The infamous English breakfast is not something that most of us eat on a regular basis but you’d be hard pushed to find anyone (vegetarians don’t count) who doesn’t polish one off at least once or twice a year, for most of us it’s probably more like once a month, I could research some statistics but I won’t.
With this in mind my question is this:
Why have I never seen a freshly made hash brown before?
The hash brown is a completely staple ingredient of the English breakfast and one that people know and love. So how come I’ve never seen a fresh one in any restaurant, bar or café?
It is hard to understand especially when you realize just how easy they are to make. At home it might add around a minute and a half onto your preparation time and cooking in around ten minutes, certainly not adding any cooking time if there the first thing you put in the pan.
The small deep fried frozen blocks of potato served up on most breakfast menus is so far removed from the homemade version it’s embarrassing.
What’s even more embarrassing is that I had to Google them to find out exactly what makes a real hash brown.
Imagine my surprise to find out its principal ingredient is potato. Sorry did I say principal, what I meant to say was only. That’s right the only ingredient in a hash brown is potato, O.K maybe a little salt and pepper but you get the idea.
A hash brown consists of diced, riced or shredded potato formed into patties and pan fried.
I know what you are thinking, sounds like a potato rosti but you’d be wrong. It doesn’t only sound like a rosti, it also looks and tastes just like a rosti, in fact you could even call it a rosti.
O.K a hash brown has more room to maneuver than a rosti and in fact only if you make it with shredded potato does it actually resemble one. Any patties made from diced or riced potato bear no resemblance.
The grated version is probably the easiest to make, so easy that you don’t even need a recipe. All you need is to peel and grate a couple of potatoes, add some salt and pepper, squeeze a little of the liquid out and form into rough patties shapes.
Pop the shaped potato cakes into a hot oily pan and turn down to a medium heat.
A nice golden brown color and about ten minutes cooking time should produce you near on perfect hash browns.
Now all you need is a couple of rashers of that nice homemade porky bacon you’ve got waiting in the fridge.
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