"Truck Wreck"

[primalclaws1974]

My mom called this meal "truck wreck". Others may call it something different. It is peeled potatoes that have been boiled to relative softness, then they cut into cubes or other small pieces. The potatoes are cooked in a skillet. Scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon and sometimes fresh vegetables are sprinkled in. It is all heated up together, adding salt and pepper. Mom usually added shredded cheddar cheese into it, on top, but variations include Velveeta in the mix (do it lightly, or the process cheese will over power the dish), or a dairy gravy. Have you ever had anything like this?

 

[Rosyrain]

I make something similar to this and add bacon instead of sausage. We call it farmers breakfast at my house because it is a high calorie meal you can have before going out for vigorous activity for the day. I love making this meal because only one pan is required.

 

[juliaintheclouds]

We used to do this with leftovers from holiday meals, like Christmas dinner. Basically everything was mixed together and fried in butter. My mom called it hash, which is strange now that I think about it!

 

[primalclaws1974]

A lot of great meals can be made from leftovers. Have you ever had spaghetti pie? That is made with left over noodles and sauce. Some things, like stew and pizza taste better when eaten later. Chop Suey was made in San Francisco when a worker at a restaurant got tired of eating the leftovers. He threw them in a pan, added spices and fried it up. Soon the patrons smelled it and wanted some. Not long after, it was added to the menu.

 

[Food4thought]

A lot of great meals can be made from leftovers. Have you ever had spaghetti pie? That is made with left over noodles and sauce. Some things, like stew and pizza taste better when eaten later. Chop Suey was made in San Francisco when a worker at a restaurant got tired of eating the leftovers. He threw them in a pan, added spices and fried it up. Soon the patrons smelled it and wanted some. Not long after, it was added to the menu.

I'm all for using leftovers and throwing them all together in a pan can have great results. In Britain we have a dish known as Bubble and Squeak made from leftover potatoes and cooked vegetables, such as cabbage or Brussels sprouts. The potatoes are mashed and the vegetables shedded. They are mixed together and cooked in a skillet containing melted butter. After cooking on both sides, a topping of a fried egg or grated cheese can be added.

 

[primalclaws1974]

I'm all for using leftovers and throwing them all together in a pan can have great results. In Britain we have a dish known as Bubble and Squeak made from leftover potatoes and cooked vegetables, such as cabbage or Brussels sprouts. The potatoes are mashed and the vegetables shedded. They are mixed together and cooked in a skillet containing melted butter. After cooking on both sides, a topping of a fried egg or grated cheese can be added.

I love the names British people come up with for their food! "Bangers and mash" is my favorite. People have a long history of eating leftovers, or mixing somewhat random food together to make a meal. Most did it out of necessity. The old story of "Stone Soup" is a case of putting together a little of this and that to make food (of course, they didn't eat the rock). The old nursery rhyme "Pease Porridge" is an example of eating leftovers. The lyric that it was "nine days old" isn't necessarily just a story. Sometimes they put enough salt in it to keep it for getting moldy, other times they would just scrape off the mold and keep eating it.

 

[ally79]

We make something similar to the first dish in this thread all of the time. We are definitely not the kind to throw away leftovers so after a few days we will transform it into a new dish, or freeze veggies and meats for later use in a stew. We actually have some barbecue chicken leftover that I am thinking of shredding and cooking with potatoes and eggs. We will just fry it up and top it with some grated cheese at the end. Yum!

 

[OhioTom76]

There was a chain of restaurants called Country Kitchen which used to have this on their menu many years ago. They would serve it in a small iron skillet. It's a fairly common dish elsewhere though too - some may call it eggs & hash, or a skillet scramble or a breakfast scramble.

There is actually a dish that is sort of similar from a diner out in California called a "Joe's Special" which is a scramble of ground beef, onions, garlic, spinach, eggs and Parmesan cheese. It's incredibly filling, even just a small portion, because of all the protein in it. Also, only a small amount of ingredients makes a really big pile of food. I use about the equivalent of one medium sized hamburger patty's worth of ground beef, two eggs, and about a cup of cooked spinach, along with the onions and garlic, and it makes a huge mountain of food on my plate. I like to have it with toast, some sliced fresh tomato on the side, and black coffee.