By Request; Simply Delicious Potatoes recipe

[whirlykenmore78]

This is a scaled down version of a commercial recipe I learned working in a diner kitchen.  

Simply Delicious Potatoes:

You will need:

20oz fresh or thawed IQF shredded Hashbrowns

1 can Cream of Chicken soup (Campbell's works best)

1 TBL melted Butter

1 TBL dried minced onion or 1/4 cup fresh minced onion

1 C Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1/4 tsp Black Pepper

1/4 C Sour Cream

1.5 C Colby Jack Cheese

 

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F 

Combine all ingredients except Colby Jack Cheese in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer.

Pour ingredients into a buttered 9x9 baking dish

Bake for 90 minutes (convection) 110 minutes standard.

Uncover, add Colby Jack and bake uncovered 20 more min. 

CCP.  Internal temp must reach 165F by a meat thermometer. (185-190 is Ideal for best flavor).

 

[appnut]

Thank you Nick!!! Yum!!!!

 

[frigilux]

Sounds good...and I just happen to have a bag of shredded hash browns in the freezer. Thanks, Nick!

 

[DADoES]

 
Is the mixture to be mixed/beat until smooth (per "stand mixer")?  Or folded together such that the hashbrowns mostly remain intact?

First bake doesn't say covered but presumably should be per the next reference to finish baking uncovered.

What means CCP?

 

[whirlykenmore78]

OOPS!

DADOES, Just folding them together is all you do.  I do it by hand but some may prefer to use a mixer.  You are correct about the first bake being covered. Good catch.

CCP = critical control point.  

 

[Ultramatic]

 

 

That sounds delicious Nick. A must try!

 

[kevin313]

These sound wonderful! Thanks for sharing the recipe!

 

[vacerator]

Kids Love

Cheesy Potatoes. Seems they are requested for every get tog"a"ther. Personally, they get old. I prefer variety. Sure, you can change them up. Mushrooms, beans, etc. like they do in St., Olaf.

 

[frigilux]

I don't make Cheesy Potatoes--my recipe is called Hashbrown Casserole--all the time, so never get tired of them. They're a classic comfort food.

Nick's recipe has the same basic ingredients as the one I make, but in different proportions. Mine calls for an entire 16-oz. container of sour cream for a 30-oz. bag of frozen hash browns. I'm a fan of Colby and Monterey Jack cheeses, so am looking forward to tasting Nick's version, with three cheeses and far less sour cream.

I was at a potluck once where the hostess made the best version I'd ever tasted--and told her so. She replied, "I made them without looking at the recipe and then realized I'd accidentally doubled the amount of butter!" File that under happy accidents, lol.

[this post was last edited: 5/15/2020-08:58]

 

[circlew]

Nick, that looks like a really good recipe. It's something that probably would be good for serving at our church dinner. How many times did you reduce the original recipe? Did it originally use a 50 oz. can of soup? How many servings in the full recipe?

 

[whirlykenmore78]

Recipe:

Kevin313.  Give this a try at the Cavalcade of Food and let me know what you think.

 

CircleW: I do not remember the exact conversion as I have not made the original recipe in 18 years (When that diner closed) and I have tweaked it a bit over the years.  The original filled a 6 inch hotel pan about full.

IIRC it called for 20# IQF hashbrowns, 

1 #64 can Cream of Chicken

1# margarine melted (Better to use Butter)

2Tbl pepper

2 cups diced onion

12 cups shredded cheddar

2# sour cream.

We did not have a large mixer so I would mix it up in a 6 inch hotel pan then transfer to one that had been sprayed with pan primer.  It would be covered with foil and baked in the Convection Oven @ 350f for 2.5 hours.  If you have pan liners USE THEM!  this is a monster pan to clean.  Otherwise it will need to soak for several hours before being scrubbed and run through the dish machine.

WK78

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[nmassman44]

This does sound interesting and I am going to make it this weekend...

 

[circlew]

Thanks Nick,

I'm not familiar with a #64 can for soup. Do you know the ounces?

 

I know we don't have a full size 6" D pan, only 1/2 size. All the fulls are either 2.5" or 4" D.

 

We'd probably make half of the recipe, as we usually serve between 60 and 80 meals.

 

[whirlykenmore78]

Yes that can size is 50 OZ

If you don't have #600 full pans just bake it in 2 #400 full pans.  1.75 HR in the convection oven @350. 

WK78

 

[frigilux]

'Hotel pans'

 

That term always takes me back to catering days. I suppose the more exacting term would be full, half, third or quarter-size chafer pans, but nearly everyone I knew in the business called them hotel pans. The practicality of commercial equipment even found its way into my home life.  

 

Back at the warehouse apartment (1989-2002) and then at the house (2002-2017), I had a full-time 12-ft. buffet set up--with wrap-around, floor-length white skirting, even---topped with rectangular and round hotel chafers (there's that term again) on it.

 

I entertained several nights a week back then and loved having commercial equipment that allowed the whole buffet to be ready to go when guests arrived so I could sit down and enjoy the meal with anywhere up to 30 guests. Once a month we'd have a lavish Sunday brunch buffet that usually drew the largest crowd.  It was an awesome time in my life.  

 

A number of couples with kids from high-chair tykes to teens enjoyed coming to the events because kids were always welcome. I looked at it as training for the younger ones to learn how to eat in a restaurant.  The tykes got small, kid-size silverware, linen napkins, a bread plate and a small salad bowl, which they thought was very cool. I'd put banquet table cloths on the floor under them to prevent stained carpets.

 

In the first downsizing--2014--a couple of years before retirement and moving to an apartment, I gave all my catering equipment (and there was a lot of it) to a young local woman who had opened a bistro-style restaurant in town called the River City Eatery.  She wanted to expand into catering, but had almost no equipment to do so. I was no longer catering and saw it as a pay-it-forward moment.  Cambros, chafers, a commercial slicer, numerous sets of dishes and various types of glassware, commercial shelving, etc. all went to the cause.  She uses it to this day.  As a way of saying thanks, she gave me enough gift certificates to the Eatery to last several years.

 

Apologies for the hijack, but Nick's use of commercial foodservice terminology always brings back fond memories.

[this post was last edited: 5/16/2020-09:13]

 

[circlew]

I usually call them "steam table pans", and the round ones "soup inserts".

 

The church has one soup insert, but we lack the panel with a cutout to use it in the S.T. I never think to buy one when I go to Wasserstrom.

 

The old pans are Seco, and were bought in 1959, along with the steam table. They are very heavy gauge stainless. Most of the newer ones are Vollrath, and are also good quality. A couple though are some off brand, and haven't held up well.

 

[parunner58]

Made these tonight for dinner with fried chicken. They were easy to make and delicious. My wife and daughter loved them.

 

[whirlykenmore78]

@parunner58

Thank you for trying the recipe and I am glad it worked out for you.

WK78

 

[nmassman44]

Fresh out of the oven ....this recipe was easy to make....quite happy with it.