Name: Bigly Breakfast Hash
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1.5 lb Yukon Gold potatoes; 12 oz breakfast sausage (bulk); 1 medium yellow onion, diced; 1 red bell pepper, diced; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 1 tsp smoked paprika; 1/2 tsp dried thyme; 1 1/2 tsp, divided kosher salt; 3/4 tsp black pepper; 2 tbsp olive oil; 1 tbsp unsalted butter; 4 large eggs; 2 tbsp fresh chives or parsley, chopped; to taste hot sauce (for serving)

Bigly Breakfast Hash

Prep

15m

Cook

30m

Total

45m

Bigly says

Hash. HASH! We are doing breakfast hash. The BIGLY breakfast hash. The best breakfast hash on the planet — and probably on three other planets, but we lack the data — and the reason it's the best is the CRUST. The crust is everything. Without the crust you have a sad pan of vegetables. With the crust you have ART. You have engineering. You have a Sunday morning that means something.

Scientists — and I have talked to scientists, very smart scientists, the kind with PhDs and lab coats and squinty serious eyes — tell me the Maillard reaction is what's happening when a potato hits a hot pan and stops moving. Stops MOVING, that's the key. It needs to sit there. It needs to commit. Most people get this wrong. They stir. They STIR. They take a perfectly composed pan and start poking it like it's a wounded animal that needs comforting. You do not comfort the hash. The hash does not WANT comfort. The hash wants to be left alone like a great novelist or a sleeping bear, and if you stir it you've made breakfast goulash, and breakfast goulash is not a dish, it is a confession.

The other thing — and this is the freebie, the gift, the tip the cookbook authors hate — is the potato. Yukon Gold. Yukon Gold is the only potato. Russets are too dry, reds are too waxy, fingerlings are putting on AIRS. Yukon Gold has the starch-to-moisture ratio of a champion. It crisps. It holds. It tastes like butter even before you add butter. The king of potatoes. Period.

Ingredients

1.5 lbYukon Gold potatoes(the only acceptable potato for hash, end of discussion)
12 ozbreakfast sausage (bulk)
1 mediumyellow onion, diced
1red bell pepper, diced
3 clovesgarlic, minced
1 tspsmoked paprika
1/2 tspdried thyme
1 1/2 tsp, dividedkosher salt
3/4 tspblack pepper
2 tbspolive oil
1 tbspunsalted butter
4large eggs
2 tbspfresh chives or parsley, chopped(for garnish)
to tastehot sauce (for serving)

Steps

1
Dice the potatoes into even 1/2-inch cubes. Rinse in a colander under cold water until the water runs clear, then pat very dry with a clean towel. Drying matters — wet potatoes steam, dry potatoes crisp.
2
Heat olive oil in a large (12-inch) cast iron or heavy nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the potatoes in a single layer, sprinkle with 1 tsp salt, and press down with a spatula.
3
Cook the potatoes undisturbed for 5 minutes — do not stir, do not poke, walk away if you have to. Flip in big sections and cook another 5 minutes until golden and crisp on multiple sides. Transfer potatoes to a plate.
4
Reduce heat to medium. Add the sausage to the same skillet, breaking it up with a wooden spoon. Cook 5-6 minutes until browned and cooked through.
5
Add onion, bell pepper, garlic, paprika, thyme, remaining 1/2 tsp salt, and pepper. Cook 4-5 minutes until the vegetables are soft and just starting to char at the edges.
6
Return the potatoes to the skillet and toss to combine with the sausage and peppers. Press the hash into an even layer and let it sit undisturbed for 3-4 minutes to build a crust on the bottom.
7
Push the hash to the sides of the skillet to make 4 wells. Add the butter to the center, then crack the eggs into the wells. Cover and cook 3-5 minutes, until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny.
8
Scatter chives or parsley over the top and serve straight from the skillet, with hot sauce on the side.

One more thing

This is the breakfast. This is the ONE. Sunday morning, you bring the cast iron straight to the table — straight to the table, plating is for cowards and people who own too many small bowls — you hand everyone a fork, you break the yolks, the yolks run into the crust, and somebody at the table goes 'oh my GOD' and they mean it. They mean it down in their bones. That's the moment. That's the whole reason we cook. Now go eat.