Roast Beef Hash a la Marketman

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This is one of my favorite “leftover” dishes of all time. And it isn’t really my recipe. Over 30 years ago, on my first trip to the U.S. ever, in a small summer cottage in the small town of Quogue (a quiet “hampton”), I had my first taste of roast beef hash. Sister just threw this dish together like an Asian cook might throw together a quick fried rice with leftover pieces of pork and shrimp. The first hash was served for breakfast or brunch, with fried eggs, nice thick toast and good butter and jam. And I have loved the dish ever since. And best of all, despite it’s being made from good steak, this dish is BEST enjoyed with ketchup, which I love. :) So here is the simple how to guide for the next time you have some leftover roast beef…

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In a large enough and well seasoned cast iron pan, and yes, ideally it should be cast iron for the full effect, render the fat from some suet or beef fat for flavor and lubrication. If you think is wickedly unhealthy, don’t make the dish, period. :)

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Add some good sliced bacon for an additional layer of fatty flavor, but not as much as the photo above, I overdid it a bit. Stir occasionally until some of bacon turns golden and is slightly crisped up.

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Next add some roughly chopped white onions and saute this for another two minutes…

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Next add some chopped green and red bell peppers, for sweetness and color and flavor. Saute another two minutes or so.

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Add cubed pieces of roast beef and the potatoes in goose fat if you have them, otherwise cubed boiled potatoes is okay too. Then add worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper, and if you like a touch of ketchup. Just “heat this through” rather than overcooking the fine meat. Serve with toast for breakfast or brunch, or if like me you consider this fine “ulam” or a viand, I love it with boiled white rice and more ketchup. Totally delicious. :)

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34 Responses

  1. yay ! kakagutom ! already drooling at work … guess it’s time for a break :) still have leftover adobo from lunch, i’ll just imagine i’m eating this hash :)

    i’ll definitely try this at home … looks easy to make ! thanks, once again, MM !!!

  2. i love left over dishes! thanks for the post! i’ll surely try this…

  3. Food of the champions! Like my sauteed beef hash either corned or roast beef the way you have it here with the addition of melted cheese nestled in the middle with a sunny side up eggs sitting on top of melted cheese and well-buttered light toast and tomato ketchup on the side for breakfast and good cup of black coffee.

  4. i wonder if this will taste better after a day or two but with my family who love corned beef hash! will try this recipe after memorial day!

  5. i think that i am cooking the roast beef and will be using your recipe….looks good!

  6. I’ve been trying to look for a set of small, medium and large cast iron pans. Would any of you know where I can buy a set? Thanks!

  7. Thanks artisan chocolatier! I’ll check Gourdo’s. Can I just say, I’m so excited to post and to receive a reply! I’ve been an avid lurker for months but never got to post anything.

    Marketman, great blog! I’ve been urging my friends to check out your site. Such a relaxing read.

  8. Peach, yes Lodge brand cast iron at Gourdos, though at last check they had just a few pieces. They also carry the same line at duty free in Pasay near the airport. And oddly, for a while, it was at Shormart but I haven’t seen it lately. Thanks Artisan, for chiming in on that. ihid and Cecilia, definitely with ketchup. In the same way steak and eggs are also yummy with ketchup! :)

  9. MM:nice one again..i will try here in Saudi less the bacon ofcourse..hehehe! God bless.

  10. Peach, like you I’m also a lurker :).. I’ve only posted once… this blog is such a pleasant read. Anyways, you could also try Living Well (I think it’s a sister-store of Gourdo’s)… the last time I checked (at SM Mall of Asia) they have some cast iron pans there.

    This blog makes me want to try out my culinary skills… thanks MM!

  11. No worries MM. Just wanted to pitch-in, while you’re away enjoying quality time with your family. From one bisdak to another…way blima!!

  12. I always have left over roast beef. This is perfect way to re-cycle the roast.I use to just stir fry it ala bistek with lemon or lime and soy sauce topped with caramelized sweet onions Thanks for sharing as always

  13. Just a short note to your many readers. If you will use a new cast iron skillet make sure you season the pan. When i say season i mean Before you begin using a new or refurbished cast iron skillet, however, it must be prepared for use through a process called seasoning. Seasoning a cast iron skillet is not especially difficult, but it does need to done right and often to maintain the natural non-stick qualities of the pan. If you’ve ever seen a cast iron skillet up close, you may have noticed a black layer on the cooking surface. That charred or burnt appearance is one sign of a well-seasoned cast iron skillet. Here’s how you can season a cast iron skillet at home:
    Remove all packaging and adhesives from a new unseasoned cast iron skillet. Some modern cast iron cookware is preseasoned at the factory, but it won’t hurt to season it again. Make sure all paper and pricing stickers are completely removed. Use a sponge and light, soapy water to quickly remove any remaining surface dirt and dry the pan thoroughly with paper towels or by air drying. This is the only time water should ever be used to clean the inside of a cast iron skillet. Future cleaning should be done with dry paper towels and salt only, to prevent damage from rust. Once the cast iron pan is completely dry, find a supply of cooking oil, shortening, bacon grease or animal lard.
    Preheat the oven and prepare the skillet. Different people will tell you different temperatures for proper seasoning, ranging from 250 to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Since the main point of seasoning is to bake the oil or grease into the pores of the skillet, a preheating temperature of 350 degrees or higher seems reasonable. As the oven heats, wipe a generous amount of your chosen oil or grease around the inside of the skillet. Wipe out any obvious excesses, but remain generous with the coating.
    Place the cast iron skillet upside down on the top rack of the hot oven. To prevent the grease or oil from dripping onto the bottom burners, place a cookie sheet or other oven-proof tray on the lowest rack. Allow the pan to remain in the oven for at least an hour. Do not be alarmed if you see or smell smoke — this is a normal part of the seasoning process. The oil or grease is filling up all of the pores of the cast iron, creating fewer crevices for food to become trapped.
    After an hour or more has elapsed, use oven mitts to remove the cast iron skillet from the oven. Place on a heat-resistant surface (right side up) and allow the skillet to cool. The cast iron skillet is now seasoned, but some foods such as eggs may still stick to the bottom without additional oils or grease. The seasoning process needs to be repeated several times before a sufficient layer of charring has built up in the bottom of the pan. Ideally, a cast iron skillet should be wiped out completely after cooking, and then put through the seasoning process again. It may take several years for a cast iron skillet to reach the non-stick level of your Grandmother’s prized frying pan, but the results should be worth the effort.

  14. The whole seasoning process has always sounded so daunting. Not to mention, the idea of never washing the pan sounds unhygienic. I didn’t grow up with cast iron pans (at least, I don’t think so), so I’m not familiar with its use. Why is a cast iron pan necessary for cooking this hash, or any dish, for that matter? I know it’s thick and heavy, and it has non-stick qualities. But there are other thick pans; and with enough oil and a watchful eye, food doesn’t have to stick much to most pans, plus there’s Teflon. So why is cast iron special and worth the tedious seasoning?

  15. Good quality cast iron pans are worth their weight in gold. They heat evenly and hold heat well, brown foods better than anything, and are oven safe to high heat. Once seasoned they are incredibly non-stick. There is a flavour to food cooked in cast iron that you get no other way. The only disadvantage to cast iron is that it is (duh!) heavy, and can crack if dropped or subjected to extreme temperature changes; you should also avoid cooking acidic foods in cast iron, at least if the cooking time is extended.

    GOOD cast iron is not always easy to find. Look for fine-grained cast iron, there is a lot of cheap knock-off cast iron that is coarse grained and never really becomes non-stick. Modern-day Lodge is OK. But I think most modern cast iron is not quite as good as the cast iron produced pre-WWII, some of which has a grain so fine that you get a surface that looks like a black mirror. My daily go-to cookware includes a set of fantastic cast iron skillets that were a gift from a friend (they were her grandmother’s). I would not trade them for anything. Clean-up is a breeze–simply scrub under hot water (I have a natural-bristle brush especially for this) until no grease is coming off the surface of the iron, put the still hot pan back on the stove on a hot burner, and wipe out the inside with a bit of oil. I find that I almost never have food sticking to the inside of my skillets, so washing them in this way is a piece of cake.

  16. thanks for such valuable info, martin & kurzhaar ! no wonder my mom won’t let go of her cast iron … even suggested to thrash it for it looks so old & dirty !

  17. Hmmmm….delish MM….and the cast iron stories….so good to be part of this family…

  18. Can I substitute the roast beef with left over roast leg of lamb that I have sitting in the fridge? My family hates eating left-overs so probably a make-over like this would make it more appealing.

  19. OUT OF TOPIC: Chris here it is–GayeN and I met when she gave me some dried kamias and with Chris we want to EB. Cook a dish and EB. We are all from East MMla–so just in case: elit,TINA of Marikina;edna,renee, JadeM,belle of pasig;Tricia of White plains and margarette of libis::: we are looking for 3 more to eyeball with—of course,with your dish.
    GayeN and I met and we were like old friends. I later gave her some sinaing na tulingan from the wonderful dried Pangasinan kamias she gave me and a little pancit palabok (of bettyq recipe–thanks bettyq). Interested? Please email me at marissejavier@yahoo.com. Simple EB lang ha?

  20. May I suggest that just because a particular cooking vessel is recommended for certain dishes for optimum results does not necessarily mean that you cannot obtain similar results using alternative utensils. There are few dishes that do require specific materials for acceptable results and indeed yield adversely when non-recommended materials are used. Paksew cooked in metal pot (worst is aluminum) readily comes to mind. Cast iron cooking utensils, I think, have been reliably popular because of its low cost, low maintenance and durability. The drawback as mentioned in preceding comments, is its great weight. But in spite of this, it is quite popular in roughing out situations where one would intuitively go for lightweight and easily portable substitutes.
    Oddly enough they are almost always seen, these portage nightmares, in campfire cooking.

  21. Apicio, as an experienced backpacker, I’d beg to differ. Cast iron is rarely seen in backcountry camping unless weight was NOT an issue (e. g., you have a base camp being supplied for extended stays, or you have pack animals, or you are in canoes or the like, or just camping out of a car) and the cast iron pots are worth having. Where weight is an issue, most modern campers (myself included) do in fact use ultra-light gear.

    Having said that, I’ve had the pleasure of cooking in cast iron (usually the do-all dutch oven) on long canoe trips or when car camping…everything from roasting fowl to quick breads and pancakes. Yes, if you’re canoeing and have to portage your gear on your back, it’s extra weight, but that becomes minor if you are portaging a couple of canoes and other gear as well. The longest portage I’ve had to do was just over a mile, but I don’t recall that it was all that bad. Most of the time the canoes carry the weight.

  22. As a postscript I do agree with Apicio that lack of a perfectly seasoned cast iron skillet ought not to deter you from experimenting with making hash. While cast iron is definitely a run-away favourite, I’ve made hash in stainless steel and carbon steel pans as well. Experimenting with hash is part of the fun. I love hash made with smoked trout or leftover roast duck, for instance.

    Thanks to Marketman’s post, I was motivated enough this morning to turn the last of a home-made corned beef brisket and leftover Dutch yellow potatoes into an it’s-a-long-week-end-go-ahead-and-indulge-yourself hash. :)

  23. Ah so those cast iron pans and enameled kettles on which my images of campfire cookouts heavily lean on as props must have been standard furnishings of permanent wilderness camps. That makes sense then since only hardened souvenir hunters would be tempted to lift and take them on account of their weight and homely appearance. I watched a pioneer wagon cooking contest once and observed that all the contestants invariably used cast iron utensils for their entry. You would think that since they are lugging everything on their wagons where payload is presumably at a premium they would consider other materials but I guess the period flavor of these utensils also counts for something.

    I have to confess at this point that I have never been gung ho about exploring the wilderness even as a young man. I don’t even want to count (nor recall) that one time I went along with friends somewhere in the Algonquin (unfortunately not the NYC hotel) where dark clouds of black flies kept up at bay and cooped up in our tents all day long. However, I can play roughly the solo guitar version of Cavatina from The Deer Hunter.

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