Making hash from leftover food

When we were kids, my mother used to make something called hash. It sounded terrible, but tasted good. I know she used all the leftover veges and meat from our week’s meals, but how did she bind it together? I thought it was with eggs so I tried it, but it wasn’t quite right!

Putting egg in the mixture is definitely not right. I suspect what Mum was making is the most basic hash of all: chopped up cold meat (roasted or corned beef, lamb, pork or veal) with leftover cooked potato, a finely chopped onion, crushed garlic, and oil to fry. And that’s all you do – just fry it. You can go all fancy and use duck fat, and add any kind of sauce, chutney or chopped herbs to season it, but you really don’t need to.