Help wanted for making hash brown potatoes golden

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Not to my knowledge. But why not just use organic Canola oil? It's not GMO.

Peanut oil has some issues as well. It contains a great deal of saturated fat, and is very omega-6 heavy (omega-6 fatty acids are the ones that promote blood clotting). A single tablespoon of peanut oil contains 4 grams of omega-6 and virtually no omega-3.

I guess mostly I don't buy organic products because they cost more and frankly they're just not in my budget, can't afford to pay more.

I guess it's a lucky thing that I fry so rarely. For one thing, I don't think eating a lot of deep fried food is good for a person. And also, frying uses up an awful lot of oil (say, compared to pan saute) and again I can seldom afford to use a whole bottle of oil to cook one meal. Yes you can reuse oil of course but my experience is that most oils with most foods can be used only a very limited number of times.

Lucky thing for me that I enjoy stir fried foods so much. A little bit of olive oil is usually all I need.
 
Canola is Rapeseed oil. Rape (from the Latin "Rapa") is a type of turnip. The phrase "Canola" was invented in Canada, not the oil itself.

According to the website Canolainfo.org ....Canola Oil and the "Canola Plant"
were invented (grown) in Canada. The Rapeseed plant you are referring to,
and the "Canola Plant" are not the same. The Rapeseed plant was bred to
have a lower amount of acid that was considered safe for humans to
consume. This plant is considered to be different than the Rapeseed plant,
and is called the Canola Plant.
Granted, this website could post false information, but from my research
it appears to be correct. The link is below.
CanolaInfo | What is Canola Oil?

The breeding of the Canola plant from the Rapeseed plant may be safe
for humans...I am not 100% convinced of this...but that is my personal
opinion.
What made me decide not to use Canola Oil was when I found out that
the Monsanto Corporation had genetically modified the seed and patented
it. This gave me concern as I am not yet convinced that it is a good idea
for people to consume genetically modified foods, as these foods are not
natural. Plus there is some real concerns about the long term impact on
our environment from the planting of these crops. Below is a link to a
Google search that lists many websites that discuss this at great length.
genetically modified foods and the environmet - Google Search
 
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I wondered what was in Whirl - anyone know? I have used this product as well and it has a pretty high smoke point.. I'm betting safflower oil but it's only a guess.
 
I have no problem with selective breeding.



The problem I have is when foreign DNA from other species are inserted into food crops. For example, insect DNA inserted into plant crops. I'm sure there's plenty of other better examples. Maybe most of the GMO examples are fairly sane things but my problem is when things not related to the crop species are inserted. I don't believe testing has reached the point of complete certainty that GMO crops are safe. I don't believe that science has reached that level of ultimate certainty.


I cook mostly using Olive oil and/or butter. I've been using Canola oil for frying, sometimes Peanut oil. I'm thinking maybe I'll switch from using Canola to Peanut. I probably won't be surprised if somebody tells me my Olive and Peanut are GMO too.

Sorry folks, I just don't want to use GMO stuff. And yes, I accept there's probably lots of GMO stuff in my diet that I don't even know about. That bothers me. Unfortunately you can't just quit eating.
A friend of mine's area of expertise is plant genetics. As she puts it, "I don't know what you are going to eat if you stay away from foods that have been modified." Hybrids vs. heirloom tomatoes come to mind. Not all GMO stuff has foreign DNA inserted. The US is one of the leaders in developing disease resistant plants, without which, many more folks in 3rd world countries would not have 2 square meals / day (that's right, not three). The availability of disease-resistant corn has been severely affected by the switch to producing corn for ethanol vs. for food.
 
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I think you will get the best results from using the dehydrated Hash Browns.
I have seen them at King Soopers (Kroger), also both Costco & Sam's Club
sell them.

Ummm, aren't Ore-Ida brand frozen hash browns dehydrated like the ones at the other places you mentioned?
 
that figures about canola oil and canada.

they probably extract it from those darn geese, which is why so many are in the u.s..

escapees from canola factories...
 
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The "taters" are not riced, they are shredded with a grater. A hot grill with some oil works the best, but a good heavy frying pan also works. Oil will make them crispy. If you need to play with them to check on their crispiness, just peek at a couple shreds on the edge. Eventually you should learn when they are perfect and ready to flip in one nice crispy piece. Some things just take practice and maybe you will never make perfect hash browns but do great with something else. Good luck.
 
Ummm, aren't Ore-Ida brand frozen hash browns dehydrated like the ones at the other places you mentioned?

I don't think so. All you need to do with the frozen Hash Browns is put them
on the grill (griddle/pan) and cook them. The dehydrated ones come in a
cardboard box, and you have to fill the box with water to re-hydrate them
before you cook them.

I don't see any reason to freeze dehydrated potatoes. Unless that is
something new that I haven't seen yet.
 
I just wanted to say my potato ricer arrived yesterday and wow, the amount of water that came out of the grated potato was substantial. They fried up really easily to a nice golden color. I'm in hash heaven now, thanks to the ricer. A fantastic tip I missed out on for years. No more oil soaked awful looking hard to cook hash browns from now on for me. They fry up much easier than the frozen hash browns too, even with those I had difficulty. They are shredded too thin and small.
 
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I'll have to get me one of them potato ricers. I've found that moisture is the principal enemy when making hash browns and other similar recipes.

Cheesecloth had been a good ally. Particularly when onions are involved. (Onions are mostly moisture.)
 
I'll have to get me one of them potato ricers. I've found that moisture is the principal enemy when making hash browns and other similar recipes.

Cheesecloth had been a good ally. Particularly when onions are involved. (Onions are mostly moisture.)

Again on the topic of frozen shredded Ore-Ida Hash Browns, I had the same problem with moisture content cooking those. I think they just shred them and freeze them without removing the moisture.
 
I like to soak the shredded potatoes in acidulated ice water for at least a couple of hours if not overnight. Then I pour off the water and dump the potatoes into a clean dish towel to wring them very dry. Probably a salad spinner would work too. It takes out a lot of the starch and I get tender, crisp hash browns. As for the onions, when I want them I chop the onions and put in a small glass bowl with a pat or two of butter and I nuke them. Then I add them to the finished hashbrowns. Now I never get burnt little bits of onion running through my hash browns...works for me.
 
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Hash browns are part of the breakfast I cook every Thursday morning for the homeless shelter guests. The church has a big old National stove, four burners and two ovens and a huge griddle. I chop a couple of big sweet onions in the food processor and dump them into a steam table tray, then change to the fine shredding disk and push washed, halved unpeeled russets through it, dump into the tray with the onions, salt it lightly and hand mix while the griddle heats on a medium flame. I have been using canola oil because it is cheap and nobody seems allergic to it, and our several vegetarians are OK with it. I use an ice cream scoop to portio out balls of potato/onion mix onto the griddle and leave them alone for ten minutes, then check the first one I put on. If it is ready, I start turning and flattening them into patties, and let the whole thing go until brown on the bottom. While I wait to turn them, I portion out loose bulk sausage onto the griddle using a smaller scoop. Cook the sausage the same way I cook the potatoes. When done, they all go into the same (cleaned) tray with wire cooling racks and paper towels in the bottom, cover with a dish towel, and into a warm oven while I scramble three dozen eggs, the last dozen with chorizo, then warm flour tortillas. The whole deal takes about forty minutes. We seldom have left over anything.
 
I use an ice cream scoop to portio out balls of potato/onion mix onto the griddle and leave them alone for ten minutes, then check the first one I put on. If it is ready, I start turning and flattening them into patties, and let the whole thing go until brown on the bottom.

Ice cream scoop huh? Makes sense in that it allows more hashbrown servings to be be cooked on a given cooking space? OK.
 
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now that you have your spuds down, try cooking a scoop in bacon grease with a bit of paprika. you can say it's cheating, but it's delicious nonetheless.
 
Bacon grease is a rare commodity at the church, but I will try it at home. Maybe I could start the sausage before the taters at shelter, and push the grease over to the area where I'll do them.
 

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