1 I found that with age I started to lean more on greens. Still love a breakfast like pictured (I also add bacon), but only once in a while.

2 Are those browner than they actually appear?  They look pretty pale still, unlike what you'd get at a restaurant.

3

No, that's about accurate. If you keep cooking them, they start burning. Also, the texture changes, for the worse IMHO. (And since I'm the guy eating them, it's my decision.)

I've tried experimenting with different amounts of cooking, and on this particular batch I tried a shorter cooking time.

4 I've always pushed the "fry until they're nothing but crispy bits" end of the envelope, with a chopped onion and can of corned beef mixed in, but it's absolutely a matter of taste. And doing it that way does kind of require standing at the stove for about an hour, spatula in hand. So I only make them on Saturday mornings, for the family.
Forget that bread maker I never use, I want a hash browns maker, to have them ready when I wake on work days, instead of just on weekends. That's an appliance I'd buy in a heartbeat.

5 Nice. I've given up breakfast foods in general for milk + carnation chocolate breakfast mix. I'm eating too many calories in a day (I eat like an 18 year old...and I'm 37.)

How do you get your scrambled eggs like that? I either end up too runny or overdone.

Also, do the hash browns stay somewhat crispy that way?

6

Brett, what I found was that I could make a big batch of hash browns and microwave a small part when I wanted to eat them.

Tom, I don't know how to answer your question about the eggs. Part of it is to get the heat setting right. If it's low then they cook slowly and you can get them off the stove before they turn to rubber. If they're runny, you need to keep cooking. Anyway, after long experience I've learned how to set my stove properly.

Also, stir constantly as long as they're in the pan.

The hash browns are not crispy, nor do I want them to be. That's probably possible if I let them cook longer, but when you do that the shreds break down and it's like having mashed potatoes with a crust.

7 Oh, and I can't do milk any more. It give me terrifically terrible gas.

8 Alas, they never seem as crispy once they've been in the fridge, unless you refry them. Not a problem, of course, if you're not looking for crispy in the first place...

Wonder if there'd be enough of a market for a corned beef hash machine, to justify developing one? Probably not.

9 I favor a bit more "brown" in my hash-browns.  I probably get that from my mom's cooking; I do not recall her getting even close to under-cooking anything...

10 Tom, another thing that helps is to use the right tool when stirring (constantly) the eggs. I use a silicone spatula rather than a pancake flipper.

11 Tom: In lieu of developing actual kitchen skills like our gracious host, I've found that mixing in a little water (I don't know, about a teaspoon per egg? Experiment) makes scrambled eggs really hard to overcook.