Everything worked out perfectly! Thank you for this recipe, I added some fresh rosemary when seasoning at the end and that just lifted everything to the next level. Wonderful!

i have never been able to saute before this, but with the help of this recipe and lesson, i made perfectly sauteed hash browns. i love this site!!

I had a real "ah ha" moment with these potatoes. I've learned so much from Rouxbe, and have had many "ah ha" moments, but this was the best yet. Just humble hash browns. I'm an impatient cook. I've learned to take my time and follow the directions, but I"m not perfect, yet. Getting the pan hot, the oil etc... thank you for the cooking techniques and skills, seems to be working, for me at least, finally!

Thanks to the school, they didn't stick to my pans. WOW!!! I have been trying to cook potatoes for years in my stainless pans. I felt so great cooking in a pan without them sticking for the first time. Knowing how to properly heat a pan with hot oil and pan fry was a secret to me, NO MORE!!! Yippee! They potatoes were simple yet very tasty. I didn't have any clarified butter ready and I was in a hurry to eat, so I just used a little more Grapeseed oil. Wonderful taste. I can see how this simple recipe could be a great platform more complex seasoned potatoes. Thanks Rouxbe for making my morning.

I too am having fun with my stainless pans.

Things don't stick most of the time, which is nice.

I have been making a mess of my pans, though - especially with potatoes. Oil gets cooked on going up the sides of the pan, and it won't come off without abrasives (which are not recommended by the pot and pan people).

The bottom stays pretty nice, but the sides are brown and gross.

Do you guys have any suggestions?

Glad to hear that you are having success with the stainless steel pans.

As for how to clean them, here is another thread on this same subject. Cheers!

I make the recipe and its just perfect. But took me so much time peeling and cutting the potatoes that I was wonder if I can cut the potatoes in advance and putting in the refrigerator or the fridge and use it in the following days. Thanks

You can certainly cut raw potatoes in advance. Just make sure they are completely covered with cold water. They can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days. When you go to cook them, make sure to drain and dry them well before frying. Cheers!

(By your comment, I think you meant to say raw potatoes instead of frozen potatoes in the subject line - let us know if we're misunderstanding.)

yes I mean raw potatoes, Thank you.

This was extremely informative and helped me to understand why sometimes my sauteed cubed potatoes come out great (usually out of a frozen bag) and sometimes not so great (my own oil laden concoctions).

Originally I'm from Illinois where actual hash brown potatoes are grated potatoes with a wonderful crust on the outside and nice and soft inside.

I have lived in 14 states and traveled to most the rest of U.S and parts of Canada and few places call what I call hash browns, hash browns.

Glad I finally made it to the Northwest and we're speaking the same spud language and I'm guaranteed grated fried potatoes when ordering has browns off the local menus!

Anyway, I have tried to make fried/sauteed grated hash browns for 30 years with zero success.

I would so LOVE for you to help me figure out how to do this. Seems simple enough, but the only hash browns I've gotten to come out relatively well are the ones in the frozen bag.

Some say squeeze out all the starch, some say not to squeeze out all the starch.

I know Rouxbe knows the answer to this and probably knows the correct term, hopefully in French so I can impress my friends of the precise word for grated fried potatoes.

Thanks Rouxbe for your patience and always take your time getting back to me because I know I'm very long winded and you all are very busy.

I've had the same problem. I lived in California for years, and a favorite place for breakfast on the way to Napa, had the best hash browns. Hash browns that were grated. I've tried every way I could think of, to duplicate those darn potatoes, but they never turned out right, or even good in some cases. The cook at the restaurant said they boil the potatoes first, they grate them...didn't work for me!
Now, I make the Rouxbe hash brown potatoes all the time now, and sort of forgot the frustration of not being able to get the grated hash brown thing down. Advice?

I have read your comments and will get back to you a.s.a.p.
Just let me just do a bit of research and testing first. Cheers!

One question - Linda when you cooked the potatoes ahead of time did you cool them after cooking them? Also did you boil them or bake them?

Parboil?

I boiled them, but I'm not sure of the cool down thing. I expect I would have allowed them to cool enough to handle.

Often when we make grated potatoes we do the following. We bake them in the oven until just cooked through. You don't want them too soft and fluffy at this stage. We bake them rather than boil as this keeps the potatoes the driest. After that we cool them completely (until cold, we usually do this step the day before and then refrigerate them). After that, we then then grate the potatoes and continue on with frying them. The cooling of the potatoes is important as it helps to prevent the potatoes from becoming mushy. Hope this helps Linda.

Let me say though that I know there are many other ways to make grated potatoes. Like I said, I will keep this on my list of "things to test and figure out". Cheers!

Roasting makes sense Dawn, I'll try that. Also, making them the day ahead may be what they did at the Highway 29 Cafe. When I'd peek into the kitchen, the potatoes were piled high in those aluminum bowls, waiting to be grated. I made the assumption that they may have been just cool enough to handle. Thanks for the tips. Do you think using a food processer, rather than a box grate makes a difference?

This way of cooking them makes sense to me because the ones in the frozen bag come out better than anything and I assume they are somehow precooking them.

Do I have to call them grated fried potatoes, or is there another word for it?

Linda, please let us know what you do and how it comes out! When I get the time, I'll start playing around with it too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_browns

Linda there should be no difference between a box grater or a food processor (if you are using the right size attachment and/or side of the grater). I imagine the restaurant used the food processor just based on the volume they were doing.

Jude, you can call the potatoes whatever you like :-) The french a different name for every type of potato dish that they make but I am not sure that this would be considered a "French-style" of making potatoes. There is something similar (sort of), it's called pommes darphin...but it is not really the same thing so again it's up to you what you would like to call them. Hopefully you can just call them "delicious!". Here is a link to a recipe for pommes darphin, in case you were going to ask me :-) It is in French but it has lots of pictures. You could also translate the page on google if you wanted.

Cheers my little hashbrown-lovin' ladies.

There was an episode of Tyler's Ultimate on foodnetwork last night and he made hashbrowns. He said the key is to use very starchy potatoes (the big ones like Russets), grate them raw (box grater or food processor, doesn't matter) and squeeze out the water. Put the grated potatoes onto a clean towel, pick up the ends and twist the 'ball' until the water stops coming out. It was amazing, he squeezed out almost a cup and half of water out of 4 potatoes.

Oh and he started out with rendering 4 slices of bacon cut up into slivers, plus a shallot. Then add 1 egg white and your favorite herb (parsley, rosemary, or green onion), fold everything into the grated potatoes and then put it in the pan. After searing both sides, he then put it into a 450 degree oven to finish.

All my French speaking friends are debating what to call these. Too confusing. So hence forth I'm deeming them: Grated Hash Browns.

(Don't get me started on Home Fries!)

Great Info Daniel!

Is there a handy potato-dicing tool for the lazy at heart? I'm trying to switch over to more homemade foods, but I haven't quite the stomach to make hash browns by hand often (and my significant other rather loves them).

Okay Colleen, my advice for you is simple. Improve your cutting skills. Most things in cooking start with the knife. So if you want to save time, become a great cutter.

I can promise you that it will take more effort to set up a chopping machine and clean it, then it will to grab a chef's knife and dice up a few potatoes.

I personal don't know of any machine that will do a nice dice other than maybe a french fry machine, but you will still have to dice the potato slices.

Check out this intro lesson:
http://rouxbe.com/cooking-school/lessons/95-handling-a-chef-s-knife

Then watch and practice the simple tips to perfect dice in this lesson: http://rouxbe.com/cooking-school/lessons/104-how-to-cut-using-a-chef-s-knife

:-)