I usually start with baked russets leftover from an earlier dinner or, if I don't have any on hand I get by with baking them in the microwave.

I roughly cube the potatoes, pour a liberal amount of salt in a skillet, then add some oil and heat on high. Once it's good and hot I throw in the potatoes and maybe some shallots or onions for a basic recipe, or sometimes I get carried away and throw in anything from bell pepper to carrots, cheese, egg, mushrooms.

Here is what I think is the secret to great, crispy homefries this way: Don't flip or stir, let them get good and brown on the bottom first. And halfway to getting brown, smash those cubes a little with your spatula.

The smashed potato better combines with the oil and salt to really crisp nicely. Flip them to brown the other side and eat with guilt -- with all that oil and salt, these potatoes can't be good for you!

My Dad and I like to cook, too. Dad told me to use leftover baked potatoes for home fries (we call them hash browns), because they don't mush up like the boiled ones. He was right! We like to cook a few slices of bacon, then brown the potatoes in the bacon fat and add the chopped up bacon at the end.

How lucky you are to have two parents who love to make home fries -- to me, that would be heaven! I'm firmly in your mother's camp on this one. I think that comes from years of camping and cooking home fries for breakfast over an open fire. We always start from raw potatoes, in part because I never think to bring cooked potatoes from home! Lately I've gotten into seasoning with smoked paprika, to intensify the smoky flavor of wood-fire cooking.

Ah Lydia, I'm lucky beyond belief. Mom turns 73 tomorrow and dad 78 in a couple of weeks. They're both ridiculously healthy, now that's a blessing! Smoked paprika on the potatoes, yum! Some truffle salt would be good too. :-) ~Elise

I usually dice up potatoes and pre cook them a bit in boiling water, then fry them up in a little butter. Last night I diced them up finely, boiled them just for a minute, drained, then cooked them.

My vote is for raw sliced potatoes (as a side to smoked sausage)- just like mom makes!

...by the way, is that knife a Wusthoff or Zwilling JA Henckels? It's very nice and I personally would never substitute a slicer for old world precision cutlery. I loves me knives. It's half of the fun when prepping food. :smiles: Now if you're doing something fancy like criss-cross waffle fries, get a slicer.

Dad adores his mandoline, mom is scared of it, so she uses a knife. ~Elise

I am looking forward to trying the first technique - I have been using the par-boiled potatoes and can't seem to get that crispiness down. So far home fry success has eluded me!

I think it is easier to get the potatoes crispy when using raw potatoes. Mom's view is that if you use high enough heat and enough oil/fat, it's easy enough to brown and crisp up the cooked potatoes too. ~Elise

Those look incredible. I like the look/style of the home fries made with uncooked potatoes. Those potato slices look crispy and chewy at the same time. I've got some eggs and bacon in the fridge, this may be the perfect complement!

My mom taught me to make them, in a cast iron skillet, using your mom's method, Elise. While my husband and sons have always enjoyed them, I was once outdone by my husband. My youngest son came home from a "guys only" camping trip and said, "No offense mom, but dad's fried potatoes were the best I've ever had." Turns out that hubby put about a quarter inch of oil in the pan before cooking! (He was afraid the potatoes would stick.) While I'm sure they were indeed the crispiest ever, even all these years later, I hesitate to think about all those fat calories my men ingested!

Mom's method is the fave at our house. Come to think of it, we haven't had these for a while. Mmm...potatoes...drool.

I like my home fries best in a cast iron skillet over a campfire. If you bake a few potatoes before you go, all you have to do is cut them up like your dad did, add some grease to the pan and fry them up. I like to leave the skins on, though.

I hate making home fries! I usually use pre cooked potatoes and I hate how they stick to the pan and are all mushy. But it seems to me the other way the potatoes take so long to cook and are never done. So I am home fries free!

Personally, I like my potatoes grated (onions too) and fried in butter or olive oil, rosti style, with lots of salt and black pepper. I know, they are more like hash browns than home fries but the result is still potatoey, crispy goodness that doesn't require much attention while cooking. Thanks for reminding us that a simple dish of fried potatoes with onions (and whatever else you like) can be a beautiful thing.

My mom always used the raw method so that's how I make them as well. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE me a crispy brown potato! She did cubes or thinly sliced like your mom's. My Gram made the best potatoes though! We don't know what she did to them but they were FANTASTIC! Our family thinks she made the best fries in the world - DROOL! We lost her on July 4th and miss her more than words can say... Funny how a small thing such as a potato can bring back such fond memories...

Hey Thanks for the simple recipe and all the good comments! As simple as it may seem, I still had a hard time cooking home fries. One question though, does the type of pan matter when cooking? for instance should I use a cast iron skillet versus an electric skillet?

Thanks...Carm

What matters most is the heat and using enough oil. Cast iron pans can take high heat better than any other pan, so they are a good choice. We also sometimes use anodized aluminum, which has a stick-resistant surface, but can also take high heat. ~Elise

We made "Mom's version" last night. We don't have special pans, and I think I left the heat a little high (medium is apparently in the eye of the beholder). Nevertheless, despite the extra-brown/crispy potatoes from the first side near the middle of the pan, the overall taste was great! Thanks, as always, for the great ideas!

Fried spuds are a staple around my home (and most other Southern and Southwestern homes) Both of those methods look good to me, as do these and these.

As a matter of fact, just about anything that involves potatoes and a skillet sounds pretty darned good to me...

Hi Elise,

Blessings that you still have your mom and dad. Must be that cal lifestyle? One of my best friend's parents who are in their 80s live in northern cal.

I miss one which my favorite recipes that my mother cooked. It was fried potatoes. She used large red potatoes. She would hold the potato in her hand and peel it with a butcher knife not breaking the peel. Then she would dice the peeled potatoes into small squares about a 1/2 inch thick. She would fry the potatoes in Crisco with a bit of salt and pepper for seasoning till crispy golden brown yet still a bit soft on the insides.
I have tried to make them like her, just not the same so I make potato wedges.
My middle son was asking me today when I was going to make potato wedges.

I peel russets and cut them in to 6 to 8 wedges
Put them in a bowl of cold water for 15 minutes
then dry them really well on paper towels
Toss them in a bowl with a TB or so of EVOO
and salt and paper.
I put the potatoes on a greased baking pan
and bake them at 425 for 20 minutes then flip the wedges and bake them for 20 minutes more
or until done.

Linda in Washington State

Great recipes, Elise! Just one question, though: who won the cook-off?

Hah! We ate both sets for lunch and loved them both. Really! I think the potatoes with bacon fat in them are probably better for breakfast than potatoes without, they are just crying out for runny eggs to go with them. But whether you use raw or cooked potatoes with the bacon, doesn't matter, just a different taste/texture. ~Elise

I like home fries period. I make them both ways, raw and baked, but I use s&p;, a couple cloves chopped garlic and a medium onion, also chopped. Fry in olive oil and butter (equal amounts) Stir only when bottom is golden brown and brown second side as the first. Keep up the good cooking. Pat

My Mom made the sliced raw potatoes, fried, but we called them potatosanna. I wonder where that name comes from?

I am obviously late posting on this, but wanted to say I've always used raw potatoes. We frequently make a variation in the summer with half potatoes and half yellow squash, also sliced thin. It's a great side dish with almost anything. My kiddos eat it up!

i served this today at lunch for my three boys(9, 5, 5) with Elise's Porkchops with Mushroom Bourbon Cream Sauce. They couldnt get enough. Normally onions are a bit tricky but the way it all cooks up the whole thing was a huge hit. I think the trick is definitely not turning the potatoes too fequently. Let em brown up nice and good! Didnt use the bacon fat this time but thinking it can only make a great dish even better.