Good Food on the Cheap- 3 Stir Potatoes (Fried)

I know we all crave that one dish your Mom perfected growing up. For me, it is fried potatoes. You would think with only spuds, grease, and some salt, nothing could go wrong? It's an accident waiting to happen.
Potaoes stuck to cast iron skillet like cement, burned on the outside, but oh-so-raw on the inside. Here's a fool-proof method for pan frying potatoes. By the way, you might want to clear the kiddos out of the kitchen for this one. Popping grease is hazardous to your skin :)

These directions are courtesy of Jerry @ cbsop.com (Cooking by the Seat of My Pants

Dorris’ Fried Potatoes

Ingredients:

4-7 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into ¾” pieces (this depends on the size of the potatoes and the size of the skillet. My skillet is 11½”, so I can generally fit 6 medium sized russet’s comfortably. A different sized skillet means a different amount.)
3-7 tbsp bacon grease (or butter, or olive oil, or Crisco… I’d go with the bacon grease if possible)
1 small onion, chopped
Salt
Pepper

Method:

Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat. When hot, add fat of your choice allow to come to a shimmer. (Just before smoking.)

Add potatoes to skillet as quickly (and safely) as possible in a single layer. If you’ve cut too many to fit in the pan, make them in batches.

Reduce heat to medium low, then walk away. Do not attempt to move the potatoes around, they’re stuck to the pan like cement at this point, and that’s exactly what you wanted to happen. Hang out, have a cup of coffee and use your ears and nose to guide you.

When there’s nearly no sizzle left in the pan and the potatoes start smelling almost sweet, it’s time to stir it up(stir #1). Use a stiff spatula and carefully dislodge the potatoes from the bottom of the skillet (if they’re sticking at all.) then walk away.(I calculated about 6 minutes to get them brown on one side)

Moving things around in the pan too often will irrevocably damage the process. Wait about 5 minutes and stir the potatoes again(stir #2).
Take stock of the amount of grease in the pan. If it looks dry, add another tablespoon.

Salt the spuds profusely. Don’t worry, they’ll soak almost all of it up without a noticeable effect on taste, but now is the time we want them to start letting go of the moisture we’ve trapped inside. Wait about 5 more minutes and toss the onions into the skillet(stir #3). Add pepper.

By now it should be safe to keep them moving more often, and you’ll need to do so if you want to keep the onions from burning. Caramelized is fine, burnt isn’t.

When the onions are cooked to your liking and the spuds are fork-tender, you’re done.