When The Lady and I are down in Savannah, we love to drop into Clary's Cafe down on Abercorn for their corned beef hash. It's probably some of the best I've ever had.
I rarely do it at home, but I've had a hankering for it of late, if only to do away with the fetid memory of the corned beef hash I was served in the hospital. Ugh.
So I cooked some extra extra red potatoes with the Frogmore Stew last night with just this in mind. 8 small spuds. I also had around 3/4 of a pound of good quaity corned beef that I had the deli slice thick. I heated up some left over melted butter that we used on the Frogmore Stew corn and shrimp in a pan over medium heat. I smashed the potatoes and tossed them into the pan with half of a finely diced small onion and a few grinds of sea salt and black pepper.
While that was getting going, I chopped up the corned beef; just kept dicing it until it was pretty fine, fat and all. That's important. I threw that in with the potatoes and onions.
This is where time and patience come into play. Good corned beef hash cannot be hurried along. You have to nurse it through, and let the crispy bits develop. Crispy bits are what makes for an excellent corned beef hash. There should be a fine balance between moisture and that subtle crunch, and you can only get that by going slow. Turn the hash and let moisture reduce. Let the whole thing take on some "color." When it gets to that "just right" point, serve it up.
Or, you can do what I did, which is to take it a step further. Spread it out in the pan, and make indentations with a spoon, large enough to accommodate an egg. Crack an egg into each indentation, cover the pan and let the eggs "poach" on top of the hash.
While the eggs are cooking, the hash will get nice and crispy on the bottom. Turn off the head before the eggs are completely set, and let the pan sit for about 5 minutes. This will make serving much easier.
This makes a great brunch with a Bloody Mary or G&T.
