Hash Brown Mold

cults3d

Almost everyone loves McDonald's hash browns. There are a plethora of "copycat" recipes for them out there (don't believe me? Just search "McDonalds Hash Browns Copycat"). There are a lot of differences in opinion as to the actual recipe, so choose your own, and experiment among them. While they all vary somewhat in ingredients, almost every one has you hand mold the potatoes/binders and freeze them before cooking. This results in wild variations of size, shape, and cooking weight, as well as not being compressed as firmly and uniformly as possible. I created this mold in Fusion 360 to eliminate that. The resulting patty is 2" x 4", with thickness determined by how much mixture is used, up to a max of ~12mm. And yes, I made it a little more rectangular rather than oval as the genuine articles are. Extra goodness in the corners that way. Weigh the same amount of mixture each time (use a scoop, or using a digital scale makes this far more accurate. If you don't have a scale in your kitchen, well, why the heck not? It's the best $15 you could spend there) press them onto a silicone sheet or parchment paper lined sheet pan (don't press TOO firmly, or all you'll get is a mashed potato patty) then freeze them for at least 1-3 hours, for uniform shaped results. I use 50gms. If the potatoes tend to stick to the press, just rinse it off every few patties, or hit it with a shot of cooking spray. Bake, fry, or (for best results) deep fry the frozen patties, add a sprinkle of fine salt, and you've got your copycat hash browns.