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Corned Beef Hash
Remove skin and gristle from cooked corned beef, then chop the meat. When meat is very fat, discard most of the fat. To chopped meat add an equal quantity of cold boiled chopped potatoes. Season with salt and pepper, put into a hot buttered frying-pan, moisten with milk or cream, stir until well mixed, spread evenly, then place on a part of the range where it may slowly brown underneath. Turn, and fold on a hot platter. Garnish with sprig of parsley in the middle.
Fannie Farmer's hash is built on leftovers and on patience with the pan. The method assumes a coal range with hot and cool zones; a modern burner on low, or a stint in the oven, does the same job.
- The hinge: slow browning, undisturbedOnce the hash is spread level, leave it alone for 15-25 minutes over low heat so a solid crust forms underneath. Stirring during this stage is what turns hash into a pan of loose fried meat and potato.
- "A part of the range"Nineteenth-century ranges had graduated heat across the top, so a cook slid the pan to a cooler spot. On a gas or induction hob use the lowest steady setting, or set the pan in a 325F oven after the initial mixing.
- ProportionsEqual parts chopped meat and cold boiled potato; the recipe says only 'an equal quantity' and does not specify weight or volume. Roughly 2 cups of each will fill a 10-inch skillet and serve three to four.
- Chop, do not grindChopped means knife-cut or run through the coarse plate of a food chopper. A food processor reduces corned beef to paste and the hash loses all texture.
- Cold potatoes matterPotatoes boiled the day before and thoroughly chilled hold their edges and brown; freshly boiled hot potatoes break down into starchy mush when stirred.
- Moisten sparinglyTwo to four tablespoons of milk or cream for the quantity above. Enough to bind, not enough to steam the crust away.
- SaltCorned beef is already heavily salted. Season with pepper first, taste after mixing, and add salt only if it needs it.
- Folding outLoosen the crust with a spatula, then fold the hash like an omelette onto the platter so the browned face shows. A well-seasoned cast-iron pan makes this far more likely to succeed than a thin modern skillet.
Hash is the frugal end of the corned beef cycle: what remained of a boiled joint went into the pan with leftover potatoes, though the recipe itself names no cut. The word comes from the French hacher, to chop, and the dish belongs to the same household logic as rissoles and croquettes. Corning itself refers to the coarse grains, or corns, of salt used to cure the beef, a preservation method that made brisket a staple of American kitchens long before refrigeration. Farmer's 1896 book was written for cooks who were expected to plan meals across several days, and the presence of a leftovers recipe at all reflects how routine that planning was.