Beef Hash
Cut the fat and every atom of gristle from cold roast or boiled beef and chop fine. Add a little less quantity of cold chopped potatoes. Season with salt and pepper, a little melted butter and milk or cream--preferably cream--sufficient to moisten it. Turn into a frying-pan and heat, stirring until it is hot; then let it brown on the bottom, or turn out without browning on a hot dish.
Make corned-beef hash in the same way, carefully trimming off the fat and any objectionable bits before chopping. When thoroughly heated, lift with a spoon from one side of the pan to the other, and add a spoonful of drippings; spread the hash evenly over the pan and let it get well browned. Invert on a hot platter and serve poached eggs on top, or garnish with a border of hard-boiled eggs sauted in crumbs.
A leftovers dish with no measurements at all, which is how hash was usually written down. The proportions below and a few notes on heat will get you a browned crust rather than a pan of steamed mince.
- ProportionsThe recipe asks for slightly less potato than meat. Something like 2 cups chopped beef to 1 1/2 cups potato works, enough for two or three. The original keeps meat in the majority; modern diner hash usually reverses that.
- Chop, do not grind"Chop fine" means knife or a hand chopper in a wooden bowl. A food processor turns cooked beef to paste and the hash will not hold a crust; pulse sparingly or cut by hand.
- The hinge: moisten, barelyAdd cream only until the mixture just clings together. Wet hash steams and will never brown, and it is the browned bottom that the recipe is built around.
- Cold potatoes matterLeftover boiled or baked potatoes that have been chilled hold their shape when chopped. Freshly boiled hot potatoes break down into starchy mush.
- Pan and heatCast iron or another heavy skillet over medium heat. Press the hash flat, add the spoonful of drippings, and leave it alone for 8 to 10 minutes before checking the crust — the repeated stirring the recipe mentions belongs to the heating stage only, not the browning.
- "Drippings"Beef fat saved from roasting. Butter, bacon fat or a neutral oil all work; butter alone may scorch before the crust sets.
- Sauted in crumbsHalved or quartered hard-boiled eggs rolled in fine dry breadcrumbs and fried briefly in butter. It is a period garnish and reads oddly now; poached eggs on top is the version that survived.
- Corned beefTrim the fat cap and any tough edges before chopping, as directed. Commercial corned beef can be very salty, so taste before seasoning.