Experimentation
Dec. 25th, 2006 09:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidI do not come from a hash-eating* family.
* Nor a hash-smoking one**, but that's not relevant to this post***.
** As far as I know.
*** Surprise! A food post!
However, this summer, I got it into my head that I wanted to try corned beef hash. Lo and behold, I was taken to Rubin's, which had corned beef hash on the menu. I ordered it, and got.... salty potato-and-meat paste. This was not what I'd wanted, but it was officially hash, and the idea got dislodged from my head.
Fast-forward to last week, when it occurred to me that I have an awful lot of potatoes to get through, and I was in the mood for something salty. Corned beef hash! The perfect solution, using up potatoes and onions, and getting me my salt fix. Of course, this required a trip to Brookline to get corned beef. I was lucky, and they had packages of deli ends with lots of corned beef chunks in it (I didn't want the presliced stuff, since it was too thin, and a whole slab of corned beef was too much, so I was glad to find them).
Home again, I thought about how to make hash. Ideally, it would be in a frying pan, but my two choices for fleishig pots are either a deep soup pot, or a wok. The wok seemed more likely, so I went with that. I chopped up a couple of onions fairly finely, ditto to the potatoes, covered them, and let them cook. Of course, real hash would use leftovers, but I didn't have any. Once the veggies were cooked, I cut up some of the corned beef and mixed that in. I let that get friendly for a while, in the meantime checking a variety of hash options with Chef Google. None mentioned eggs, so I didn't add any.
It took me a while to realize why I'd thought of eggs. No, not the poached egg that's served atop traditional hash, but latkes, which use egg as a binder. Which would mean a big piece of hash, properly encrusted on both sides, would be... a fleishig latke? Hm. This year I've heard of latkes with rosemary, sweet potato latkes (with cayenne or fermented black beans), milchig latkes (with cottage cheese or other soft cheeses), even non-potato latkes (other root veggies, like shredded carrot or parsnip or beet). But fleishig latkes.... odd, and yet appealing. I should remember this for next year.
I was impatient, so I didn't wait long enough for the mass to form much of a crust on the bottom (so of course I couldn't flip it, either). I had to try some, and it was good, but... not nearly salty enough. I suspect I didn't have a high enough meat : potato ratio. Still, it was decent, and there wasn't time to do anything more to it, as I'd turned off the burner just before lighting Shabbat candles.
However, after Shabbat... I decided to make another batch. Not the same, either: this time I'd add the leftover roasted beets I'd made partly for Shabbat, and partly so I could attempt red flannel hash. I used the same idea as the batch before, but with many fewer potatoes, and the rest of the leftover beets. This had the advantage of the black pepper I'd put in with the beets, plus a beautiful color. I waited longer this time, so a partial crust formed on the bottom, but I was too nervous about having a mess of burned-on stuff on my wok, so I wimped, and had it before that stage. (If I took all the veggies out when they were cooked, mixed the meat in, then reheated the cleaned-out wok with enough oil, I suspect it would be fine, but I was too lazy to do this.) Much better, but still not salty enough. Hm. Worth making another batch sometime, when I get more corned beef.
* Nor a hash-smoking one**, but that's not relevant to this post***.
** As far as I know.
*** Surprise! A food post!
However, this summer, I got it into my head that I wanted to try corned beef hash. Lo and behold, I was taken to Rubin's, which had corned beef hash on the menu. I ordered it, and got.... salty potato-and-meat paste. This was not what I'd wanted, but it was officially hash, and the idea got dislodged from my head.
Fast-forward to last week, when it occurred to me that I have an awful lot of potatoes to get through, and I was in the mood for something salty. Corned beef hash! The perfect solution, using up potatoes and onions, and getting me my salt fix. Of course, this required a trip to Brookline to get corned beef. I was lucky, and they had packages of deli ends with lots of corned beef chunks in it (I didn't want the presliced stuff, since it was too thin, and a whole slab of corned beef was too much, so I was glad to find them).
Home again, I thought about how to make hash. Ideally, it would be in a frying pan, but my two choices for fleishig pots are either a deep soup pot, or a wok. The wok seemed more likely, so I went with that. I chopped up a couple of onions fairly finely, ditto to the potatoes, covered them, and let them cook. Of course, real hash would use leftovers, but I didn't have any. Once the veggies were cooked, I cut up some of the corned beef and mixed that in. I let that get friendly for a while, in the meantime checking a variety of hash options with Chef Google. None mentioned eggs, so I didn't add any.
It took me a while to realize why I'd thought of eggs. No, not the poached egg that's served atop traditional hash, but latkes, which use egg as a binder. Which would mean a big piece of hash, properly encrusted on both sides, would be... a fleishig latke? Hm. This year I've heard of latkes with rosemary, sweet potato latkes (with cayenne or fermented black beans), milchig latkes (with cottage cheese or other soft cheeses), even non-potato latkes (other root veggies, like shredded carrot or parsnip or beet). But fleishig latkes.... odd, and yet appealing. I should remember this for next year.
I was impatient, so I didn't wait long enough for the mass to form much of a crust on the bottom (so of course I couldn't flip it, either). I had to try some, and it was good, but... not nearly salty enough. I suspect I didn't have a high enough meat : potato ratio. Still, it was decent, and there wasn't time to do anything more to it, as I'd turned off the burner just before lighting Shabbat candles.
However, after Shabbat... I decided to make another batch. Not the same, either: this time I'd add the leftover roasted beets I'd made partly for Shabbat, and partly so I could attempt red flannel hash. I used the same idea as the batch before, but with many fewer potatoes, and the rest of the leftover beets. This had the advantage of the black pepper I'd put in with the beets, plus a beautiful color. I waited longer this time, so a partial crust formed on the bottom, but I was too nervous about having a mess of burned-on stuff on my wok, so I wimped, and had it before that stage. (If I took all the veggies out when they were cooked, mixed the meat in, then reheated the cleaned-out wok with enough oil, I suspect it would be fine, but I was too lazy to do this.) Much better, but still not salty enough. Hm. Worth making another batch sometime, when I get more corned beef.
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no subject
Date: 2006-12-26 02:21 am (UTC)I've still not made red flannel hash though I suspect I'd like it a great deal. Unfortunately, I'm the only one in the house that eats both the corned beef and beets so the incentive to cook the pre-leftovers is low. :)
no subject
Date: 2006-12-26 02:42 am (UTC)Caramelization makes me think of roasting. I wonder if once all the ingredients are cooked, I could just form a pancake of stuff on a baking tray and roast it, ending off with some minutes under the broiler? Might be worth trying.
I admit, I really made the beets just for the later hash, but I can see your point; cooking for one when there are greater-than-one people in a place doesn't work nearly as well. Next time I make the red flannel hash, I should invite you to join me :-).
no subject
Date: 2006-12-26 10:45 am (UTC)Probably not exactly what you meant, but plain potato latkes fried in schmaltz are of course fleishig.
A cast-iron skillet could work well for this and other meat preparations, whether simply for stovetop or also for oven use. Is storage space an issue for such an item?
no subject
Date: 2006-12-26 02:10 pm (UTC)Storage space is always at a premium, plus there's the issue of distinguishing it from my current, pareve cast-iron skillet (and I had a hard time choosing when I got it, I can tell you). If I get a smaller one than the current one (which is 12 inches in diameter, I think), then it's easier to store, but perhaps not large enough to cook quantities for Shabbat meals (though one might argue that I've got plenty of large pots as it is). If I get a larger one than the current one, it's harder to find storage space, and much harder to handle/lift, though I suppose I'd get used to that. (Increase arm strength by cookware!) I'm too concerned about mix-ups to want one that's the same size, unless it's noticeably different, like the enameled ones, but I'm far too cheap to spring for that, plus they have to be treated more delicately than regular cast-iron.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-26 04:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-26 05:34 pm (UTC)OK, ice cream and theater when you're in Boston!
no subject
Date: 2006-12-26 07:24 pm (UTC):)
no subject
Date: 2006-12-26 06:19 pm (UTC)An enameled cast-iron frying pan is not really what you'd want here anyway.
Hmm, but perhaps there is an enamel paint that would be safe to use for cookware with which you could paint the handle of an identical regular cast-iron pan so as to distinguish it?
no subject
Date: 2006-12-27 12:16 am (UTC)PS
Date: 2006-12-26 02:11 pm (UTC)Re: PS
Date: 2006-12-26 06:48 pm (UTC)A goose is a traditional Chanukah dish, I believe, with preparation of such leading to latkes fried in goose schmaltz.
Re: PS
Date: 2006-12-27 12:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-26 11:37 am (UTC)I have nothing else to add, since I don't eat meat, but now I want hashbrowns! :)
no subject
Date: 2006-12-26 02:12 pm (UTC)I hadn't realized you're vegetarian. *makes a note of it*
no subject
Date: 2006-12-26 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-26 05:34 pm (UTC)(I'd never had hash before the deli stuff this summer, oddly enough.)
no subject
Date: 2006-12-26 06:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-27 12:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-28 05:24 pm (UTC)