Sunrise Skillet Hash
Dried hash browns, sausage, and cheddar in one pan over coals. Breakfast that holds until noon.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 131
- protein
- 30 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 25 min
- water
- 400 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dehydrated hash brown potatoes | 2 cups dry | the shelf carton kind, not frozen |
|---|---|---|
| Shelf-stable cooked sausage crumbles | 4 oz | vacuum-sealed or a dry-cured stick, chopped |
| Sharp cheddar | 2 oz | a hard block keeps a week out of a cooler |
| Dried bell pepper and green onion | 3 tbsp total | |
| Sun-dried tomato | 2 tbsp | snipped small with scissors |
| Oil or ghee | 2 tbsp | |
| Salt and black pepper | 1/2 tsp each | |
| Sugar | 1/2 tsp | balances the dried tomato |
Method
- Pour the hash browns, dried pepper, onion, and tomato into the pan and cover with about 400 ml of boiling water. Let it sit off the heat for ten minutes.
- Drain off whatever water is still standing. The potatoes should be soft and no longer swimming.
- Set the pan over coals or a low flame, add the oil, and press the potatoes flat. Leave them alone for five minutes so a crust forms.
- Turn the hash in sections, stir in the sausage, salt, pepper, and sugar, and cook another five minutes.
- Kill the heat, scatter the cheddar over the top, and put a lid or foil on for two minutes while it melts.
The original is a campground skillet built on a dozen fresh eggs, a pound of raw pork, and a cooler full of chopped vegetables. None of that travels well past day one, so everything here is the dried version: carton hash browns instead of shredded raw potato, cured or precooked sausage instead of bulk ground meat, dried pepper and onion instead of a cutting board.
The soak matters more than the fry. Dry potato shreds thrown straight into hot oil brown on the outside and stay chalky in the middle, so they get hot water and ten quiet minutes first. Drain hard after that. Wet potatoes steam instead of crusting, and the crust is the whole point of cooking this in a pan rather than a pot.
Packing
Potatoes, dried vegetables, and seasoning share one bag. Sausage and cheese ride in their own, and the oil goes in a leakproof bottle inside a second bag.
Variations
- Add a packet of powdered gravy mix with the water for something closer to a diner plate. It is not gluten-free.
- Rehydrated egg powder folded in at the end turns two servings into three.
- Hot sauce or diced pickled jalapeño does more for this than more salt does.
https://oregonriverrunners.org/recipies-breakfasts.php