Pan-fried Potatoes

Welcome to a world of flavour. Are you ready?

Camper brings you pan-fried potatoes. They’re more of a side dish than a main, but they can still deliver a coup de grace to your wailing appetite.

They’re perfect for those nights when you’ve worked hard – perhaps retrieving your four-by-four, perhaps bouncing over corrugations for five head-achy hours – and you feel like something low effort that doesn’t compromise on flavour.

These pan-fried potatoes mightn’t have Matt Preston singing high-flown praise about their delicate, subtle and experimental taste – but is that what you’re after? Sometimes after a big day all you need is a simple and powerful flavour you don’t have to think about, that you enjoy with your taste buds and not with your mind.

If that sounds like you, give these a run.

COOK TIME

45 Minutes

SERVES

Two

INGREDIENTS

6 white-washed potatoes
1 dry beer, such as Hahn Super Dry
Masterfoods All Purpose Seasoning
Canola oil

DIRECTIONS

Peel the potatoes, making sure they are clean of all skin. Then, slice them thinly – about 4 or 5mm is ideal. Getting the slice right is important, because if you cut them too thick, they will take a long time to cook – such that you might end up looking at your watch and taking them off of the heat, only for them to be too firm and not cooked through. The thinner you cut them, the quicker they’ll cook and the more flavourful they’ll be.

If you are staying at a campsite with facilities, add the sliced spuds to a microwave safe container with a dash of water and zap them for about five minutes. This will help soften up the middle of the potato, because it can a while for the heat of the cooktop to reach this. If you don’t have a microwave handy, never fear, the game isn’t over. Just cut the potatoes thinner.

Apply a generous amount of canola oil to the cooking surface. Then add the potatoes. In the early stages in particular, make sure you are moving them around, because otherwise they might stick to the pan.

To this end, generously apply beer, which pays great dividends for the flavour as well. How much beer you apply is a personal preference and depends somewhat on the cooking surface; if you are using a grill, or something that has a drainage hole, apply a little more generously. If not, apply less liberally.

Throughout the cooking process, sprinkle Masterfoods All Purpose Seasoning (take care not to confuse this with All Spice). The powdered seasoning blends into the oil and the beer, forming a thin and flavourful sauce around the potatoes.

Cooking time varies significantly on this meal, depending on factors like potato thickness, heat of the cooktop and whether you use a microwave, so rather than pulling the spuds off after a set amount of minutes, it’s best to rely on your taste buds. Pull a thick one out, cool it off, and evaluate the texture.

As noted, these potatoes are best as a side dish, but if you want to make a meal out of them you can. Simply add them to bread, or a burger bun, with a dash of barbecue or tomato sauce. This meal doesn’t have nutritionists raving, so consider adding salad and protein in the form of meat. Or just consider it a hard-earned bush treat.