The Untold Truth Of Home Fries
If, when asked your breakfast order, the words "two eggs — over easy, crispy bacon, rye toast — lightly toasted, and home fries — well done" spill out of your mouth as smoothly as if you had been asked your address, then chances are, you: 1) spend a lot of time in diners, and 2) happen to be a fellow fan of home fries. According to towntonic, home fries are just potatoes that have been cut up into chunks, slices, small cubes, or wedges and fried in vegetable oil or butter in a skillet or pan. Sometimes the spuds are unpeeled and/or partially cooked in a number of ways before frying.
But, where do home fries get their name? Is it because home is not a place, but a feeling? We'd like to think so, but it's probably more likely that Americans created the name to contrast from being french-fried, like, well, french fries. It seems the history isn't entirely clear, but there are several other names for home fries that also conjure up cozy feelings like cottage fries, house fries, and American fries (via towntonic).
Honing in on types of home fries
If home fries and hash browns are in the same family, then we'd like to consider of the dishes on towntonic's list, Potatoes O'Brien, Lyonnaise potatoes, and Bratkartoffeln, as being in the home fries genus. The first one, Potatoes O'Brien, is the side of potatoes you sometimes get when you order home fries and they have onions and bell peppers mixed in. No complaints here.
According to The Spruce Eats, Lyonnaise potatoes are a classic French dish named after the city of Lyon, in France. The dish requires slicing, lightly boiling, and sautéing spuds in butter with caramelized onions. Baking can be used as a sautéing alternative, but either way, the potatoes should be topped with parsley.
Bratkartoffeln puts a German spin on things. This dish is made from cooked potatoes and calls for a quarter of large-diced onions for every cup of potatoes. The traditional take includes a slice of chopped bacon per cup of potatoes (via MyRecipes). Sounds delicious, but we still get bacon on the side, right?