What is the secret to good hashbrowns?

It depends on what you like. I like to boil the potatoes first, but not until they're soft. They have to be firm. Then I fry them in equal amounts of butter and oil. If I'm adding onions, I heat the oil and butter, get the onions soft, and then add the cut up potatoes. I have the feeling, though, that it's a matter of individual taste. The way I do them, they brown easily, and there's a nice, crunchy texture.

I don't know the secret to good hashbrowns but I can't think of a time when I ate them and didn't love them. I really like hashbrowns!

I like my hashbrowns crisp too and not all restaurants bother to do that. In some of them the potatoes are barely cooked. I find the best way at home is to flatten the pile of hashbrowns out and then let them cook on medium high heat until they brown before turning them over at all. If they are turned over too often and too soon they tend to just get hot and do not brown correctly. I sometimes add onions and/or bell peppers chopped up.

Your probably not gonna like it, I come from the old school. My mom always saved the bacon grease when she fried bacon, so I learned to do that, I always make my hash browns with butter and bacon grease, I'll mince up yellow onion, shred my potatoes, add a little flour, salt and pepper! Everyone loves em! tdemex

I'm reading a lot of the "boil first" method for hashbrowns. To me, those are home fries. And what you ate sounds like just hash. I have a great recipe for straightforward hashbrowns. They're super simple, quick to cook, and you don't need a gallon of bacon grease (although I'll still use bacon grease just to shock people :P) I take (for a single serving) 2 medium-sized russet potatoes. They're the oval-shaped brown ones -- mostly known as baking potatoes. I'll rinse them well, cut out any bad spots, and shred them with the skins on. If your potatoes have a lot of starch, they won't be light and crisp and brown. So I like to rinse the shredded potatoes in a drainer (colander) and then pat dry with a paper towel. I then use a good nonstick skillet and put it on medium-high heat. I'll toss some butter in (don't let it burn) to get brown and bubbly. Meanwhile, I'll put my shredded dry potatoes into a bowl, mix in 1 egg, some salt and pepper, some Cajun seasoning (I like the spice), and onion powder. Shredded onion works well, too, but the powder is just simpler for me. I'll then form some biscuit-sized rounds -- like patting out hamburgers -- and drop them gently into the skillet. Once there, leave them alone for at least 5 minutes. Then turn over gently and do the same on the other side. This is creating the crust. Then I'll drop the heat down to medium and give them 5 more minutes on each side. I've used green onions, cheddar cheese, bacon bits, sausage, etc, in these hashbrowns before. They come out light, crisp, and really tasty. My favorite part about them is that they actually taste like potatoes! So many places serve hashbrowns or home fries that lose their identity.