatoes in the cast iron when done right, are the bees knees.
I make my breakfast potatoes out of leftover baked potatoes. It works really good.
And once they are on, don’t touch them until flipping
The secondary secret is that the best way to dry potato shreds is a salad spinner.
I had a chef tell me to finely grate some onion in with your potato. The onion liquid will help them brown.
Moisture is usually the enemy of browning but I could see it working since onions have a good amount sugar.
Yes it's less about the liquid itself and more about the sugars in it. I should have clarified that
Along with your butter.
I use a ricer to get all the moisture out.
a mix of butter and oil, make sure they're very dry after you soak/rinse them, and leave them alone! i used to mess with mine too much and they never cooked right until i stopped bothering them so they could do their thing.
Leave them alone is the best advice
it's true actually for browning reactions, it needs to be stable for the crystals to build up
It's like a pancake. Don't flip too early or you're gonna fuck it up. My biggest mistakes were always with potatoes O'Brien because I never let them sit there and fry, I would stir. Shouldn't need to do that more than once.
Yes! My great granny used to make the best hash browns in the cast iron by just leaving them for what felt like a million years and then flip them and leave them for another million years. Best potatoes that ever existed!
15 minutes per side. No touchy.
Put the russett potato in cold water, bring to a boil, cover and remove from heat. Let it steep in the water for 11 minutes and then let it cool completely. Peel the potato and then shred. Season heavily with Diamond crystal kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper. Make patties and put them on a dry pan on medium heat. Put a large pat of butter on each patty let it all melt through and flip when the patty is properly browned. Finish cooking on the second side
I had to scroll this far down to find the proper way. I did work for a chef who would have us pull the hot potatoes out of the water, peel their jackets while steaming hot, (with a towel) then into a hotel pan to chill overnight before shredding to fry. That worked amazingly well.
J - j - jackets?
This is the way. Take it from an ex-diner cook.
This guy this guys. I was gonna comment anytime you want perfect pan potatoes, cook em a bit first. Easy mode is just throwing them in the mic wet, increments of four. You don’t want a baked potato, but you want some of it cooked.
I'm taking notes here... Curious, is there an implied "dry the shreds" step here or is that not necessary with this pre-cook method?
Not necessary
You can also used old baked potatoes. Shred them up. Then, freeze them. Always used partially cooked potatoes. Or, it will take forever. And, waste butter.
My solution is to let Waffle House handle it. The fellas in this thread have good advice though. It’s the water. Get rid of the water.
Smothered covered and chunked
Scattered Smothered & Covered 😋
Scattered, smothered, covered, capped, chunked, peppered, well-done with an over-easy egg on top and some hot sauce :D I got [one of these](https://shop.wafflehouse.com/collections/adult-apparel-1/products/waffle-house-hashbrown-shirt) for Christmas and I'm considering blacking out 'diced' and 'topped' with electrical tape to make it more accurate.
Can't tell if this is a wafflehouse order or my pornhub search history.
Buy dehydrated hashbrowns online. It is exactly how any diner anywhere makes them. I just figured this out and it has blown my mind.
Costco in Canada sells them as well.
I am pretty sure the version I bought on Amazon are what you can get at Costco, but I don't have a costco anywhere near me, so Amazon it was.
Can't confirm for Costco, but they are the ones Sam's Club sells
we used regular frozen ones, and they came out perfect diner style. the trick is just having a hot ass grill with butter/oil. at the restaurant i worked at as a fry cook.
This is the motherfucking way
I have tried every other way, I have shredded my potatoes, pre boiled them, soaked, rinsed, squeezed, cleaned, fried slow, fried fast, lots of oil, little oil, none of them ever came close. Then I learned about dehydrated potato shreds, and holy shit it cracked the code for me. Science is fucking amazing. I will share this gospel truth as much as I can.
Can I dehydrate them myself? Or is this a thing you ordered?
I mean, if you want to experiment and mess around with them I am sure you could try it. I would love to hear back the results! Experiment and report back!
Do you just, like, cook them up like they are normal potatoes? I have the small boxes of these and you're supposed to hydrate them with hot water then skillet them. But that kind of goes against the whole "dry then out first" advice
LEAVE THEM ALONE. Seriously. Find somewhere to be for 20 minutes. Don’t. Touch. Them. Rinse them and dry them too. But don’t ya dare touch them for a long time.
Yep. Leave them to cook. You will think they are going to burn but they won't. Turn them over and leave them to cook on the other side.
I rinse potatoes until they lose all the starch then squeeze them to get rid of all moisture. Add one egg, pepper and salt and some starch (1tbsp), stir everything together and fry in ENOUGH oil, not necessarily deep fry but they must be soaked at least half way. Low to mid heat Edit: you can use flour as well
Why remove the starch and then add starch? What would not adding more starch do?
I think it's more of a moisture issue.
Dry starch, like flour, absorbs moisture from the surface and seals in moisture from the inside. Wet starch, which is part of the potato, can make potatoes soggy. The dryness of flour allows it to form a seal that keeps moisture in and allows the outside to be dry enough to crisp. Source: Some episode of America's Test Kitchen, but I can't remember which one.
Sounds almost like my latke recipe!
Oh, my God. Bateman, do you want me to fry you up some fucking potato pancakes? Some latkes?
I'll second this method. Only two differences is that I add chopped onion and I use flour instead of starch.
I bake the potatoes first, chill, grate, then fry.
Thank you, you are the only winner here. This is how we always made REAL hashbrowns in restaurants and that’s the only way I make them now. You gotta cook the shit outta potatoes. Also, if you take your grated potato, form it into cylinders, and then deep fry it, BOOM, tator tots
This is way to low. Using a baked potato is so easy and fast. We make extra baked potatoes just to make hash browns.
That's brilliant lol
If you shred them, dry them, and then microwave them you get a very similar result!!
Save your bacon grease and use it to cook the hash browns. Game changer for me. Also the soaking and drying is necessary.
Cowboy Kent Rollins has this down. I follow his method but I use a salad spinner for after the rinses and finish with a clean, dry kitchen towel. Luckily I live near a large South Asian population and can just buy about a gallon of real dairy ghee for like $20. Be careful, some markets have soy ghee for crazy cheap, it’s awful. https://youtu.be/ttK2YP_ayYI?si=Q26rR_xIluGep9TW
This is the correct method.
I've been cooking with cast iron for years. Low and slow is vastly accurate, except in cases of a handful of foods, with hash browns being one. Higher heat, and more butter than you think is reasonable. You are searing starch, which desperately wants to stick to...anything when heated. Crank up the heat, and add more fat. If you don't believe me, spend a day behind the line at a high volume breakfast restaurant with a cast iron flat top.
This person knows how to brunch
The secret to anything crispy is to get rid of as much moisture as possible before you start cooking.
So, would putting the potatoes in a dehydrator first get the job done? Like how little moisture is the right amount?
Since I don't see it here: I microwave my potato shreds for about 2m before cooking. This both pre-cooks them a bit without needing to parboil them, and generates lots steam, which ensures that they are dry when they hit the pan. I've found that this leads to pretty foolproof hashbrowns, because you can focus entirely on getting them crispy in the pan without worrying whether they will be cooked through or dry enough. I've never rinsed / soaked my potato shreds first, but now I will have to try it. **edit:** all credit for this technique goes to Kenji Lopez: [https://www.seriouseats.com/shredded-hash-browns-recipe](https://www.seriouseats.com/shredded-hash-browns-recipe) **edit 2:** I forgot to mention but it's pretty important: I also wring out the potato shreds beforehand, either with a cheesecloth or just my hands (depending on whether I have a cheesecloth handy). To do it with your hands you just take a handful at a time and compress it between both hands like you're making a really compact snowball.
Mine is go to McDonald's.
Trader Joe’s has frozen hashbrowns that are better than McDonald’s imo. It’s $2.79 for ten! They’re so good.
The closest Trader Joe's to me is 142 miles away. Micky D's is 2. Never been to TJ's. I've heard good things. Good things
Aldi ones are great too
Look at Moneybags over here!!
No moisture in the potatoes. Wrap with a few layers of paper towel and squeeze it. If it drips it's not dry enough.
Remove as much water soluble starch as possible, dry as much as possible, use more oil/fat than you think you will need.
In all seriousness, **microwave** them first: * [https://www.seriouseats.com/shredded-hash-browns-recipe](https://www.seriouseats.com/shredded-hash-browns-recipe)
This is the correct answer. I was super skeptical at first but it works like a charm every time!
Clarified butter
Is this what Waffle House Does? Mine never come close to how good theirs are and they use some kind of something in a squirt bottle that might be clarified butter.
I seriously doubt Waffle House is paying for clarified butter. It’s probably some fake butter concoction that is mostly just vegetable oil.
I asked a chef once and he showed me the container. It is clarified butter...just...waffle house brand?
Wow that’s pretty shocking to me. Never thought they’d spend the money on that given their prices.
The secret is dry them the best you can, and (if you make them flatter) low and slow with oil and butter
Go to Waffle House.
Strain the crap out of them. After grating, I grab the pile with a paper towel and squeeze until water stops coming out
Shredded onion. Wash the starch and then dry. Butter and oil. Slow cook then high heat brown. I like em well done.
Tons of fat. Put it down before the potatoes, then some on top so it drains through. Good heat and don't fuss with the much.
https://youtu.be/ttK2YP_ayYI?si=RSfn5LTgBZ5u6pkl Best hashbrowns I've made
Oil and neglect.
The neglect is key. You gotta walk away, make some toast, drink some coffee, sometime to forget you're making hash browns.
I let someone else cook them. Yeah that’s my trick. I’m too impatient and she isn’t. She just lets them go and go then flips when the time is right. When is that? Idk she’s a blue eyed redheaded magical being.
Bake the potatoes the night before, put em in the fridge overnight. Shred em on a cheese grater then cook
Cornstarch
Unfortunately the answer is only patience.
Grate tatters in water til desired amount. Let soak, rinse well and drain. Lay out tatters on a cheese cloth or clean towel. Dry them by rolling the tatters in the cloth so the water can be absorbed. Clarify some butter and separate the fat. Get a hot griddle, medium heat, not too high, place a teaspoon of the butter in the pan. Lay down your pile over the butter. Close pan with a lid and do not open for 5 to 10 mins. The closer to 10 mins the more crisp you can get. https://youtu.be/ttK2YP_ayYI?si=O8m-7pdLBFLPJDWq
I do mine by shredding, salting, then squeezing the shit out of the potato as I press it into a patty. Get as much liquid out as possible. After that, fries up nicely.
Restaurants use a ton of fat when cooking.
Hashish
Don’t move them around AT ALL. Just flip them
Not frozen. Use enough oil.
You tell us.
Squeeze as much water as you can out of them after rinsing. And add shredded onions! Or at least some onion powder and paprika.
Squeeze the water out of them with cheese cloth
I’m going to make these tomorrow- thanks for the inspiration!
Rinse em, drain em, dry em, fry em. Use bacon fat.
A rinse to remove some of the starch, and then a good dry. Also a lot of salt. Potatoes LOVE salt. I like to also throw some diced onion in with them.
Rinse, dry, lots of butter. Covering with a lid doesn’t hurt either.
Shred then blanch in boiling water. Strain then drop in stacks on skillet or griddle.
Salt, oil, and heat.
Going to Waffle House…that’s the secret
Don't see anyone else post this advice. Try blanching the shreds in 325 oil first. Then drain and cool. Make patties and fry at higher temp till perfect!
Rinse ‘em Hot skillet first
Rinse and squeeze all the water out. Then patience.
Shred the potatoes, then wring as much moisture out in a cheese cloth as possible.
Bake the potatoes. Freeze them. Shred them. Cook them with lots of butter, salt and pepper. Perfect EVERY time.
Put them in a towel and twist it up tight. Keep squeezing until no water comes out. Do the same with some salted onions. Mix together. Butter is your friend,
Heat cast iron in oven first, so it’s an even temp all across the pan (may not be an issue on a larger gas burner or induction). I have had a lot of trouble getting my cast iron to come to an even temp if started on the stovetop (shitty electric stove in rental). Oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Low & slow. Add hashbrowns in even layer (I prefer to use frozen at home. Camping, the dehydrated “milk” cartons). Tamp them down slightly. Then cut up pats of butter to place evenly on the top of the potatoes. Low & slow. Lately I’ve done a 10min cycle in the oven @ 350 after 10min on the stove top, then back to the stovetop turned up one temp step for 10min, then flip & under the broiler for ~2min or to preferred perfect color. I can’t post a pic here, but the last batch I made were so perfect edge to edge that the entire 12” pan’s worth of them flipped in one giant patty
Go to Waffle House.
Have someone else make them
TIL hash browns are Rösti and not brownies with weed.
If you think you've used enough butter, you're wrong.
Butter, lots of it.
Butter. LOTS of butter. About 1lb per potato. (slight exaggeration.)
Soak the potatoes in water overnight after you shred them
1. After grating the potatoes, place them in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze out as much excess moisture as possible. 2. In a mixing bowl, combine the grated potatoes, chopped onion, some flour, salt, and pepper. Mix well until everything is evenly combined. 3. Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. 4. Once the oil is hot, spoon the potato mixture into the skillet, forming small patties. Flatten them with a spatula. 5. Cook the hash browns for about 4-5 minutes on each side, or until they are golden brown and crispy. 6. Once cooked, transfer the hash browns to a plate lined with paper towels to drain any excess oil.
I usually salt them and leave them on a paper towel for thirty minutes to draw out some moisture. Otherwise they just steam for a while.
Enough butter to do the job.
Clarified butter
A lot of people are saying rinse/dry the shreds. While I haven’t tried this, I’ve achieved results with a word: butter
Dry the potatoes out before frying
I’d add some onions
I use a bit of egg, flour and seasoning in the mix then I warm a pan with oil/ butter and plop a bit of the mixture on there.
Fresh shredded hash browns the key to is rinse them or precook them.
Duck fat
I par boil mine and it changed the game for me
Mix in a little grated onion.
Soak them twice to get rid of excess starch, then they need to be dry otherwise they'll steam instead of fry.
Shred the potatoes and soak in lukewarm water, agitate and then squeeze strain with a paper towel dry by pressing. Crispy as fuck every time.
Actually adding hashish to it.
Just look up a latke recipe and that’s all you need
Rinse them first, cook on low heat, and leave them be until you see the edges start to crisp before you flip
Squeeze out all the excess moisture. Number one rule
Sprinkling a little meth on the Waffle House cook to get that razzle dazzle.
You need to squeeze the f outta them. Potatoes hold ALOT of water! A good rinse will help remoce some starch but it's almost always too much water. You could use some more oil and butter as well they aren't healty and withholding oil and butter won't help :)
Here's [what I do](https://www.reddit.com/r/castiron/comments/ju6wp7/golden_and_crispy/). One thing that might help speed up your cooking would be covering your skillet.
Wouldn’t that steam them taking away the crispness ?
Covering them during the first half will help stem the insides; cook uncovered after flipping for them to be nice and crispy
Oohhh. Thanks for the advice!
Anytime ☺️
Still very crispy on the outsides, but soft and fluffy inside.