BUTTERY, ONIONY
CHARRED HASH
BROWNS
I’ve got an Irish friend who for the longest time didn’t eat
anything but brown and white food (I’m sure you know
the type): fried chicken, steak, cheeseburgers, white
bread, grilled cheese sandwiches, potatoes in all forms,
etc. He’s since evolved to appreciate the odd orange food
and has even forayed into the realm of green recently
(baby steps), but brown and white are still where his heart
lies. This is the dish I created for his birthday one year in
the heyday of his brown era. It’s essentially a cross
between a steak house–style hash brown—that is, a potato
cake made by pressing boiled potatoes into a skillet, with
some onions for good measure, and then frying—and
mashed potatoes. It starts off like normal steak house
hash browns, but rather than simply frying the mass of
potatoes just once, you let the whole thing cook until it’s
almost burnt, saving it at the last minute by breaking up
the crust and folding it into the center, then repeat the
process two more times.
What you end up with is a pile of creamy, textured
potatoes riddled throughout with sweet caramelized
onions and intense browned flavors from the repeated
crisping. They are not like any other potatoes you’ve ever