Georgia Barbecue Hash

A long time ago, my grandmother had a close friend who owned a barbecue pit. She didn't run a barbecue restaurant or business, but she would, once or twice a year, cook up a few pigs, make a few gallons of potato salad and cole slaw, and several pots of hash. She was famous all over the state for her hash, with several local barbecue restaurants forever trying to get her recipe. This includes the world-famous Sconyers Barbecue. Mr. Sconyers was forever trying to buy her recipe. My grandmother's friend ended up taking that recipe to her grave. A sad loss, as it was the best ever.

Having grown up in the South, I've always known what hash was, but never really gave much thought to how it was made. That is, until I saw a local civic club putting on a barbecue fundraiser a few months ago. I bought a plate of pulled pork, potato salad and a quart of hash and rice. Well, the pork was okay, but the potato salad was sweet and had pecans in it, and the hash was... well, bland.

It was at that point that I decided I would try to make hash. My mother, when she was a little girl, helped out making it, and based on her memories along with my research into southern hash recipes, we came up with a recipe to try. It wasn't as perfect as my grandmother's friend made, but it was infinitely better than what I had last summer. In fact, it was the best hash I had ever eaten since I was a boy. If I do say so myself... We got it close.

This is the result.

The Ingredients:

3 lb smoked Boston butt roast, cubed

Garlic powder & Salt to rub meat

1½ to 2 lb. beef chuck roast, cubed

2 cans chicken stock

2 large baking potatoes, peeled and diced

2 medium onions, peeled and diced 6 cloves finely minced garlic

1 -15 oz can of diced tomatoes

1 -6 oz can tomato paste

1 stick butter

½ cup Hickory Smoke Barbecue Sauce

1 tsp black pepper to taste (optional)

1 tsp salt to taste (optional - there's salt in the chicken broth)

Rub both roasts with salt and garlic powder, and place in a 5 quart crock pot on high. Add the chicken stock and cover. Let it cook 6 to 7 hours until the meat falls apart. Keep check on the liquid level. If it gets too low, add a little bit of water. It shouldn’t, but you don’t want the meat to get dry.

Remove the meat from the pot and let cool. Once cool, remove any fat and connective tissue. Cube the meat to a
size that is convenient for your grinder. Run the meat through a coarse grinder. Return to the crock pot.

Grind the potatoes, and return them to the pot as well.

Very finely chop the onions and return to the pot.

Add remaining ingredients, except butter. Stir to mix well and taste as you go.

Still on high, let it cook another 4 hours.

After the first 4 hour cook, add butter and reduce heat to the lowest setting.

Let it cook another 4 hours or until it is the consistency you like.

Close to the end of hour three of the second cook, prepare a pot of rice by putting 4-1/2 cups of water in a large pot, add 1 tsp of salt, and 1/4 stick of butter, and bring to a boil. Add 2 cups of rice, and bring back to a boil. Turn the heat down to low, and simmer until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed.

This recipe makes a whole lot of hash.

To serve:

Spoon a serving of rice (about 1/2 cup) on to the plate. Spoon an equal amount of hash (more or less) over the rice, and if you like, add some hot sauce like Texas Pete or Tabasco to your taste. I personally don't think it needs hot sauce, since the capsaicin in the peppers is an anesthetic and will numb your tastebuds, and I like to taste my food, but if you like hot sauce, by all means, add it. But taste the hash first.

Hash freezes really well. What I did was to let it cool completely, and spoon it into 1 quart vacuum bags, and sealed them up in my vacuum sealer. They lay flat in the freezer, and all you have to do to heat them up is take one out of the freezer, let it thaw in the fridge overnight, and then put in a pot of boiling water for 10-15 minutes. Be careful that you don't slosh hot hash over you as you dish it up.

I hope you've enjoyed this instructable!