I can never make crusty, crunchy home fries, as I rediscovered
yesterday morning. What do I have to do?

I melted some bacon fat, sauteed some chopped onion and green pepper,
then I cubed and sauteed a leftover baked potato. Still tasted good,
but not crusty. The bottom of the pan got covered in browned starch or
whatever, but not the potato bits.

"spamtrap1888" wrote in message
...
I can never make crusty, crunchy home fries, as I rediscovered
yesterday morning. What do I have to do?

I melted some bacon fat, sauteed some chopped onion and green pepper,
then I cubed and sauteed a leftover baked potato. Still tasted good,
but not crusty. The bottom of the pan got covered in browned starch or
whatever, but not the potato bits.

I would never use a baked potato. I start with russets. I usually peel
them but not always. Cut in cubes. Soak in cold water for about an hour.
Not sure why you have to do this but my mom always did. Drain really well
and fry. I use olive oil. My mom uses Wesson.

On 8/10/2012 8:58 PM, spamtrap1888 wrote:
I can never make crusty, crunchy home fries, as I rediscovered
yesterday morning. What do I have to do?

I melted some bacon fat, sauteed some chopped onion and green pepper,
then I cubed and sauteed a leftover baked potato. Still tasted good,
but not crusty. The bottom of the pan got covered in browned starch or
whatever, but not the potato bits.

True home fries shouldn't be made with leftover baked potatoes. Might
as well turn those into potato pancakes

Jill

On 8/10/2012 10:35 PM, Julie Bove wrote:
"spamtrap1888" wrote in message
...
I can never make crusty, crunchy home fries, as I rediscovered
yesterday morning. What do I have to do?

I melted some bacon fat, sauteed some chopped onion and green pepper,
then I cubed and sauteed a leftover baked potato. Still tasted good,
but not crusty. The bottom of the pan got covered in browned starch or
whatever, but not the potato bits.

I would never use a baked potato. I start with russets. I usually peel
them but not always. Cut in cubes. Soak in cold water for about an hour.
Not sure why you have to do this but my mom always did. Drain really well
and fry. I use olive oil. My mom uses Wesson.


You soak the the potatoes in cold water to prevent the cut potatoes from
turning brown. I was taught to add a squeeze of lemon juice. That way
you can be doing other prep work after you've peeled/cut the potatoes.
The cold water/lemon juice trick works for sliced apples, too.

Jill
Jill

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
On 8/10/2012 10:35 PM, Julie Bove wrote:
"spamtrap1888" wrote in message
...
I can never make crusty, crunchy home fries, as I rediscovered
yesterday morning. What do I have to do?

I melted some bacon fat, sauteed some chopped onion and green pepper,
then I cubed and sauteed a leftover baked potato. Still tasted good,
but not crusty. The bottom of the pan got covered in browned starch or
whatever, but not the potato bits.

I would never use a baked potato. I start with russets. I usually peel
them but not always. Cut in cubes. Soak in cold water for about an hour.
Not sure why you have to do this but my mom always did. Drain really
well
and fry. I use olive oil. My mom uses Wesson.


You soak the the potatoes in cold water to prevent the cut potatoes from
turning brown. I was taught to add a squeeze of lemon juice. That way
you can be doing other prep work after you've peeled/cut the potatoes. The
cold water/lemon juice trick works for sliced apples, too.

I do know that but my mom seemed to think that the soaking had something to
do with cooking them. I was going to just cut them up and cook them but she
said I always had to soak them first.

On Fri, 10 Aug 2012 17:58:45 -0700 (PDT), spamtrap1888
wrote:

I can never make crusty, crunchy home fries, as I rediscovered
yesterday morning. What do I have to do?

I melted some bacon fat, sauteed some chopped onion and green pepper,
then I cubed and sauteed a leftover baked potato. Still tasted good,
but not crusty. The bottom of the pan got covered in browned starch or
whatever, but not the potato bits.

You probably moved them around too much.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

"sf" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 10 Aug 2012 17:58:45 -0700 (PDT), spamtrap1888
wrote:

I can never make crusty, crunchy home fries, as I rediscovered
yesterday morning. What do I have to do?

I melted some bacon fat, sauteed some chopped onion and green pepper,
then I cubed and sauteed a leftover baked potato. Still tasted good,
but not crusty. The bottom of the pan got covered in browned starch or
whatever, but not the potato bits.

You probably moved them around too much.

I think it is more a matter of using pre-cooked potatoes. That's not how
you make them.

On Fri, 10 Aug 2012 17:58:45 -0700 (PDT), spamtrap1888
wrote:

I can never make crusty, crunchy home fries, as I rediscovered
yesterday morning. What do I have to do?

I melted some bacon fat, sauteed some chopped onion and green pepper,
then I cubed and sauteed a leftover baked potato. Still tasted good,
but not crusty. The bottom of the pan got covered in browned starch or
whatever, but not the potato bits.

Frying precooked spuds you attempted a version of homefries... they
needed very low temperature (they're already cooked) and turning often
with a spatula. I do this often to make potato omelets, takes a good
hour to get the spuds crisp without sticking before pouring the beaten
eggs.

On Aug 11, 7:02*am, Sqwertz wrote:
On Sat, 11 Aug 2012 01:13:39 -0400, jmcquown wrote:
True home fries shouldn't be made with leftover baked potatoes. *Might
as well turn those into potato pancakes

Leftover baked spuds are great for frying up over the next few days.
I purposely bake extra potatoes for just that purpose. *While
restaurant home fries would probably never use leftover baked
potatoes, I'm not going to be too anal about it. *They turn out even
better than fresh IMNSHO, and are easier to get crispy.

Like so:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sqwertz...ream/lightbox/

-sw

I agree. I love leftover baked potatoes, either quartered reds or
whole russets, to use for home fries.
A non stick pan is helpful. I like to use butter and a medium heat
and let them sit till they are brown on one side and then turn them
over and add a bit more butter if needed. Don't cook your peppers
and onions with the potatoes because they are going to add too much
moisture. Cook them separately and toss everything together at the
end if you are going to make them that way. I like the potatoes by
them selves with maybe some green onions, bacon and even some cheese
on top.

On Fri, 10 Aug 2012 23:22:52 -0700, "Julie Bove"
wrote:


"sf" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 10 Aug 2012 17:58:45 -0700 (PDT), spamtrap1888
wrote:

I can never make crusty, crunchy home fries, as I rediscovered
yesterday morning. What do I have to do?

I melted some bacon fat, sauteed some chopped onion and green pepper,
then I cubed and sauteed a leftover baked potato. Still tasted good,
but not crusty. The bottom of the pan got covered in browned starch or
whatever, but not the potato bits.

You probably moved them around too much.

I think it is more a matter of using pre-cooked potatoes. That's not how
you make them.

AFAIC, home fries can be made with raw or cooked potatoes and I've
done it both ways. If he was complaining about them falling apart on
him, then I'd say you were right - but that isn't his problem. I
start browning my potatoes first and add everything else later; so his
problem of vegetables cooking/browning faster than the potatoes isn't
an issue for me... but he can't move them around too much if he wants
them to brown.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

On 2012-08-11, jmcquown wrote:

True home fries shouldn't be made with leftover baked potatoes. Might
as well turn those into potato pancakes

Baked potatoes are perfect for hash browns, and in fact, are used by
many dinner restos to make hash browns the next day. I prefer
par-baked potatoes for all things hash/french/home fried. Nuke fer
about 1-1/2 to 2 mins per spud, depng on size, and let sit till cool.
Then cut and use for whichever. Can be stored in fridge overnight,
but not more than one day. After 2 days, nuked spud starts turning
black.

nb


--
"I don't know the key to success,
but the key to failure is trying to
please everybody"
http://www.nongmoproject.org/

"Julie Bove" wrote in message ...


"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
On 8/10/2012 10:35 PM, Julie Bove wrote:
"spamtrap1888" wrote in message
...
I can never make crusty, crunchy home fries, as I rediscovered
yesterday morning. What do I have to do?

I melted some bacon fat, sauteed some chopped onion and green pepper,
then I cubed and sauteed a leftover baked potato. Still tasted good,
but not crusty. The bottom of the pan got covered in browned starch or
whatever, but not the potato bits.

I would never use a baked potato. I start with russets. I usually peel
them but not always. Cut in cubes. Soak in cold water for about an hour.
Not sure why you have to do this but my mom always did. Drain really
well
and fry. I use olive oil. My mom uses Wesson.


You soak the the potatoes in cold water to prevent the cut potatoes from
turning brown. I was taught to add a squeeze of lemon juice. That way
you can be doing other prep work after you've peeled/cut the potatoes. The
cold water/lemon juice trick works for sliced apples, too.

I do know that but my mom seemed to think that the soaking had something to
do with cooking them. I was going to just cut them up and cook them but
she said I always had to soak them first.

The soaking removes excess starch from the potato and makes the final
product crispier.