The Lays commercial with Mrs. Potato Head eating a bag of chips is such a decadent and nostalgic visual. Fried potatoes are a staple in the South. It goes with brown beans and cornbread, baked ham, breakfast, and on burritos.
I recently made breakfast burritos for my girls and of course I had to make fried potatoes. They can be a little tricky to make so I’m going to give you some of my helpful pointers.
The way you cut them designates the name. Home fries, which Beth prefers, are cut into cubes. Fried potatoes are sliced. Hash browns are grated.
First you’ll want to peel the potato. My favorite type of French fry is with the skin on, but I’ve not ever left skins on for fried potatoes. It just doesn’t seem right.
The way my mom cut a potato is she started out cutting it in half down the middle.
Then cutting the half in half, making quarters.
With the quartered halves pushed together, start slicing thinly.
You could make it thicker if you like thicker fried potatoes, but I was making this for burritos and we like it thin.
Chop the remaining half the same way.
Depending on your size of potato, in general, one potato will serve two people. SInce I prefer to buy the large baking potatoes and we were using this for burritos, I used only one potato for four people. Just a suggestion for serving amount.
What you use to fry it in is your choice: a pan with a lid or an electric skillet. When I was young I didn’t see the need for an electric skillet. The more experienced I became at cooking I realized the even cooking was ideal for frying or making gravy.
Next you’ll want to use some flavored grease. For you newbies that means grease left over from cooking bacon or sausage. For you health fanatics who haven’t had a drop of grease on your fit tongues in decades, cover your eyes. I’m going to suggest you keep a jar or can of flavored grease.
This is mine:
Every time you cook bacon or sausage and don’t use the grease, pour off the grease in this jar or can. It doesn’t matter if the bacon grease mingles with the sausage grease. It’s mighty handy to have when you want to make gravy (or fried potatoes) and you haven’t cooked any greasy meats beforehand. In any case, if you don’t have any flavored grease you can use lard or oil. You’re not going to be using much anyway.
I barely covered the bottom of my electric skillet with flavored grease.
I turned the heat to about 350 or medium on the stove if you’re using a pan.
Let this heat for about a minute. You want the grease hot. Make sure the potatoes are cut before you heat the grease or the grease will burn.
Shove all the potatoes in the hot grease and stir them around so all sides are coated.
Now it’s time to season. Add salt, pepper and garlic salt. Don’t forget the garlic salt.
Put a lid on it and wait about 3 or 4 minutes. It’s ideal to have a clear lid so you can check the progress without lifting the lid and releasing the steam. The potatoes are best when steamed and it cuts down on cooking time.
I had a hard time cooking fried potatoes at first because I wanted to flip them too early and too much. What will happen is they will get mushy and fall apart. Resist the temptation!
Using a spatula flip them over and judge how they look.
If it looks barely browned you know you need to cook it longer than 3 or 4 minutes. If it looks pretty crispy when you flip you know you need to cut down the cooking time for this side.
It’s up to you if you like your potatoes crispy or soft as to the next step. I like to keep the lid on for the remainder of the cooking because I like my fried potatoes more soft than crunchy.
I took the lid off after a minute or two because Beth likes it crispy.
I like to drain my potatoes on paper towels. I line whatever bowl I’m using with paper towels before putting the cooked goodness in it.
If the potatoes get finished before the rest of your meal is ready, slap some foil over the bowl and they should stay warm enough until ready to serve. Or you can heat it in the microwave for about 30 seconds.
If I every have any leftover I put it in a ziploc for a quick morning burrito of eggs, potato and cheese.
That’s my fried potato story and I’m sticking to it.
Let me know what you think and how it turned out.
Happy Cooking!
Fried Potatoes
1 Potato
Flavored Grease (or lard or oil)
Salt, Pepper, Garlic Salt
Peel your potato. One potato for two people, unless you’re using them for delicious breakfast burrito, and then one large baking potato will work for 4 people.
Cut the potato in half. Half the half (or quarter the half). Slice up starting at the flat end you just cut, ending at the round at the end of the potato. Continue the same cutting with the other half of the potato.
If you have some bacon or sausage grease (flavored) use it; if not, lard or oil will work.
Heat a large skillet, or electric skillet, to medium (or 350) with just enough grease in the the skillet to coat the bottom. After a minute or two add the potatoes. Using a spatula swish the potatoes around until they’re coating with oil. With the potatoes as evenly spread on the bottom, season with salt, pepper and garlic salt. Put a lid on the skillet.
DO NOT STIR for the next 3-5 minutes, depending on how many slices are in the skillet.
Carefully lift the lid, avoiding splatter, and flip the potatoes over so the browned ones are on top. Put the lid back on the skillet.
Judge the next timed section by how the potatoes looked when you flipped them. If they looked too brown for your test, don’t cook 3-5 minutes. If they didn’t look brown enough, cook longer than 3-5 minutes.
Place the cooked potatoes in a bowl lined with paper towels. Cover with foil to keep warm for about 15 minutes, or you can warm them in the microwave for 20 seconds if the rest of the meal isn’t ready when the fried potatoes are.
Serves 2 as a side, 4 in a burrito
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