"In all my born days I have never been served hash browns with onions in them. If you must combine them, saute the onions first. Then no worries about - are they cooked?"

You haven't lived yet!!!!!!!   You must try them with onions.

Why worry about if they are cooked? Raw onion tastes fine!   Seriously, they will cook at the same time as the potato. If you saute them first they might burn.

I went through several cook books, and I was surprised to see all the recipes I found said to boil the potatoes first. It has been awhile since I made them, but I thought I used raw. Live and learn.

Also, all the recipes mentioned adding onion. Shred the potato, shred the onion, mix them up with a little salt and pepper, form into patties or just cook it loose.

No one has mentioned another favorite - corned beef hash! Chop up equal portions of cooked corned beef potato, mix in some onion and fry away. Breakfast of champions!!!!