June 3, 2009
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Home Fries
In my mother’s household, potatoes were part of every evening meal. Sometimes they were mashed. Very rarely, for special occasions, they were baked. Usually, they were fried.
She would peel and dice the raw potatoes while the fat was heating in a big cast iron skillet. A grease can sat on the back of the stove, to receive bacon drippings, and any grease that cooked out of hamburgers, steak, pork chops, etc. It was spooned into biscuit dough and pancake batter, and strained into the skillet for frying fish, potatoes, or anything that didn’t generate its own lubrication.
Mama’s diced spuds got pushed around, flipped, stirred and flipped some more, until they were done. I don’t think she ever intentionally burned them, but I don’t recall her ever cooking a batch of fried potatoes that didn’t have a few black pieces in it.
Sometimes on weekends, by special request, we would have, “Daddy fried taters.” My father left the skins on, scrubbed the spuds and made thin transverse slices. The big rounds were fried in bacon grease just like Mama’s, but that is where the resemblance ended. Daddy fried taters were more work intensive than Mama’s
For part of the cooking time, Daddy placed a lid on the skillet to steam and soften the slices. Each slice had to be slipped over or under others carefully so they wouldn’t break up as they softened. They were watched closely and tended carefully so that every one browned and none blackened. For my father, a fried spud was primarily a ketchup delivery system. His tastes live on in me.
Potatoes are not everyday food in my household, but we eat them at least once or twice a week. Usually, I nuke one and eat it with a little salt and a dollop of yogurt. Fried potatoes are a rare treat. My method differs from those of my parents. I dice them like Mama, but I don’t let them burn. Forty or more years ago, I stopped frying raw potatoes and started parboiling them first, so they would be soft without the time in a lidded skillet. Now, instead of boiling, I microwave them lightly before dicing, leaving the skins on. I fry them in vegetable oil and drain on paper towels.
Just like Mama, though, if there are any left on the Kid’s plate when he’s done, I clean up his plate for him. Even cold, fried taters are tasty.
Comments (10)
I love fried potatoes… actually I love potatoes period. Fried potatoes in my family were like your dad’s. Homefries are what we called your mom’s style of fried potatoes although we generally leave the skin on. I zap them first.
We didn’t have fried potatoes when I was a kid. Baked or twice baked. Now, I like to micro them then slice and quick fry on the cast iron grill with olive oil. Yum.
my boys used to beg me to fry up some taters when they were young. I’m sure it wasn’t that healthy now that I look back
My mom always made fried potatoes. My grandpa too, special for me when I would visit. We would eat them wrapped in flat lebanese bread sheets, ripped to size. They cut them into fries so they would fit longwise nicely on the bread.
I make them for myself now, at least once or twice a month. I eat them wrapped in white bread since I can’t find lebanese bread that suits my standards (and memory). Potatoes, for me, are mostly a delivery system for salt. No ketchup, but way too much salt.
But it tastes soooooooo gooood.
we did not eat many potatoes, we did rice. But I do remember the cast iron skillet and the grease pan.
they sound great any way… thanks for sharing that story, arent memories great?
today is dad’s anniversary. 13 years looking down on me.. ilu
Potatoes should be the perfect food, but alas, they lack fiber (unless you’re like me and eat the skins too)
I love potatoes cooked in any way, and I leave the skins on. Potatoes are my comfort food, and it is so much fun to grow and harvest potatoes, the “apples of the earth!”
Man, I love me some home fries. My dad made the best ever when I was a kid. My husband and I have different varieties, but they are ALL GOOD!
Oh god, my stomach just GROWLED and CLAWED at me.
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