Potato Hash
Cut cold boiled potatoes in slices. Put in a pan with boiling water, adding pepper, salt, and butter. Stew till thick, and serve.--Mrs. Dr. G.
A three-line thrift dish that turns leftover boiled potatoes into a thickened stew. The whole thing depends on judgment, since no quantities are given at all.
- What "hash" means hereNot the browned skillet hash of a modern breakfast. This is a stewed dish, closer to creamed potatoes, and it stays pale and soft rather than crusting.
- Quantities to work fromThe recipe gives none, so these are a modern starting point: for about 1 lb of cold boiled potatoes, try roughly 1/2 to 3/4 cup boiling water and 2 tablespoons butter. Enough water to come part way up the potatoes rather than float them is the safer reading of "stew till thick."
- The hinge: thickening comes from the potatoesThere is no flour and no roux. The liquid thickens only as the potato edges break down into it, so slice thin, stir often, and accept that some slices will collapse entirely. That is the sauce.
- Boiling water, not coldAdding boiling water keeps the pan at temperature instead of dropping it back to a cold start, which is likely all the direction intends.
- TimingTen to fifteen minutes over medium-low heat is usually enough. Longer and the whole pan turns to mash, which is not the intent.
- Butter and saltCold boiled potatoes will have been salted only in their cooking water, so season the pan, taste at the end, and season again. With only pepper, salt and butter named, the pepper carries much of the flavour.
- Yield1 lb of potatoes serves two to three as a side dish or breakfast plate.
Recipes like this one exist because boiled potatoes were cooked in quantity and rarely all eaten at once, and few Virginia households of the 1870s had reliable cold storage. Housekeeping in Old Virginia, compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree and first published in 1877, gathered contributions from many Southern housekeepers, credited by initial or title as "Mrs. Dr. G." is here. The instruction to add boiling water rather than milk or cream marks this as everyday cooking rather than company food.