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Potato O'Brien
6 medium-sized potatoes
Chopped pimientos
Salt
Onion-juice
Wash, pare and cut potatoes into half-inch dice. Dry between towels. Fry in hot fat until a delicate brown. Drain on soft paper, sprinkle with salt, then sauté them in just enough fat to keep them from burning, adding finely chopped pimientos and a few drops of onion-juice. These should be tossed frequently during cooking, and not pressed close to the pan.
A two-stage method: deep-fry first, then finish in a shallow pan with the flavourings. The order matters, because pimiento and onion juice both burn in hot fat.
- Dry the dice properlyThis is the hinge of the recipe. Surface water on the potatoes turns to steam in the fat, and the cubes will steam-soften rather than crisping. Towel them until they squeak, and do not skip the second towel if the first comes away wet.
- Fat temperatureThe recipe says only "hot fat" and gives no figure. As a modern guide, a first fry in the region of 340-350F should bring the potatoes to a light gold without darkening; a double fry, cooler to cook through and hotter to brown, gives a crisper result.
- Onion-juiceAn early-1900s shortcut for onion flavour without visible onion. Grate half an onion on a box grater and press the pulp through a fine sieve, or squeeze it in a corner of a clean cloth. A few drops go a long way; more than a teaspoon turns the dish sharp.
- PimientosCanned pimientos were a pantry item when this was written. Jarred roasted red peppers are the usual modern stand-in, though pimiento proper is a particular sweet variety; drain them well and blot dry, or the liquid will spit in the pan and slacken the crust.
- Potato choiceA starchy or all-purpose potato — russet or Yukon Gold — holds the interior fluffiness the two-stage frying is aiming for. Waxy new potatoes stay dense and never quite crisp.
- SaltingSalt the moment the potatoes come out of the fat and are still glossy, as directed. Salt applied later slides off, and salt added before frying draws out moisture at the worst possible time.
- "Not pressed close to the pan"The instruction to toss rather than press is deliberate. Crowding and compacting traps steam between the cubes and undoes the crust; work in a wide pan, in batches if need be, and keep them moving.
- YieldSix medium potatoes serve about four as a side dish, or three at breakfast. The finishing stage is quick, so have the pimientos and onion juice ready before the potatoes leave the fryer.
Potatoes O'Brien belongs to the family of American hotel and restaurant dishes named for men whose identities are now unrecoverable — the name is generally traced to Boston or New York restaurant kitchens around the turn of the twentieth century, but no single claim is documented. Many versions of the dish call for canned pimientos, which became cheap and widely available in the United States after Spanish pimiento peppers were planted commercially in Georgia and packed in tins, a trade generally dated to the 1910s. That is why red pepper turns up in so many recipes of this period, from cheese spreads to chicken salads: it was the pantry's ready source of colour. The Butterick book, published by a pattern company for home cooks running a household on a budget, presents it as a plain vegetable side rather than a restaurant special.