Uncle Doug, I bought some hash. How do I cook it?
Well first of all, good for you for getting some food in your pantry but you should have gotten stuff you normally cook so you would not have this question. Uncle Doug likes hash, so I have some in my pantry. I usually make it from scratch or more appropriately, from leftovers. That is what hash is, meat, potatoes, onion, chopped up fine and then fried, aka: dinner leftovers from a couple of nights ago.
A lot of folks cook corned beef hash. Corned beef is not my favorite so I tend to avoid that but roast beef hash is out there and I found some from the nice folks at Hormel. 14oz of product in the can or roughly 2 cups of food. I got it at Walmart for $2.39 a can. This is something I actually keep on the shelf and have once every couple of months when I am looking for a heavy breakfast.
When you open the can it is not very appetizing. Think pet food. Take a taste, it is safe and all you will taste is salty grease. It has to be cooked to get the real flavor going.
Hash from a can is super easy to cook. Just scrape it out of the can into a non-stick skillet. I do mean scrape because it will be stuck to the inside of the can. Don't worry if some of the fat has separated, it is still good so long as the can is intact and not bulging.
Once in the skillet just fry it up over medium heat. Mix it a couple of times to make sure all of it gets browned. It takes a just a couple of minutes. You know it is done when the pink meat is brown and it starts to get a little crunch. If you taste it now you will see the huge improvement from when it was cold.
Just going that far makes a good meal. But we can do better. This is where real cooking starts. Take something that is good and make it great. So what can we do.
I do not know how but Hormel forgot the onions and garlic. So as you cook this add some minced onion. I used dried minced onion but fresh onion sweated before you add the hash would be even better but would be more work. Include a pinch of garlic as you cook it for more flavor. A shake or two of black pepper and you have a great dish. DO NOT add any salt. It already has plenty of salt which is one of the problems with most canned meat. You can try adding a dash of Worcester or Teriyaki sauce or even add some ketchup for some more taste but go easy, you can always add more but you can not take it out.
Serve over toast or a English muffin, add some eggs and cheese, chop up a pepper and you get a dish that is served in many fine dining establishments. Hormel even has a recipe site at https://hormel.com/Brands/Hormel-Mary-Kitchen-Hash if you want to go fancy.
There is enough in the 14oz can for 2 people. Very calorie dense (which is why I only eat it every couple of months) with 700 calories of food in the can. The shelf life is 3 years or so.
