Home Fries

[menton1]

This has been a staple for breakfast served with eggs and toast in the Northeast US for eons. (Not to be confused with hash browns) I recall traveling down South years ago and only being able to get grits, they had never even heard of home fries. Today, a friend tells me, home fries are available everywhere, even down South.

Somehow, I find this difficult to fathom, being that Southerners are just so so attached to their grits. Any input on home fries and their ubiquity?

[Sal Vanilla]

I am Southern by birth and raising. My parents - both Southern, their parents - - Southern. We ate grits AND homefries growing up. AND they were always available at restaurants in the South I know.

Grits - with butter and cheese (I like american - right on top) and then a bacon grease fried egg on top which is then promptly stabbed and mashed into the grits.

Homefries - Parboiled or from the night before . Always reds. Cubed. Fried in bacon grease and butter with onions and lots of blackening spice and pepper. Sometimes I add red bell pepper, but never do that if my grannie is around.

My grannie fainted (literally) when my mom's friend from school stayed overnight and when breakfast was served she put sugar on top of the grits. That was 64 years ago. She STILL talks about it. I think she looks the other way with my american cheese fetish. Love is blind. She sighs and crinkles her nose when I order unsweetened tea and then put sweet and low in it. But that is for another day...

My grandpa used to eat biscuits torn up topped with sausage gravy topped with grits topped with more sausage gravy topped with a full layer of tabasco topped with the top part of the biscuit. Doesn't that sound good?

[buttertart]

Could I have that right now, please?

[FoodFuser]

Okay, here's FoodFuser's take
on when home fries aka cottage fries morph into hash browns.

My only credential is that I'm a true Southerner
so for years I've been chowing these good taters down.

The most basic difference is that home fries are angular
or sometimes even discoid
slices derived from a whole fullsome tater.
They have shape that you can individually pierce with a fork.

In most cases I've seen
and in my home scene,
they are parcooked,: baked, boiled, or microwaved,
then rendered to chunks in the shape of your choice.

I've had less success when I've chunked them from raw
because browning to crisp doesn't quite hit the center
which remains a bit uncooked and crunchy.

I take them at half-baked when there's a bunch in the oven
and set them aside for a few days.
Then chunk them and set them in hot pan with some butter and Evoo
the result, when browned, is ecstasy.

If time is of essence you can parcook them in the microwave,
though there is a subtle slight difference.

Hashbrowns, on the other hand, are always pre-shredded
be it on the home grater or the frozen Ore-Ida bag.

Their secret is to be arrayed on a hot surface, flat,
suspended in a layer of plenty of fat
so that crust slowly blooms and develops.

Then, with a firm spatula, you turn them but once
so as not to disturb that slowly built crust.

(It is rumored that James Bond, when ordering his breakfast,
asked for "Hashbrowns, flipped once... neither shaken nor stirred").

In the right Southern restaurants the grills are right out there in fully plain view
with bacon under presses and eggs made to order
and at the top edge of those cast aluminum grills
are a series of hashbrowns
laid down from left to right
that are pulled off when ordered
and give crunchy delight.

Then the entire mass is shifted from right to the left
and new taters laid down to meet future requests.

[bayoucook]

I'm a native Mississipian, and my husband is from New Orleans. We love our grits and have them often (even for supper), but we love our home fries, as well, especially with eggs over easy. The "south" I live in is very diversified, with people from all over the world living here and contributing their skills in the food and beverage industry. You can find most anything down here.

[mucho gordo]

This just reminded me of my college days at Northeastern in Boston. There was a place I went to for breakfast in the Back Bay area near where I lived. It was basically a drug store with a lunch counter. They fixed their home fries with onion and red pepper flakes. Delicious that way and it's the only way I fix them at home.

[FoodFuser]

Y'all, all this talk about difference betwixt
home fried taters, and grits,
sorta gives me the sh*ts.

I'd rather instead see your best convolution
that brings them home fries to peak evolution
of good taters, good grease, some heat, and good pan,
that brings home-fried taters to their greatest solution.

I'm pretty content
with them taters I render
but wanting to hear of the type that you tender.

[Cherylptw]

My fam is from central NC which is potato country but I grew up in NY; my grandmother in NC always made what we called fried potatoes n' onions, what others would call home fries or nowadays, "potato hash" (not to be confused with hash browns) and were served at any meal but particulary breakfast. These were diced and cooked in a cast iron skillet in pork fat, either bacon fat or lard. She never par cooked them but cooked them low & slow on her wood stove until they were falling apart & melted in your mouth. You hardly found grits on the table in the area where my fam is from and grandma never cooked them. That's not to say they weren't in restaurants or the grocer's shelves.

Growing up in NY, most places in the 60-80's that served breakfast had home fries. I never saw grits in a NY diner (at least those I went to back then) menu and I never had grits until I was an adult. I like grits but true to my roots, I'll choose home fries over grits any day.

[jla1960]

Central NC is "potato country"? I grew up in Greensboro, from a multi-generational NC family and I never heard anyone apply that description. Never encountered the dish you describe either...not sure it was (is) a very wide spread phenomenon. Grits were ubiquitous, though, in my house, others houses and in restaurants.

[Cherylptw]

My family is near Rocky Mt & Roanoke Rapids...nearly everyone grew potatoes and I never saw any grits at anyone's houses growing up or in any of the area's restaurants that I frequented. Again, that's not to say that grits were not in those places I didnt frequent.

[FoodFuser]

With a tater that's rendered with such variation
in so many enclaves in this spud-frying nation
Maybe this is just one of those times
to let pics of "Home Fries" on Google
just settle it.
http://www.google.com/images?client=f...

[Perilagu Khan]

One nation, under spuds, with bacon fat and ketchup for all.

E pluribus spudum.

[linguafood]

E pluribus tuberosum.

[Perilagu Khan]

Well, spudum is better than sputum.

[linguafood]

Depends on how you prepare it. Pulche, anyone? To wash down that order of bratkartoffeln?

[FoodFuser]

Of Spud or of Spudum
or of Taters Tuberosum
engraved on the etch of the concept of "Pluribus"
There none the less lays concept of taters so fine:

That each of us can fry 'em and do 'em and chew 'em.

E pluribus taters and the joy of masticatumus.

[Perilagu Khan]

That liked to brought a tear to my eye.

[FoodFuser]

There is gift in the grand general concept of the Pluribus
that unites us, however we fry.

Are our taters harshly squared with straight striven edges
or more just a chorus of fun-'ly chopped cubes?

I submit that home fries
gives a license to guys
who are wanting to tackle some home cooking,

[dcdavis]

....

[mucho gordo]

I think home fries are also known as cottage fries in some areas. That may account for why some people never heard of home fries.

[menton1]

This seems have morphed into a recipe thread...

What I wanted to know is if home fries are standard fare at a mom n pop breakfast place down South...

[jla1960]

No.

[linguafood]

Home fries - known in the fatherland as bratkartoffeln, are raw potatoes cooked low and slow in the pan with lard or bacon fat and onions.

Who knows what the south made of that....

[buttertart]

Those are called German fried potatoes in the neck of the midwest I know and love. For good reason apparently.

[ospreycove]

In The Pflaz, the Bratkartoffeln are prepared with Gerauchert Swinefleisch, and I think I had it more as a dinner side dish than at breakfast, maybe a regional thing?1?

[linguafood]

Well, speck is the German version of bacon, and smoked ham or pork might be diced up to be added to the famous Bauernfrühstück = farmer's breakfast, which usually has a few fried eggs and some pickles, too. Talk about working your ass off after eating one of those - farm work should do it '-)

And it's not exclusively eaten in the Pfalz. But you'll mostly find bratkartoffeln as a side dish for mains.

[goodhealthgourmet]

definitely not standard.

but i assume they're easier to find now than they were when i lived in ATL back in the 90's - no one ever understood what i was talking about, they're all about the hash browns down there. i'll never forget the first time i tried to order my beloved home fries when i was back home in Jersey over winter break - i had gotten so used to hearing everyone order hash browns that i accidentally asked for them at a diner in Fort Lee. the waitress looked at me strangely for a second and then asked, "You want corned beef hash?"

[Sal Vanilla]

I think it depends on where in the South and where the mom and pop are from. I see down below in the thread Goodhealth could not find a homefry in the South. But I could all day long. Sometimes they are called fried potatoes. But here in the NW (where I live now) they call them Southern style home fries. Go figure.

Long ago I owned a restaurant in the South. About as South as you could get. We served homefries. Cubed variety, not hashed.

[yfunk3]

NJ diner home fries: parboiled chunks, fried with onions (maybe peppers) and mixed with a little sour cream. Mmm...

[ospreycove]

HOME FRIES....when done right are a sublime addition to the breakfast plate..BUT.....NEVER....NEVER, are they deep fried like many breakfast places now do as a preparation. When in an unfamiliar place for breakfast; I always ask, "Are your home fries done on a flat grill or in a pan?" if not I opt for the grits!

[yfunk3]

I didn't say "deep fried". I said fried, and I intended it to mean on a flattop or in a pan. Settle down.

[ospreycove]

Wow....YFUNK....Did you think I was hurling my personal preferences at you? If so, I stand corrected. I was just saying, true Home Fries are never Deep Fried in the North, place of their birth and where they are revered! In the South some places, primarily chain type breakfast operations, dunk "em in the fryer.....;NOT GOOD!!!!!

[goodhealthgourmet]

funk, i was with you until the sour cream - save that for latkes. NJ diner home fries need ketchup! in fact, home fries are pretty much the only thing in the world i actually put ketchup on. oh, and they must be nice & crispy on the outside with a good amount of browning, and dosed with *plenty* of black pepper.

[yfunk3]

No no, the potatoes aren't dunked in sour cream, and it's not used as a condiment. Rather, it's almost melted into the potatoes and cooked a bit into them, much like one mixes a bit if sour cream into corned beef hash for that little extra something...

[goodhealthgourmet]

hmm, i guess it makes sense in theory, but i don't recall ever picking up on the flavor or creaminess of it in mine. just the standard paprika, salt, pepper, and of course plenty of grease :)

[gaffk]

the standard paprika?

[goodhealthgourmet]

always seasoned with paprika...at least they were in Englewood Cliffs, Fort Lee & Tenafly. not so for yours?

[ospreycove]

All Greek owned/managed N.J Diners use copious amounts of Sweet Paprika. I think it is the color that makes the short order plate look "more expensive"...LOL

[ospreycove]

Goodhealth, are you possibly an alumnus of the "Tenafly Diner"?, The place with the grill about 30" from the counter............You saw every move the cook made and way back they did it withoout written order tickets.

[goodhealthgourmet]

i am! well, sort of. i grew up in Tenafly, but we lived on the East Hill, so the Royal Cliffs Diner was the one we hit most often...particularly since the majority of my diner meals were enjoyed on the way back over the bridge from a long night of partying in the City ;) occasionally my friends would talk me into stopping at the Plaza Diner, but their cheese fries sucked.

[fourunder]

You cannot mention the Tenafly Diner and the Grill......without mentioning the can of lard on the side for your eggs....and with regards to paprika, you haven't lived until you have experienced orange fish and orange gravy.....

[goodhealthgourmet]

"you haven't lived until you have experienced orange fish and orange gravy"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
totally! thanks for the memory :) BTW, the Tenafly Diner was completely redone several years ago, and when i was back East and my old college roommate from ATL was in town i took her there for brunch. you can't see the kitchen anymore, and the home fries weren't up to snuff...but they definitely had plenty of paprika in them, as evidenced by the reddish-pink grease that collected on the plate around them!

[gaffk]

Nope, not in the Philly area. Everything else just as you said, but no paprika. Maybe I need to take a field trip as it sounds tasty.

[goodhealthgourmet]

Philly? no wonder! that's cheesesteak territory ;) gotta hit North Jersey for the tried-and-true home fries. if you ever have a reason to be at the Meadowlands, check out the Tick Tock Diner nearby in Clifton.

[gaffk]

Yes, but cheesesteaks are strictly brunch, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and late night snack fare ;) At breakfast, we like to broaden our horizons to include scrapple and home fries!

[goodhealthgourmet]

right, i forgot about scrapple! okay then, Philly should stick to scrapple and cheesesteaks, and Jersey gets home fries, and cheese fries with gravy!

[gaffk]

Cheese fries with gravy? Sounds about as appetizing to me as scrapple probably does to you :) But I refuse to relinquish my home fries, and must petition my local diners to start adding paprika!

[goodhealthgourmet]

well-done, crispy fries smothered in melted cheese, with a side order of gravy for dipping...trust me on this one. *try* them at a diner in North Jersey sometime.

[gaffk]

I don't know. Guess it would depend on the type of cheese and how hungry I am.

[goodhealthgourmet]

i'm partial to cheddar or American, but some places (mostly on Long Island) use mozz.

[gaffk]

Hmmm . . .I'm a mozz girl myself for cheese fries. Unfortunately, work takes me to North Jersey sometimes, but never to LI, so I guess I'll never know.

But I'm still petitioning my local places to put paprika in their home fries.

[goodhealthgourmet]

well let me know if you ever need any other Chow recs for North Jersey...and i think you should rustle up support among the Philly Hounds and start an e-mail campaign re: the paprika ;)

[ospreycove]

Gaffk....Go to French Canada and Poutaine is as common as Grits in Georgia. It starts with french fries, then cheese and covered with a thick gravy. See the "Yummy" photo....lol
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottmar...

[gaffk]

Glad I didn't see that before Christmas dinner . . .I don't think I'll have much of an appetite for at least 24 hours, trying to erase that image from my mind ;)

[fryerlover]

I have to agree that the image of A&W Poutine does not do real Poutine justice. If you get it at a place that makes good Poutine, you'll be hooked. There are shops here that make only Poutine dishes and they do quite well. I've attached a link to one of the places in case anyone is curious about it as it has become more than just cheese and gravy now.
http://smokespoutinerie.com/main.html

[gaffk]

I had a feeling the A&W version probably wasn't representative. I recall reading a review of a new restaurant in my area recently that highlighted its poutine (very unusual here in Philly). Maybe I'll have to try it (after all, bever hurts to try anything once).

Thanks for the link.

[fryerlover]

You are very welcome.
Oh, well if you do try it, make sure to update us. True, I always love to try new things at least once. I eat poutine rarely as it has zero nutritional value.
Actually, it was invented in Quebec and the one time I went there I had it and it was horrible. I've found much better in Toronto. Hopefully it is good, as poutine can be made really good or really bad.

[gaffk]

Actually, it turns out there are at least 3 good restaurants here that serve it. I'll definitely check it out in the new year (though I won't promise to like it ;)

[mariacarmen]

ack, gad, that's awful! i had poutine in a couple of places in Montreal and none of them looked like that. I wouldn't say I got hooked, but they were certainly palatable, and I would totally eat them at 2 a.m. after a good night of drinking.

[linguafood]

there's not a whole lot of food one WOULDN'T eat @2 am after a good night of drinking.

[buttertart]

Truer words was never spoke.

[mariacarmen]

that Arby's concoction might just be the one, though....

[linguafood]

agreed. arby's... i'd have to be unconscious and force-fed.

[ospreycove]

Your health insuance will be voided if the ins.company finds out you ate Poutine!!!!!........LOL

[FoodFuser]

The goodness of slices of hot fried good scrapple
that sizzle as one flips them forth with a spatula
that plop on the plate with their crispy good edges

are a perfect accompaniment for some home-fried potatoes.

And also a nestle of two gently fried eggs.

And, dang it, a side-bowl of well-buttered grits.

[gaffk]

Oh FoodFuser, I was about to annoint you poet laureate of spuds . . .but then you had to go and add that reference to grits :(

[FoodFuser]

Ain't worried of laurels
but I'm gently concerned
there are conjugate Chowhounds
who haven't yet chewed

The Harmony of Hominy
and those slowly ground grits.

[buttertart]

Harmony of Hominy - move over Gerard Manley Hopkins, here comes FoodFuser!

[redfish62]

When I was in college in the south after a night of partying we would get a breakfast that consisted of home fries, cheese melted over the fries, and eggs over the fries and cheese.

I never ran into "hash browns" very much except for the stuff they sell at fast food places.

[jla1960]

Hash browns are nearly as common as grits in my part of the South. True home fries are still fairly rare. As Christnp said, food in the USA is becoming more homogenized and less regional in nature.

[FoodFuser]

C'mon folks, lets focus on taters
and not be just denigrators of grits.

Hashbrowns and latkes and softly fried rostis
are taters that have been already shredded.

"Home Fries" are hunks, or cubes, or sliced chunks
that are not shredded, but solid.

In my family tradition we've always pre-nuked them
so they slice down real easily and fit in the foam of the pan.

Since pre-cooked, all that you've gotta do
is check that they're browned and good crispy.

The tradition of Home Fries came from those times
when spuds were baked up in twenty pound bundles.
(Admittedly, pre-nuclear days).

So: nuke 'em, then slice 'em
maybe cube 'em or dice 'em
Give them suckle of frying in well heated cast-iron

But never confuse them with the shreds of the hashbrowns
or harmony of hominy honed to perfection
in a bag of some goodly ground grits.

[redfish62]

That's my understanding of the terms, hash browns are the shredded things, I have not seen them on menus very often.

[Christnp]

I think regional food is becoming less regional in general. Possibly due to the preponderance of food infotainment shows (foodfotainment?). In Texas, it's common to see both home fries and grits on the menu.

[gaffk]

I think if you read this thread it's quite the opposite. We all "know" hash browns and home fries; yet they are all different.

To me, home fries are diced potatoes, cooked with onions, in lots of butter--crusty on the outside, mushy on the inside. And they are served with every diner dish known to man. But apparently, this is not universal in the US.

Grits? I have traveled the south and have never seen them. Only Southern recollection is biscuits and gravy .But again, a limited sample.

[fryerlover]

I am opposite the direction you are looking in.........I am south Ontario, Canada. Here I have only seen homefries in restaurants and we also make them at home on special occasions (due to diet, not any special reason). Have never seen grits or tried them. And as for hashbrowns.......only see those at McDonalds.

[mamachef]

Those are not! and never will be! true hash browns! those are nasty, stinky potato patties!

[Perilagu Khan]

I love it when you get your dudgeon up.

[fryerlover]

haha.......hey I was going off of your description of hashbrowns being shredded and that is all I could think of. Then I must say I have never had a hashbrown either. What you describe as a hashbrown sounds like a potato latke to me? Can you tell me the difference between a true hashbrown and a potato latke? I've had potato latkes and love them, but not sure if that is what you mean by hashbrown.

[masha]

The potatoes for latkes are shredded far more finely than for hashbrowns, and are more integrated into a batter, composed of matzoh meal (or flour) and eggs. Hashbrowns are predominantly potatoes, with just a scant amount of binder to hold them together.

[fryerlover]

Thanks for the explanation. So then I don't think I've had real hashbrowns. Now I'll be on the hunt for real hashbrowns.

[rockandroller1]

hashbrowns don't come in some kind of cake form, they're just loose. That's the big difference to me. Also, not deep-fried like they are at the arches. That just isn't hash browns at all, it's shredded, fried, potato cake. But that's not nice for marketing purposes.

[Will Owen]

I have a weakness (possibly fatal, if I don't watch it!) for those McDo potato things, and for Arby's version as well (do they still offer it?). No, it's NOT hash browns, nor are those rectangular patties that come frozen in a box, despite the label. But fry me a potato in any format whatsoever and I will eat it, and thank you very much!

[chowser]

Oh, I just had hash browns that were just like that--deep fried, little circular bite sized patties. Those are odd shaped tator tots, not hash browns!

[jeanmarieok]

We call those little disk shaped hash browns 'scoobie snacks'....

[mariacarmen]

oooh mamachef. i kinda like them. but NOT to the exclusion of REAL hashbrowns. and i have to say if hashbrowns are done right - fluffy buttery mound of crispy potato - and you can tell by looking at them in a restaurant at others' tables - i will order them over home fries.

and i'm agreeing with Will Owen - fried potatoes of any kind are just never bad! it's potato! it's fried! what could be bad about that?

[Perilagu Khan]

Sprinkle fried spuds on the Middle East and watch peace reign.

[mariacarmen]

( :

[JuniorBalloon]

Just add bacon, stir and watch peace bloom.

jb

[gaffk]

Not sure you want to add bacon in a kosher\muslim territory?

[JuniorBalloon]

Pork is healing food.

jb

[Sal Vanilla]

Maybe turkey bacon! Soycon?

[Perilagu Khan]

What, exactly, is the diff between homefries and hashbrowns? The latter, if not the former, have been a staple in WesTex as long as I can remember.

[mamachef]

To my understanding, which involves a great deal of personal preference, homefries are "chunked" potatoes, and hash(ed) browns are shredded, which is just how I like 'em. All the better to catch the egg yolk with.

[menton1]

Totally different! Hash browns look like they went through a meat grinder and have a very soft consistency. Home fries are cut in chunks, par boiled, and then pan fried in butter, sometimes with onions and/or peppers. Home fries are crispy on the outside and semi soft on the inside.

I've seen hash browns down South, but I wanted to know if home fries are now available with eggs at breakfast places there.

[lemons]

We never used a parboiled potato when I was growing up and neither do I. They weren't for breakfaswt, but rathr a side dish in the wintertime. And at our house an essential ingredient was and is chopped or sliced onions cooked with the potatoes so the oniony flavor gets distributed. Could make a meal of 'em....

[fryerlover]

That is also how I cook homefries when I make them. Not parboiled, and must have lots of butter, onion and also fresh garlic. Although they are only eaten with breakfast and rarely at any other time unless you go to a place that serves all day breakfast and even then sometimes they switch to actual french fries after a certain time.

[Perilagu Khan]

Right. In my neck o' the woods, or in lieu thereof, cotton fields, we call homefries "fried taters," but never have them for breakfast. Instead, they make a marvelous accompaniment to a pot of pinto beans and a cast-iron skillet of cornbread. Strickly supper fare.

[masha]

To me "home fries" are thick-sliced rounds, not chunks, of potatoes that are fried in oil. Growing up, they were mainly a side with dinner and made out of left over baked potatoes -- not that you would not make them from uncooked potatoes but it takes longer and we just didn't. I still use up baked potatoes that way, generally as a side with dinner, but sometimes to accompany breakfast on weekends. And, if I'm in the mood and there aren't any leftover bakers, I'll make them with fresh, uncooked potatoes. (My mother always removed the skins, but I never do.)

[Will Owen]

Ours were always made from leftover boiled potatoes, cooked with some onion in bacon grease, yum yum. I make mine from leftover roasted potatoes, cut down a bit in size to cook faster.

There have always been places in Nashville and that general part of the world where home fries were on the menu. The Hermitage Cafe, a tiny (formerly 24-hour) joint across from where General Hospital used to be, has no grits on the menu at all, but they've always had home fries, and the local chain Sylvan Park restaurants have both.

[mamachef]

In my experience, admittedly limited, I've seen homefries available in more corporate, chain-y restaurants when traveling the southland. In the smalltown restaurants I've tended to search out, it was all about the grits; not even a choice. Which was perfectly ok with me, especially with extra butter and lots of salt and pepper.