Red Flannel Hash | Yankee Recipe Archives (1972)
Made with boiled dinner leftovers like corned beef and potatoes, a classic side of Red Flannel Hash comes with the added bonus of beets.
Red Flannel Hash
Photo Credit : Aimee TuckerIn New England, what do you get when you take a recipe for corned beef hash and swap out some of the potatoes with beets? A savory dish, known as Red Flannel Hash, which is named for the (so-called) flannel-esque patches of red made by the beets. We say crack in a few eggs, and just call it Sunday breakfast.
Photo Credit : Aimee Tucker
I’d always heard about this unique New England hash variation, especially popular on diner menus, but had never made a batch. Fortunately, Yankee Magazine‘s 1972 cookbook, Favorite New England Recipes, had not just a red flannel hash recipe, but also one for the New England boiled dinner needed to produce the necessary leftovers.
Photo Credit : Aimee Seavey
Photo Credit : Aimee Seavey
A traditional boiled dinner — the kind with corned beef, cabbage, and veggies — often has leftovers, and it’s these “next day bits” that make the tastiest hash, be it plain corned beef or red flannel with beets.
Our recipe is a simple one — just leftover corned beef, potatoes, beets, butter, cream, and a few shakes of salt and pepper. Yours, however, may include onions, peppers, cheese, fresh herbs… whatever you like or happen to have on hand.
Photo Credit : Aimee Seavey
Boiled dinner and the leftover hash (no matter the variety) are both New England comfort food classics, but in a 1991 Yankee food feature by Malabar Hornblower titled “Some of Our Frugal Classics Actually Taste Better the Morning After,” the author gives an extra nod to today’s featured variety:
The early settlers knew how to salt cod and beef, preserving them for use when food was scarce. From corned beef evolved one of New England’s favorite meals-in-one: New England boiled dinner (actually a version of the classic corned beef and cabbage). But there are many who maintain that the only reason to eat a boiled dinner is in order to enjoy the leftovers, chopped up and fried as red flannel hash.
Photo Credit : Aimee Seavey
How about you? Are you a fan of red flannel hash? Do you consider it to be as good (or maybe even better?) than the boiled dinner it comes from? Let us know in the comments!
This post was first published in 2015 and has been updated.
Get the Recipe:
Red Flannel Hash Recipe
Aimee Tucker
Aimee Tucker is Yankee Magazine’s Home Editor and the Senior Digital Editor of NewEngland.com. A lifelong New Englander and Yankee contributor since 2010, Aimee has written columns devoted to history, foliage, retro food, and architecture, and regularly shares her experiences in New England travel, home, and gardening. Her most memorable Yankee experiences to date include meeting Stephen King, singing along to a James Taylor Fourth of July concert at Tanglewood, and taking to the skies in the Hood blimp for an open-air tour of the Massachusetts coastline.
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