How do y'all make loose/patty hash browns?

[Kathleen]

I cannot wait to hear how they turn out when you make them!

 

[BAPyessir6]

Most instructions say not to let the items overlap. I know with bananas, apples and all sorts of things really dry glued to each other if overlapped. Was sort of thinking maybe as they were shredded it wouldn't be as bad.
Although your first picture does show them fairly deep! LOL.

In all honesty I got kinda lazy spreading them out. I only had 4 dehydrator racks to use and I didn't want to fridge/freeze the shreds and do another round the following day.

 

[BAPyessir6]

I cannot wait to hear how they turn out when you make them!

Thanks, I'll probably make them in the next few days and compare with fresh grated, soaked, russets.

The ratio of rehydration apparently is somewhere in the ballpark of 1 part potatoes to 1.5 parts water by weight.

 

[dragnlaw]

I only just realized after rereading some of the posts just how many potatoes you were doing!
D'ats a lotta patats, lady! No wonder you stuffed them all on the tray. Can't say I blame you. A suggestion? maybe not make quiiite so many when doing an experiment? LOL

 

[BAPyessir6]

I only just realized after rereading some of the posts just how many potatoes you were doing!
D'ats a lotta patats, lady! No wonder you stuffed them all on the tray. Can't say I blame you. A suggestion? maybe not make quiiite so many when doing an experiment? LOL

This is true. But man! It barely fills 1/3 of a gallon zip top when it's dehydrated! Everything shrinks so much when the water is gone!

 

[Kathleen]

I may have missed the answer to this, but did you peel them?

 

[dcSaute]

I 'enjoyed' potato patties in many forms, and tried in long long ago . . .
and since been pondering on several options...

#1 - one can imagine that some kind of 'binder' is needed to keep a heap of potato bits / pieces / slices / shreds 'together in a patty'
russets, being high starch, if not rinsed(!),, should have their natural starch as a "glue"

#2 - shred vs. sliced vs. mandolin "julienned" . . .
I have an OXO mandolin, it has a blade 'setting' that will slice to the controlled thickness, and julienne to the size of the fixed blade spacing.... it is 'quick' - leaves me wondering if I peel, then slice/julienne on the mandolin (just about directly) into the (hot) pan . . . would that make a potato-nothing-but-potato-stuck together patty?
that would result in more of "strings" than "grated" . . . easier/harder to 'pattify?'

anyone tried that?

 

[BAPyessir6]

I may have missed the answer to this, but did you peel them?

I did!

 

[BAPyessir6]

So to follow up. It doesn't work. Dehydrating then rehydrating (overnight in the fridge).

For some reason, they're all very chewy when you refry them, even when rehydrating in boiling water, shreds completely covered, over night.

I did find a good halfway though.

Rehydrating then freezing the dehydrated potatoes for some reason leads them to be much less chewy and way more similar to fresh shreds.

My second attempt at hash browns threw out dehydrating altogether.

I took the spuds, peeled, shredded, and blanched them for about 45 seconds. After blanching and getting out as much excess water as I could, I froze them in a single layer and have 2 bags in the freezer currently (one of white and one of yellow potatoes).

I have not done a test with yellow yet, but here are pictures of freshly shredded potatoes vs the blanched frozen ones.

As you can see, both were fried same time/temp, at about 350 for 7 minutes a side. Obviously the frozen ones are less golden, but aside from that, the texture is almost indistinguishable. Me, my husband, my sister, and best friend all couldn't tell a difference.

In short, we have a winner! Shredded frozen and vacuum sealed will now be my standard to use up extra potatoes, though more work than grating, it is easier to throw frozen in a pan and let it rip than shred the potatoes yourself when you're also making pancakes/eggs/waffles, etc.

I'll also do a comparison of frozen russet vs frozen yellow shreds soon, and will post how that turned out as well.

Oh. And also to note, it was harder to keep the frozen shreds in patty form. Not impossible, but definitely harder. I barely got it to work, though making the potatoes more golden before flipping would've helped. So if you want a patty style and not loose/looser shreds, keep that in mind that fresh works better in staying together.

In case anyone's wondering, the whole rehydration ratio of 1:1.5 is kinda bull crap. Like they were so chewy at that ratio. I even upped the water content to 1:3 overnight, and it still wasn't good. I'm probably going to rehydrate then freeze, as that cut through the toughness/chewiness quite well.

 

[caseydog]

So to follow up. It doesn't work. Dehydrating then rehydrating (overnight in the fridge).

For some reason, they're all very chewy when you refry them, even when rehydrating in boiling water, shreds completely covered, over night.

I did find a good halfway though.

Rehydrating then freezing the dehydrated potatoes for some reason leads them to be much less chewy and way more similar to fresh shreds.

My second attempt at hash browns threw out dehydrating altogether.

I took the spuds, peeled, shredded, and blanched them for about 45 seconds. After blanching and getting out as much excess water as I could, I froze them in a single layer and have 2 bags in the freezer currently (one of white and one of yellow potatoes).

I have not done a test with yellow yet, but here are pictures of freshly shredded potatoes vs the blanched frozen ones.

As you can see, both were fried same time/temp, at about 350 for 7 minutes a side. Obviously the frozen ones are less golden, but aside from that, the texture is almost indistinguishable. Me, my husband, my sister, and best friend all couldn't tell a difference.

In short, we have a winner! Shredded frozen and vacuum sealed will now be my standard to use up extra potatoes, though more work than grating, it is easier to throw frozen in a pan and let it rip than shred the potatoes yourself when you're also making pancakes/eggs/waffles, etc.

I'll also do a comparison of frozen russet vs frozen yellow shreds soon, and will post how that turned out as well.

Oh. And also to note, it was harder to keep the frozen shreds in patty form. Not impossible, but definitely harder. I barely got it to work, though making the potatoes more golden before flipping would've helped. So if you want a patty style and not loose/looser shreds, keep that in mind that fresh works better in staying together.

In case anyone's wondering, the whole rehydration ratio of 1:1.5 is kinda bull crap. Like they were so chewy at that ratio. I even upped the water content to 1:3 overnight, and it still wasn't good. I'm probably going to rehydrate then freeze, as that cut through the toughness/chewiness quite well.

Most of the top store bought frozen potatoes par cook their potatoes, as I understand. Works well for them, so it makes sense to do the same at home.

CD

 

[taxlady]

So to follow up. It doesn't work. Dehydrating then rehydrating (overnight in the fridge).

For some reason, they're all very chewy when you refry them, even when rehydrating in boiling water, shreds completely covered, over night.

I did find a good halfway though.

Rehydrating then freezing the dehydrated potatoes for some reason leads them to be much less chewy and way more similar to fresh shreds.

My second attempt at hash browns threw out dehydrating altogether.

I took the spuds, peeled, shredded, and blanched them for about 45 seconds. After blanching and getting out as much excess water as I could, I froze them in a single layer and have 2 bags in the freezer currently (one of white and one of yellow potatoes).

I have not done a test with yellow yet, but here are pictures of freshly shredded potatoes vs the blanched frozen ones.

As you can see, both were fried same time/temp, at about 350 for 7 minutes a side. Obviously the frozen ones are less golden, but aside from that, the texture is almost indistinguishable. Me, my husband, my sister, and best friend all couldn't tell a difference.

In short, we have a winner! Shredded frozen and vacuum sealed will now be my standard to use up extra potatoes, though more work than grating, it is easier to throw frozen in a pan and let it rip than shred the potatoes yourself when you're also making pancakes/eggs/waffles, etc.

I'll also do a comparison of frozen russet vs frozen yellow shreds soon, and will post how that turned out as well.

Oh. And also to note, it was harder to keep the frozen shreds in patty form. Not impossible, but definitely harder. I barely got it to work, though making the potatoes more golden before flipping would've helped. So if you want a patty style and not loose/looser shreds, keep that in mind that fresh works better in staying together.

In case anyone's wondering, the whole rehydration ratio of 1:1.5 is kinda bull crap. Like they were so chewy at that ratio. I even upped the water content to 1:3 overnight, and it still wasn't good. I'm probably going to rehydrate then freeze, as that cut through the toughness/chewiness quite well.

Thank you for the report/review.

 

[Kathleen]

Yes, thank you so much!