- [Babish] This episode is
sponsored by The Botanist Gin. The Botanist is distilled
from a unique combination of botanicals that have been hand foraged on the island of Islay,
off the coast of Scotland. The Botanist encapsulates the flavors and essence of wild Islay. It's beautifully complex and smooth. Its unique flavor makes
for an endlessly riffable gin and tonic, just the thing to pair with the subject of today's
episode, potato hash. Let's get down to basics. (upbeat music) So of The Botanist's 22 unique botanicals, the one that plays nicest with potato hash because it compliments
earthy notes is wild sage, which is gonna play real nice with me while I make some hash. To make a sage gin and tonic, we're pretty much making a gin and tonic and shoving some sage into it. Two ounces of The Botanist gin, pour it over ice, topped
with the tonic of your taste, and functionally ornamented with a slice of lemon and a spring of sage. And a metal straw, because it's 2020, come on, don't be wasteful. And we have the perfect cocktail to enjoy during the preparation of
and alongside with our hash, the very bedrock of which
is built upon the potatoes of your choice, which we
ideally want to par-cook before they end up in our skillet. You could peel, chop
these up, and boil them for five minutes, but alternatively, do you have any leftover baked potatoes? Of course you do, you love baked potatoes, and leftover baked potatoes
are perfect for hash because they're effectively pre-cooked. So once we've peeled and chopped them into half-inch pieces, they are ready to hop right in the
skillet, but potatoes alone do not a hash make. At the very least, we need
a chopped onion of some kind and to bring a little
extra color and flavor, a chopped red bell pepper
is always a welcome guest. And that's pretty much it. If you're a vegan or vegetarian,
you're off to the races, but if you have a meat deficiency, you're gonna want to
bring some to the party. It can be virtually any
meat of your choosing. The all-time greatest hits
include but are not limited to bacon, ham, sausage, and corned beef. Bacon however presents
a unique opportunity in that it generates
its own delicious fat, which once the bacon is
removed from the situation, can be used to cook our hash in. First we're gonna toss in
the onions and red pepper which we're gonna saute over medium heat for about three to five
minutes until softened, and the onions are starting
to pick up some color. And then it's tater time,
about two pounds worth of peeled and par-cooked
russets or Yukon golds. First we're gonna toss those around to ensure that everybody
gets evenly coated in fat and then we're gonna press everything down into an even layer and
let it sit undisturbed over medium heat for about two minutes. Then using a firm, sharp spatula, we're going to dig under
the potatoes and flip them, exposing their beautifully
browned caramelized underbellies. Then we're gonna pat them back down into another even layer
and let them sit again for about two minutes,
repeating the process about four times until everybody's cooked and crisp and browned all over. Before the final flip,
we're going to prepare our flavor finishers, some
finely minced fresh sage and our chopped crispy bacon. Go ahead and stir those
in for the final flip, give the potatoes a good rustling, so our herbs and bacon are
gently kissed with heat, and then our hash is pretty much done, or you can dig in four little divots, but what are those divots for? Well, my curious friend, they're for eggs. Crack an egg into each divot, cover, and cook over medium low heat for four to five minutes
until the whites are set and the yolks are still runny. In addition to kosher salt
and freshly ground pepper, we're going to finish our hash with some fresh minced chives. And with that, our single
pot, herby, flavorful, meaty, crispy, runny, hearty
breakfast for dinner is served. Let's make sure our egg is nice and runny which is especially important
when you're cooking on camera and dig into our hash, which
is gonna pair perfectly with our sage gin and tonic. Sage has an earthy flavor
and a slight mint freshness, perfect for both cooking and cocktails, and that, my friends, is sage advice. So that's the basic hash equation. Now let's throw some creative
spins on the formula. Let's start by switching up the potatoes to sweet potatoes or yams,
which is gonna play even nicer with our botanical of choice. As you can see, this is not a leftover baked sweet potato but
a fresh sweet potato, so it must be par-cooked. You could either boil it for five minutes or throw it in a bowl along
with some kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, and a
tablespoon of vegetable oil, mix to combine and then
cover with plastic wrap or a plate, and microwave
for five to six minutes, tossing once halfway through. This par-cooking of the
potatoes is essential so we can focus on
crisping them up in the pan without worrying whether
or not they're still raw in the middle. For or onion element, I think we'll stick with the same old onion,
and I forgot to buy one, but a Poblano pepper would
be a most welcome addition to this situation, because
instead of bacon, we're gonna go with some smoked chorizo. We're adding about a
tablespoon of vegetable oil to the pot because the
chorizo doesn't have as much fat to render
out, and we're just kinda browning it up in the pan, so
once those are nice and brown, go ahead and fish them
out with a slotted spoon, and leave all that oil in the pan so we can saute our onion,
and I think some chopped apple is gonna make a real
nice autumnal addition. Once we've sauteed those
for about three minutes, we're gonna add our drained sweet potatoes and then it's the same deal as before: toss to coat in oil, pat
it down and let it brown for about two minutes on medium heat, repeating as necessary
until everybody is cooked and crisped all over. As with the last batch, we're
gonna add our botanicals and meat before the final flip, just so they get a little bit of heat, we don't want to burn the sage. Then optionally we can
make our four little divots in the hash, crack some eggs in there, cover and cook over medium low heat until the whites are set
but the yolks are runny. To serve, we are of course seasoning with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper but we're also gonna top with
some thinly sliced scallions, which like the sage is gonna
bring both color and flavor. And there you have it, two quick and easy but big, bold, and flavorful hashes that can be enjoyed for
any meal of the day. Thank you again to The Botanist gin for sponsoring today's episode. As someone who loves
to pair a gin cocktail with a good meal, I really
appreciate the uniqueness of The Botanist. The combination of hand-forged botanicals compliment almost any flavor profile, which is why I'll be making a few dishes to pair with The Botanist cocktails over the next few weeks. Order a bottle of The Botanist on Drizzly, the link is in the video
description, cheers. (calm music)
Look at that Babby wood spoon! Love it!
I always struggle with the doneness of my potatoes, and par cooking them totally solves that problem, so cheers to that.
Also, I'm incredibly intrigued by a sage G&T. I like a cucumber normally, or a lime when I'm feeling extra basic, but the lemon and sage looks so damn refreshing.
That second hash reminds me of my favorite Babishian weeknight meal.
Of note: my breakfast hashes have two differences from those in the video. I usually cut the potatoes a little smaller and just throw them in the skillet first instead of parcooking them. And instead of making fried eggs, I just bust up a few eggs and scramble them with everything else. Both of these are likely done in the interest of laziness.
Step one of making hash: make a gin & tonic?
I've never seen someone pinch the bacon in the middle like that. I need to try that.
The baked potato hack is a game changer. Also another good vegetarian/vegan add on is sauteed mushrooms.
Saw "HASH" on the thumbnail and thought, "Finally! Babish is making THAT episode!"
...
"...oh he means potato hash"
I get it looks better on video, but FYI for anyone trying this: Don't put NEARLY that much in a pan that size. It will just straight up never crisp up. Plus the putting eggs in it and covering it will just make it steam the whole thing more and make it soggy again. If you want crispy potatoes in your hash you need a very large cook surface for the amount of food you're making.
I need Babish kitchen gear, I hope he announces purchasing options soon