The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

them, and then fry them (see here). This allows the oil to
penetrate a little deeper, increases the surface area by
causing the potatoes to blister, and makes for a far crisper
finished product. But who’s got time for all that when
there’s a headache that needs tending to?
Instead, it’s much easier to slice the potatoes, put them on
a plate, and microwave them for the initial cooking step, as I
do for rösti. This’ll let you soften them and cook them
through without having to worry about them getting
waterlogged or too wet on their exterior, and what takes ten
minutes in a pot takes under three minutes in the nuker.
Once they are parcooked, I add the potatoes to a hot skillet
to begin the crisping/charring process while I roughly chop
up my vegetables—in this case, peppers and onions. In a
hazy stupor, I’ve tried tossing the parcooked potatoes and
other vegetables together before adding them to the skillet,
but that is an exceedingly bad idea, resulting in burnt onions
and none-too-crisp potatoes.
You need to give the taters a head start on the rest of the
vegetables, only adding the veg once a crisp crust has
developed.
By the way, don’t ever feel like you’re limited in what
you can put into a good breakfast hash. Cabbages (like bok
choy or Brussels sprouts) develop an awesomely sweet
nutty, flavor as they char. Cured meats like pastrami or
corned beef will crisp nicely, their fat flavoring the potatoes
as they cook. Shallots and onions turn sweet and complex,
while green vegetables like broccoli or asparagus get nicely
charred and tender. By the time the potatoes are completely
crisp, the peppers and onions in this one are perfectly tender