Happy St. Epaphroditus Day! Corned Beef Hash

The truth to Happy Saint ____ Day is that every day there are many saints being celebrated and feasted. The Catholic Church has so many saints, everyone has to share a day with 5 or 10 other miracle workers. A few (un?)lucky saints were caught up in the commercialism of today, and their celebrations have gone wild, complete with signature drinks and cheap paraphernalia. I'm not saying that I don't enjoy this... I'll take any excuse to eat truffles or make a crockpot full of corned beef. But look into the heart of a Saint's day. For instance, did you know that St. Patrick was born in Scotland (gasp!) from two Roman citizens? That's right... he's an Italian by blood and a Scot by birth. I love history and humans.


So, like a good quarter of the globe, you've made a crockpot of beef, potatoes, carrots, and cabbage. Unless you were one of the lucky few that got a reasonably sized brisket, corned your own brisket that was cut to size, or you have a small army to feed, you've been eating corned beef leftovers for lunch or dinner every day for 3 days now, hoping to make a dent in the crazy side of cow you purchased and crammed into your crockpot.

Enter Sunday Morning. No waking up early and grabbing a handful of granola before running out the door. Now, I love lots of food, and hash is no exception. A good hash is not only a delicious and hearty start to the day, but is great for using up leftovers.

You will need:

leftovers - My favorite is corned beef, potatoes, carrots, and cabbage. Most holiday leftovers beg to be made into hash. Meat, potatoes, veggies. You can use mashed potatoes, but diced roasted potatoes are preferable. Whatever it is, try to get the liquid out. Beef stew works well for hash.
If you lack depth or like onion, add some diced onion.

some butter
a cast iron skillet
a heavy dish or a dutch oven lid that will fit into the skillet.
If your dish was well-seasoned to begin with, you likely won't need any more spices, but spice to taste after a bite or two. Don't salt before cooking!


Melt the butter in the pan over medium high heat.
Dice all the leftovers. Once the butter has started to brown slightly, add diced leftovers and press down with lid or plate. Let this cook for 6-8 minutes. You want it to get nice and brown, so don't stir it yet!
After 6-8 minutes, stir it up. Try to flip as much as you can over. Put the lid back down on the hash and let it cook for another 5 minutes.
If you would like it to be crispier, repeat this process.


I love hash with some ketchup and perhaps a sunny-side up egg. But I love hash, period, and will eat it as is, straight out of the pan.