eG Cook-Off 58: Hash

[David Ross]

Here's the recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, 1976 edition. (Note: the recipe calls for cooking in the oven, but as you know from my photo descriptions, I fried the hash in cakes in a pan on the stovetop).

"Best Oven Hash"

1 cup coarsely ground corned beef

1 cup coarsely ground cooked potatoes

1/4 cup coarsely ground onion

1/4 cup snipped parsely

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 6-oz can evaporated milk, (2/3 cup)

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1 tbsp butter, melted

Mix first 6 ingredients, 1 tsp. salt and dash pepper. Turn into 1-quart casserole. Mix crumbs and butter, sprinkle atop. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, serves 4.

[robirdstx]

Kim, thanks for asking and David, thanks for posting the proportions. I have leftover corned beef from Friday night's dinner and frozen hash brown potato patties defrosting in the fridge to use for making hash for our Sunday breakfast. I am going to use cream instead of evaporated milk. I'll report back tomorrow.

Edited February 19, 2012 by robirdstx (log)

[Kim Shook]

Here's the recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, 1976 edition. (Note: the recipe calls for cooking in the oven, but as you know from my photo descriptions, I fried the hash in cakes in a pan on the stovetop).

"Best Oven Hash"

1 cup coarsely ground corned beef

1 cup coarsely ground cooked potatoes

1/4 cup coarsely ground onion

1/4 cup snipped parsely

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 6-oz can evaporated milk, (2/3 cup)

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1 tbsp butter, melted

Mix first 6 ingredients, 1 tsp. salt and dash pepper. Turn into 1-quart casserole. Mix crumbs and butter, sprinkle atop. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, serves 4.

Thanks so much for posting this, David! I'm printing this out and will place with the pastrami short ribs recipe so that I'll remember to do it next time!

[robirdstx]

I divided my hash into two batches. The first batch was started in 3" x 1" Egg Fry Rings on a buttered non-stick griddle:

When the bottoms had browned, I removed the rings and flipped the patties:

In the meantime, I made a couple of poached eggs and then served them on top of the hash:

The second batch, I cooked free form style in a cast iron skillet:

I tossed the hash several times and continued to cook it until it was well browned:

The consensus: We prefer the free form style, as the hash was nice and crispy throughout.

[kayb]

Adding my thanks to David...will be cooking a corned beef brisket between now and St. Paddy's Day, and be assured this will be the destination for a good bit of it.

[mgaretz]

I made hash last night too. Onion, red potatoes and corned beef. I par-bolied the potatoes and cut them into just slightly smaller pieces than MJX's. Seasoned with fresh garlic and a small amount of salt and pepper. I sautéed the onions in clarified butter added in the potatoes until they started to brown then the beef, spices and 1/2 cup of water. Cooked on fairly high heat until the water was gone and the hash was getting very crispy. Then turned for another few minutes.

It was tasty, but it didn't stick together like I thought it would. Not enough starch from the potatoes?

I'm thinking the reason it didn't cling together is that you used water for the liquid element rather than cream or a thick gravy that would have given your hash more body.

Being lactose intolerant, cream is out. Anyway I took some photos of the leftovers:

And with a poached egg (dinner last night):

[weinoo]

Does bacon hash count?

[David Ross]

Looks like a delicious bacon hash to me!

[Shalmanese]

Tried to come up with a simpler way of cooking hash this morning, wanting to see if I could do it in 1 pan on the stovetop.

Procedure:

Dice some potatoes and add them in a single layer to an non-stick pan.

Add 4 tbsp of water, 2 tbsp of fat (I used duck fat) & a large pinch of salt.

Cover, turn heat to medium and let cook, shaking and stirring once every minute or so.

Total time is about 20 minutes from raw potato to hash:

The water will first steam the potatoes and then, after the water evaporates, the fat fries and crisps the outside. What you get is ultra creamy and tender centers and a pretty decent, crackly crunchy crust. I used russet potatoes this time but I feel it might actually work better with reds. I might also switch to giving them 10 minutes in the oven at the end to give it a dryer center and a slightly stronger crust but overall, it's a great way way to get hash on the table with a minimum of fuss.

Edited February 27, 2012 by Shalmanese (log)

[David Ross]

Looks like a nice texture to me. I'll try your technique.

[Chris Hennes]

OK, I made what I think was a hash for lunch today:

I fried some potatoes, added onions when the potatoes were almost done, then added a large heap of leftover bolognese sauce from last week's lasagne. So, the meat was ground rather than chopped. Does that disqualify it?

[Dave the Cook]

I think that's hash, but I worry about the evident lack of ambition: that egg is not poached.

[Chris Hennes]

Caught red handed... fried in the same pan as the rest of the hash. I don't even remember the last time I poached an egg.

[Dave the Cook]

Dude. Poach an egg. Instructions here. Or here.

It really makes a difference.

[sculptor]

I had some leftover duck once so I made a hash with it which I accompanied it with a savoury leek custard (the later being an homage to a traditional Chinese dish.)

[Chris Hennes]

It really makes a difference.

In what way?

[David Ross]

I prefer a poached egg on top of hash. It's a matter of texture. Yes, a fried egg can have a runny yolk, but the white is set and browned on the bottom. I prefer the softness of the white enveloping the yolk of a poached egg.

[Dave the Cook]

David is onto something when it comes to texture and the contrast between the egg and the crispy parts of the hash. But I also appreciate the extra volume of sauce -- in the form of yolk -- that a poached egg provides.

[Kerry Beal]

A bit of fried up onion, yukon gold potato, duck fat, sous vided (I think we should coin a new term for the past tense of sous vide - sous ved!) chuck eye. Things could have been a bit crispier, and the meat chunks a bit smaller, and I was unaware until just now that the egg should have been poached - but altogether a very satisfactory dinner.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Halibut hash: Flaked grilled halibut, browned onions and par-boiled potatoes, parsley; drizzled with creme fraiche/mayo tarragon sauce, chives. Lovely browned bits. Extra sauce on side. Actually, this was quite good!

For heavier meal, would add a poached egg, but this stood on its own nicely.

[Chris Hennes]

I made a pork hash tonight for dinner: sous vide pork shoulder, potatoes, onions, sauce from the bag liquids, mustard, and cream. Plenty of sauce there and an egg didn't seem appropriate:

[David Ross]

I made a pork hash tonight for dinner: sous vide pork shoulder, potatoes, onions, sauce from the bag liquids, mustard, and cream. Plenty of sauce there and an egg didn't seem appropriate:

Looks nice. I bet that pork was fork-tender.

[Chris Hennes]

No leftover meat in the fridge right now, but what I do have is a lot of morels that need eating sooner rather than later. So I figured that they are pretty meaty, and might be suitable in a hash:

(yes, for shame, another fried egg...)

[Dan Rose]

Had some friends over last weekend, and we did duck breasts. I removed the tenders and put them in a separate sous vide bag and threw them in the bath with the breasts. Chilled them overnight, and the next morning, shredded them with two forks. Sautéed an onion in some rendered duck fat I made the previous night with the breast trimmings, added the shredded duck and fried it crispy, and then topped it with a few eggs over easy. Nice and simple duck hash breakfast.

Lacked a potato, of course, but I'm going low carb at the moment.

[Kerry Beal]

My mother grew up in the depression and wasting food was not her way! The final resting place of many a fine prime rib was hash. My job was to pull out the meat grinder, attach it via the screw to the pull out cutting board and grind the remaining bits and pieces of the roast.

There were always lots of leftover boiled potatoes as well - you generally cooked more than required because leftover potatoes had so many good uses.

Rather than face the thought of her rolling in her grave as I threw something out - I decided to grind up the remains of the chuck eye in the fridge and pay homage. So a quick pulsing in the Thermomix yielded a texture similar to that of the meat grinder - with considerably less cleanup.

Of course it was always eaten with ketsup - actually it wasn't too bad with some red pepper jelly instead.