They may not be Georgia-based Waffle House’s signature or most profitable menu item, but true fans of the franchise will tell you those hash browns in all their crispy glory are not to be overlooked.
Whether you’re new to the Southern diner or just too shy to ask your clearly swamped waitress about the staggering number of possible potato combinations, brushing up on the basics of Waffle House hash brown vernacular will only serve you well on your next visit. The lingo, according to the restaurant chain, first gained traction in the mid-1980s.
To begin, Waffle House hash browns come “scattered” in three different sizes: regular, large or triple.
If you just want plain ol’ hash browns, order yourself a regular ‘browns, scattered.
Itching for a bit more oomph? Ask for hash browns scattered on the grill with any of the following:
Smothered: sautéed with onions
Covered: with melted American cheese
Chunked: with chunks of grilled hickory smoked ham
Diced: some grilled tomatoes for juice
Peppered: fired up with spicy jalapeño peppers
Capped: adorned with grilled button mushrooms
Topped: prepared with Bert’s Chili, a combination of chili beans, Jimmy Dean sausage, tomato, onions and more
Country: with sausage gravy poured atop
You can combine any of those to your liking, and even order your hash browns “all the way” with all eight of the above toppings.
The restaurant chain actually claims there are 1,572,864 possible hash brown combos, which isn’t totally a lie. The number considers Waffle House’s four hash brown preparation methods (plain with oil, seared well, steamed with ice or cooked dry), three sizes and 18 additional ingredients (think ketchup, jalapeños, etc.). But if you only consider the three sizes and eight “scattered” hash brown styles above, you might conclude there are actually 768 different combinations available.
“I have seen people have a triple order of hash browns covered with everything you can imagine for breakfast,” Jim Hosseini, executive vice president and former Waffle House manager, told Garden and Gun. “And it’s not like I’ve seen it one time. I see it almost every weekend. I tell myself, ‘They’ll never finish that.’ And then they do.”
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