Bacon Hash Browns

These Bacon Hash Browns come from the Gourmet Traveller blog.

Bacon Hash Browns, makes 12

Ingredients: 3 medium potatoes, 1 small onion, 3 rashers streaky bacon, chopped, 1 tbsp self-raising flour, 1/2 tbsp milk, 1 egg, freshly ground black pepper, vegetable oil (for deep-frying), sea salt

Peel and coarsely grate the potatoes and onions and place in a large mixing bowl. Finely chop the bacon and add to the same bowl, together with the flour, milk, egg and a good grinding of black pepper. Mix well to combine.

Heat 3 inches of your oil in a deep pan and place heaped tablespoonfuls of the potato mixture in to fry – you will need to do them in two batches. Deep fry for 2 minutes until the edges start to turn golden then flip over and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Drain on kitchen towels and season liberally with salt.

Eat immediately, or keep warm in a low oven until ready to serve.

You can see the full recipe here

Random Tater Pic of the Day #182

Friend and frequent French Fry Diary contributor Cindy sent this one along from The Keg Room in New York City.

"Hot homemade potato chips at the Keg Room across the street from our hotel in NYC. Total yum. Not at all salty with a spicy blue cheese dipping sauce. Awesome. They totally smoke the Friars Nook."

The Albert Bartlett Rooster Potatoes Commercial Revolution

Recently potatoes have taken front and center place in television advertising. Actress Marcia Cross, the flaming redhead best known for her roles in "Desperate Housewives," and a decade before that "Melrose Place," is at the center of this ad campaign.

Albert Bartlett has introduced a new (well, not so new, but new here) red potato to the United States, neither Red nor Russet, the Rooster Potato is one of their prizes and they're pushing it hard, on TV. They also market the Anya, Blonde Bella, and Sundance Potato varieties.



The above was the introductory ad of this campaign, and the full commercial, looking every bit like it's selling conditioner, is here. Enjoy.

French Fry Diary 640: Ponderosa Steakhouse

There was a time when you couldn't turn a corner in this area without running into a Ponderosa restaurant. They have all gone away. I think I'd have to drive all the way to New York state or Virginia to find one now. I don't know what we did to offend them, but they're gone. One particular old girlfriend and I used to go there all the time, we loved it.

Ponderosa was part buffet, part cafeteria style, part self-serve, and part service restaurant. They were not as classy as, say the Rustler Steak House or the Bonanza, the latter of which is owned by the same company, but it's not like a Burger King either, ya know?

I would always get the same thing, the two grilled chicken breasts and a side of fries, sometimes the chicken would even come with a barbeque sauce. And when I wasn't in the mood for fries (it does happen), Ponderosa made absolutely awesome baked potatoes. As crazy as this must sound, and as many times as I was there, I don't think I ever once got a steak. Or if I did, I went right back to the chicken, I liked their chicken that much.

The fries at the time, this would have been waaay back in the 1980s, were simple regular cuts, and as I remember you got a pretty good portion. Looking at their current menu online, the baked potatoes look just as awesome, and the fries are pretty much the same, just natural cuts with the addition of some pepper as well as the salt.

From all indications, Ponderosa seems to be more of a buffet type place now, as opposed to what it once was - more Golden Corral than Rustler. Maybe someday I'll get up to NY or down to VA, or maybe on the next trip to Orlando because I saw one there too, and find out.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #181

French Fry Diary 639: A Double Shot of Martin's

My friend Marni does a bit of traveling regionally, and when she does she is always on the lookout for new and different potato chips. A recent excursion brought two different kinds of Martin's potato chips to my attention.

Martin's is local to the south central Pennsylvania area, and make a variety of salted snacks, but that's not unusual, this area is hot with chip companies, especially those created after the Second World War. Martin's has a certain distinction as being a Presidential favorite, served on Air Force One several times.

The first bag was Martin's almost redundantly named Kettle-Cook'd Hand Cooked Potato Chips. Their claim to fame is that they're done the 'old fashioned way,' slow cooked one batch at a time. Very crunchy, they have a clean taste, which was refreshing. Great for dipping. Thumbs up.

The second bag was Martin's Bar-B-Q Waffle Potato Chips, which were, according to the packaging, 'bursting with flavor.' In this case, waffle is just another word for simple ripple cut chips. They are flavorful though, a nice heat with a bit of an aftertaste bite.

These chips also appeared to be slow cooked to that same crunch mentioned above, making them, with their ridges even better for dipping. These are awesome dipping chips.

This was a good delivery from potato chip Pennsylvania, thanks, Marni!

Random Tater Pic of the Day #180

For the last day of the TCM Classic Cruise, at breakfast at Lumiere's, my luck finally ran out. We still got that terrific grilled ham, but they were all out of the roasted red breakfast potatoes. Here come those big ol' hash brown planks. It's cool, the ham was great, but I am sad the cruise is over. Maybe we'll do the next one...

Random Tater Pic of the Day #179

More breakfast potatoes, these are from Cabanas, roasted redskin breakfast potatoes with crispy onions and peppers - from the TCM Classic Cruise on board the Disney Magic. Mmmmm...

French Fry Diary 638: Kettle Brand Oven Fries

Kettle Brand makes some incredible potato chips. Among my favorites are the Sweet & Salty, the Maple Bacon, and especially their wonderful baked Real Sliced Potatoes variety. Imagine my surprise and delight when I found out they were going into the French fries business.

Kettle Brand has entered the market, just the Whole Foods Market, in my area at least, with frozen potato wedges called oven fries. What's curious is I can't seem to find any info on them on their website. I know they are also available in Roasted Garlic, Salt + Fresh Ground Pepper, Sea Salt, and Rosemary + Garlic, but I couldn't find them any trace of them online. I even asked their usually very helpful Twitter account to no avail.

I tried the Sea Salt variety. As with most Kettle Brand products, these frozen natural cut potato wedges are gluten free, all natural, no preservatives, no transfats, no GMO, no nothing but potatoes, and some other stuff, but nothing that sounds harmful. Unlike most potato wedges however, they seem to be unbattered, we'll see how that works out.

Out of the oven they were not quite what I expected. Soft and hot, but only but a little bit crispy. I guess I could have cooked them a bit longer but that wasn't the real problem. These wedges were pretty much flavorless and needed seasoning bad. Once I gave them a bit of a kick with some Mrs. Dash, and dipped them in barbeque sauce they were much better.

French Fry Diary 637: Hanukkah Latkes 2014

For several years now this well meaning Episcopal husband has tried to make potato latkes for his Jewish wife once a year for Hanukkah. Past attempts have not gone well. Sometimes I get it right, and sometimes it's an epic fail.

This time I tried a new tact. Armed with my new waffle maker purchased earlier in the year that has become my favorite way to make tater tots, I tried to use it for potato latkes.

Taking a mixture of grated potatoes, chopped onions, an egg or two, and a variety of spices, I dropped it on the waffle maker and went to town. Not too shabby, The Bride gave them and me a letter grade of B+. Happy Hanukkah.