Mom's Fried Potatoes

"Folks around here still say that my mom made the best fried potatoes around. I have to agree and once she showed me how to make them, I never forgot, nor do I ever mess with her recipe much. And this particular recipe will give NEW CHEFS a jump start on this, often hazardous, endeavor. These potatoes are flavorful, about 1/3 of them turn out brown and crisp, and, they're never soggy. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have for 50 years."
 
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Ready In:
40mins
Ingredients:
5
Serves:
5
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ingredients

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directions

  • Peel, and then slice the potatoes twice the thickness of a quarter.
  • In a large bowl, place the potatoes and the sliced onions in plenty of cold tap water as to cover them -- allow them to soak for an hour.
  • In a large no-stick skillet (or a well-seasoned cast iron skillet), add the shortening and allow it to get hot over medium-high heat.
  • Drain the potatoes/onion and pat them dry some with paper towels. Drips of water will cause the hot oil to pop out on you. Carefully add the potatoes/onions to the hot shortening, spreading them out in the skillet.
  • DO NOT TURN OR STIR THE POTATOES FOR THE NEXT 10-12 MINUTES! Go ahead and add the seasonings after putting the potatoes in the skillet. Fry mostly covered for the first 10-12 minutes but just crack the lid off to the side a bit as to allow steam to escape.
  • After the time has elapsed, use a spatula to peek at the bottom layer and if they are brown and crispy, go ahead and turn the potatoes ONE TIME. Finish frying UNCOVERED for about 10 more minutes.
  • Transfer them to a serving plate that has a couple of paper towels on it.
  • Serve with hot biscuits and/or brown soup beans. These potatoes are also great with fried eggs.
  • NOTE: I make sandwiches out of leftover potatoes that have been in the fridge.

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Reviews

  1. This is EXACTLY how my grandma used to fry potatoes! She always said that the secret was to get the shortening hot enough and ONLY FLIP THEM ONCE! She always tested the shortening by getting her fingers wet and then flicking a drop of water in the pan. If it skipped across the pan, it was hot enough. Thanks for the refresher course and for sharing such a great recipe Bone Man!
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<p>I am a retired State Park Resort Manager/Ranger. <br /><br />Anyway, as to my years in the State Park System (retired now), I was responsible for 4 restaurants/dining rooms on my park and my boss at Central Headquarters said I should spend less time in my kitchens and more time tending to my park budget. I spent 25 years in those kitchens and worked with some really great chefs over those years, (and some really awful ones too!) <br /><br />I spent THOUSANDS of hours on every inch of that park and adjacent state forest (60,000 acres) and sometimes I miss it. But mostly I miss being in that big beautiful resort lodge kitchen. I miss my little marina restaurant down on the Ohio River too. I served the best Reuben Sandwich (my own recipe -- posted on 'Zaar as The Shawnee Marina Reuben Sandwich) in both the State of Ohio and the Commonwealth of Kentucky down there and sold it for $2.95. Best deal on the river! <br /><br />They (friends and neighbors) call my kitchen The Ospidillo Cafe. Don't ask me why because it takes about a case of beer, time-wise, to explain the name. Anyway, it's a small galley kitchen with a Mexican motif (until my wife catches me gone for a week or so), and it's a very BUSY kitchen as well. We cook at all hours of the day and night. You are as likely to see one of my neighbors munching down over here as you are my wife or daughter. I do a lot of recipe experimentation and development. It has become a really fun post-retirement hobby -- and, yes, I wash my own dishes. <br /><br />Also, I'm the Cincinnati Chili Emperor around here, or so they say. (Check out my Ospidillo Cafe Cincinnati Chili recipe). SKYLINE CHILI is one of my four favorite chilis, and the others include: Gold Star Chili, Empress Chili and, my VERY favorite, Dixie. All in and around Cincinnati. Great stuff for cheap and I make it at home too. <br /><br />I also collect menus and keep them in my kitchen -- I have about a hundred or so. People go through them and when they see something that they want, I make it the next day. That presents some real challenges! <br /><br />http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/parks/shawnee.htm</p>
 
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