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
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I loooove fried potatoes! I’ve had a love affair with them (and potato pancakes) since I was a little girl. I like to fry hot dogs in with them (till they are black!), and an onion and a green bell pepper. So yummy. Making my stomach growl just thinking/typing about it. 🙂
I have the same Corelle serving bowl that you served those potatoes in. And the set to match called English Breakfast. I got them for a wedding present in 1996, and they still look good, 13 years later! Gotta love Corelle!
My Mama always added diced onion to hers also! Great when you have allergies or a cold! Delicious!!! Love the idea of adding green bell pepper!
My mother made these all the time. In fact, she made them so much that I finally got burnt out on them! I couldn’t look at a fried potato for years! Maybe I could eat some now. If they were cooked right!
I loved it when she made potato pancakes with leftover mashed potatoes, but that didn’t happen often! I guess we didn’t usually have enough leftover mashed potatoes to do it!
We always had fried potatoes with our Sunday breakfast and just about every night of the week also. The only time we would have something different was when Mom fixed mashed potatoes. I rarely have fried potatoes for my family. I do miss putting gravy over them for breakfast 🙂
mmmmmm….love fried potatoes and so do my kids, i add garlic salto to mine…tasty
My mom always floured the potatoes, then fryed them up. So good.
Actually, when I fry bacon, I always keep the drippings in a can in the fridge. There’s nothing better to use when frying potatoes. I always use bacon grease swiped on with a paper towel when making pancakes too (black cast iron skillet) and my grandkids say I make the best pancakes in the world. Just a thought.
Kay, that’s the kind of fried taters I grew up on! Gives them the best flavor! Thanks for bringing back memories. My dad was the main cook in our house and this is how he taught me to cook them! Even now, if I fry them in oil, I’ll still put a dab of bacon grease to bring out the flavor.
In my house potatoes are one of the “food groups”!!