Red Flannel Pork Hash
From cooking a corned beef hash lunch with Julia Child, I learned a few tips about what makes a really delicious hash, whether it be made with cooked lamb, beef, poultry, or, in this case, pork. I discovered the importance of adding some stock and cooking the hash slowly at first, to form a glaze, and of always cutting the meat in small pieces, never grinding. You use approximately the same amount of meat as potatoes, and it’s essential to include some aromatic vegetables to give off their sweetness and help form the glaze that makes the crust. I am using a cooked beet here, because New Englanders always include it with pork—hence the name “red flannel”—but use other handy vegetables, such as mushrooms, red peppers, carrot, or fennel, that are good foils for whatever meat you have left over. I cook it all in my sturdy 8-inch cast-iron pan, which I think is better than nonstick for a hash.
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Melt the butter in a small heavy pan. Stir in the onion and celery, and cook gently until slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Add the potatoes, beet, pork, and stock. Salt and pepper lightly, and cook slowly, covered, over low heat. Remove the cover, and let the bottom brown. Watch carefully, because it can easily blacken. When it is browned, press down firmly with an ample spatula, turn the whole hash over (probably in two or three pieces), and brown the other side. Transfer to a warm plate, and sprinkle a little parsley on top—and enjoy a lovely, nostalgic-tasting supper.
Step 2
Other aromatic vegetables you might use: carrots or other root vegetables, cut in very fine dice; a couple of button mushrooms, chopped; an equal amount of fennel in place of the celery rib.
