Gordon Ramsey says the world’s best breakfasts come from America. Since we eat breakfast for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I think he’s on to something.
- Ingredients:
- “Waxy” potatoes (i.e., potatoes with a low starch content: warba, fingerling, Yukon gold
- Yellow onion
- Salt
- Butter
- Eggs
- Thick-sliced bacon
- Light olive oil
- Pepper
- Brown sugar
- Cayenne pepper (or maybe some Tabasco or chipotle powder or whatever your preferred heat)
Tip:
You might have noticed there are no quantities listed up there. This is a seat-of-your-pants recipe; you just sling stuff around until it looks right. The only quantity-type info here is that you want about one part onion to two parts potato.
Shred your potatoes and onions, with about one part onion to two parts potato, like I said right up there.
Stir up your shredded onion/spud mixture, season well with salt, then stir it up some more.
Put a colander over a large bowl or your sink, and let your salty/onion/spud mix sit for about 15 minutes to let the salt draw water out of the onion and spuds.
Squeeze the spud mixture with your hands, then squeeze some more, then keep on squeezing as much as you can before your hands get exhausted. The more water you squeeze out, the crisper and more delicious your hash browns will be. Don’t nobody like wet, limp hash browns!
Season with salt, pepper, and whatever your hotness powder preference and stir yet again. Set aside and preheat your oven to 350°.
Fire up your stovetop under an oven-safe skillet; get the skillet screaming hot before you add anything to it.
Once the skillet has reached instant-3rd-degree-burn status, put in enough light olive oil to just cover the bottom.
Tip:
You want light olive oil for this because it has a higher smoke point than virgin or extra-virgin olive oil. If you don’t have light olive oil, any oil with a high smoke point will do. I’ve made hash browns with bacon fat, but it tends to be too greasy for me. YMMV.
Sprinkle your spud/onion/seasoning mixture in the skillet until it covers the skillet’s bottom.
Use a spatula or spoon to spread and smoosh down the spud mixture evenly in the skillet.
As your hash browns start to sizzle and caramelize, put little dabs of butter around the edge so it melts down and helps the potatoes get crispy.
To flip the hash browns, put a plate facedown on the skillet and flip the skillet and plate together, then slide the hash browns back into the skillet.
When the hash browns are close to being done, remove from heat and put some eggs on top.
How many eggs? Depends on how big your skillet is. If you prefer scrambled eggs, by all means scramble them first.
Pop the skillet into the preheated oven for 6‑ish to 8‑ish minutes.
Meanwhile, heat up another skillet for your bacon. Put olive oil, brown sugar, salt, pepper and butter in the skillet. Stir constantly until the sugar is melted.
Fry up your bacon in the melted butter/sugar/other stuff mixture.
Remove the hash browns and eggs from the oven. Season the eggs with a bit more cayenne or whatever hot stuff you like, then plate and top with the bacon.