Fried Potatoes (How to make them and when to eat them!)
There aren’t many cultures who haven’t, at one time or another, relied upon potatoes as a staple in their diet due to their availability, adaptability, taste, and tendency to be very filling. Southerners, of course, are no different. I remember my great grandmother, Lela, telling about how she used to be picking cotton in the fields with her kids (when you were a sharecropper, the entire family had to work the fields) and they would walk back to the house at lunchtime and dig up some potatoes to go in and fry for their lunch. Its hard to hear things like that and not look at this bowl of potatoes as a connection to your ancestors, you know?
~Sigh~ I miss Lela.
Alright, moving on to the food part…
Now y’all know that when a Southerner gets a hold of a something, there’s generally gonna be some frying involved if we can help it. There is a great misconception about frying in the south though. Folks seem to think Southern Food = deep frying. That’s not the case at all. In face, much of our “frying” doesn’t even include oil. How can it be frying then? Well, its just a matter of what we call “frying” differing from what those outside of the south define frying as.
You see, to us, a skillet has always been called a “frying pan”. Therefore, when a person in the south tells you to fry something, sometimes they are just telling you what type of pan to use. A great many of our dishes such as “fried corn” have nothing to do with oil, but are just cooked in a skillet! I actually seldom use oil in my cooking, I am much more likely to use it in my baked goods, instead.
Fried potatoes are not so very different. You are really just barely coating the bottom of your pan with oil as potatoes do have a tendency to stick. Myself and absolutely everyone I know loves fried potatoes. There is no meal they can’t pop up at, either. They are just as likely to be served at breakfast in the south as they are lunch or dinner. Despite what you may think, they do NOT taste like a baked potato or even mashed potatoes. Fried potatoes are a treat unto themselves. This is the potato flavor at its finest, better than any other, honest!
Still, they do tend to be a regional thing. You’ve either heard of them and love them or are entirely confused by the very concept. Once, when Granny Jordan was visiting us (who was the epitome of everything a Southern Lady should be), we had prepared a large breakfast at my mother’s house.
Mama put a big old bowl of fried potatoes on the table and Granny Jordan leaned in and asked in her deep drawl “Well now, those look interesting! What are they?” Mama and I hid our surprise as Mama responded that they were just fried potatoes. To which Granny Jordan replied “Well now, isn’t that neat. I bet those sure will be good!”.
Born and raised in Atlanta and had never had fried potatoes?
Lets get some on y’alls table as soon as we can, alright?
Ingredients
- Potatoes
- Vegetable Oil
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Peel and dice potatoes into small cubes. Coat bottom of large skillet with oil, turn on medium heat and allow oil to get hot. Add potatoes. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover and continue cooking over medium heat for about ten minutes, until potatoes start to brown on the bottom. Remove lid and stir, continuing to cook until potatoes are all tender and mostly browned.
Nutrition
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Y’all have a wonderful day!
Gratefully,
Christy
i always add bacon dried onions and garlic salt and pepper of course- in my fried potatoes– and we cant forget — a little butter too! but yes to the oil- i scatter sliced cut up bacon first on the bottom of the pan then pile the sliced potatoes and then season them– sometimes shallot salt works if you are out of garlic salt. 🙂 when the potatoes have been browned i flip then season the other side — i put in sliced polksa kielbasa too at the very end to crisp up! thats more of a meal than a side.. fried potatoes and bacon were a staple raised in Nebraska with a cook from Iowa. frozen hashbrowns make a quickie side in a pinch but mainly it was potatoes when i grew up. on the grill wrapped in foil. in the frypan. in the oven. and pretty much any kind works russet yukon gold and reds– . oh and its sliced potatoes not diced how i was taught.. but they all taste yummy just the same ! loved this post!
Fried taters are the BEST! I grew up in Oklahoma and we always had potatoes every day. Occasionally they were mashed but mostly fried and almost always had bacon grease. I know what we’re havin for dinner!
If you ain’t had a fried tater sandwich .. ya ain’t lived. Put taters into a slice of white bread and add a little ketchup – then fold it over and eat – YUMMMY ♥
Good gravy you’re makin me hungry!! On my way to the kitchen to make some! **drooling a bit**
Lordy! I can’t get over Granny Jordan not knowing what fried taters were! Poor in deprived woman!
Thats funny cause I just had them last night. I havent had them in a long time and just wanted some. I do add onions sometimes. I added a porkchop I cooked the same way as the potatoes and some turnip greens I had canned. Good eating…
Grew up eating fried potatoes only we added onion to them! Some of the best eating ever, along with beans, cornbread, and slaw!
I grew up in eastern KY and it was always a mainstay for us. They were served year round, with garden food in summer and pinto (soup) beans and corn bread in winter. And served with a variety of meats, as you said.