So THAT's Why Hashbrowns Taste So Much Better In Restaurants
We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about how restaurants make everything from salads to burgers taste so much better than I, at least, can make at home.
But what about crispy, fluffy, tender hashbrowns? How come they’re so much more... hasbrown-y in restaurants?
In a YouTube short, @SenpaiKai9000, a former chef to a Michelin-starred kitchen, shared his secrets to getting the ideal hashbrowns together at home.
And Redditors on the r/AskCulinary subreddit had thoughts, too.
What should I do?
Well, the first thing is to take the “tonne” of water that lies in potatoes out, @SenpaiKai9000 says.
“If you shred [grate] them [raw] and cook it just like that, that oil’s gonna splatter,” he explained, “and it’s just gonna steam inside, soak up all that oil, and never get crispy.”
Redditors agree, with one writing that grated potatoes “can be dried by wringing them out in a sturdy towel hard or by squeezing them hard in a ricer ― but they have to be dry. Really dry.”
A recurring secret shared in the thread was cooking the spuds before shredding them to add fluffiness and reduce moisture ― @SenpaiKai9000 also bakes his first “around an hour” until they’re “tender in the centre.”
“Once they’re cooked down, you can grate them and they won’t oxidise,” he said, chopping spring onions which we assume he added to the mix. You should also add salt and pepper.
Once you’ve mixed the grated potatoes, shape them however you like before deep-frying them, though Redditors advise the patty should be “not too thick and not too tight ― you want them to fry, not steam.”
How should I fry them?
“The best hashbrowns are deep-fried,” the YouTuber said, “But at home, you probably don’t want to do that, so just make sure you’re using like, a lot of oil.”
In the video, the chef himself used duck fat ― an “easy little restaurant hack is to just use beef fat, duck fat, or leftover bacon fat,” he said.
Whatever you use, get a “Hot pan. Hot oil,” Redditors say; “make sure the oil’s super hot,” the chef agrees.
“They’ll take three to f minutes on each side,” @SenpaiKai9000 adds ― “top it with chives, sour cream, and some overpriced fish eggs,” he said, lifting a tin of caviar to the camera.
The caviar is obviously very, very optional.
Lastly, if you’ve made too much, one Redditor said “I tend to make several pounds of potatoes at a given time, then vacuum seal portions and keep them. It’s very convenient and works like a charm.”
Well, that’s my next few weekends sorted...
