/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>17097185
You have never had my step moms styrofoam mashed potatoes with Country Crock margarine and skim milk

>>17097224
Still better than overcooked, sawdust dry fries.

>>17097185
I disagree

Fries are more like a snack, they never feel like a full meal. Mash is nice and filling

>>17097337
Yep. A good mash can be mixed with all kinds of things and it'll feel like a meal. When you mix anything with fries, it just makes it look like barfood.

>>17097185
i just recently made mashed potatoes from scratch for the first time in my life. tried it for three times, had little lumps in every batch, despite my best attempts at whisking them away, and felt like puking while eating because i couldn't get used to the texture. nevertheless i'm not willing to invest in a potato ricer (which was the internet's unanimous advice for solving the problem with the chunks). Is there anything else I can do? Try a different variety of potato maybe (i used mostly waxy potatoes, because I didn't have anything else at hand)?

>>17097858
What did you mash them with? How did you prepare them? What did you add to them?

>>17097858
Use starchy potatoes or something like Yukon gold. For the best and smoothest texture, get a ricer.

>>17097858
put it through a sieve

>>17097866
Cooked 600 grams of peeled potatoes for 25 minutes, then used a potato masher with a wire in a rounded zig-zag shape to break them up. Added 50 grams of butter, 100 ml of hot milk, grated nutmeg and blended all pretty thoroughly (I think) with a whisk.

>>17097880
I don't own one unfortunately and at this point I'm not even sure if I want to do all this work for what's supposed to be a simple and quick dish (I suppose sieving by hand would take several minutes and might cool the puree out, especially if you're doing a larger batch).

>>17097933
Cooked them how?

>>17097185
This is not true or McDonald's would serve it

>/bread

>>17097933
not nearly enough butter or milk, not even close

>>17097939
Put cold salted water on a stove, potatoes in, lid on, bring to a boil

>>17097946
What was the texture like, was it more sharp or fluffy?

>>17097858
>>17097933
immersion blender

>>17097945
What would a more commendable ratio be? Just don't say 1:1, because I'm not doing 1:1

>>17097933
Mashed potatoes get gluey when they are worked too hard. Don't use a whisk, work them easy with the masher.

>>17097954
for every kg of potats, about quarter to a third kg of butter and quarter litre of milk

>>17097965
and you want to cook the potats unpeeled to keep the flavour from leeching into the water

>>17097954
For potatoes to dairy, you want 2:1 with the dairy divided evenly between cream and butter. If you must use milk, use whole milk no skim or anything like that.

>>17097953
>immersion blender
I thought about it, but the people on the cooking board I browse almost unanimously say it would turn the dish slimy (something to do with releasing too much of the starch at once).

>>>17097952
What was the texture like, was it more sharp or fluffy?
I'm not really sure how to describe it (ESL after all): it felt.... rather rigid, though it was an homogenous mass. Definitely coarse compared to the instant mashed potatoes I'm used to.

>>17097980
>Definitely coarse compared to the instant mashed potatoes I'm used to.
That's either undercooked potatoes or the wrong kind of potatoes. They should be fluffier, not sharp or coarse.

>>17097965
>>17097973
so 2:1... alright, I'll definitely will give that a try next time. And I'll use cream instead of milk. You only live once after all.

>>17097988
Yeah, a good mash is going to be a bit decadent. You want it soft and luxurious feeling in your mouth, so use good cream and butter.

>>17097986
Oh, you meant the potatoes. Yeah, pretty smooth and "sharp". I was already fairly certain I used the wrong kind of potatoes, but the people on my corner of the internet said it wouldn't make such a big difference after all.

>>17097999
You described the ones you used as waxy? I would avoid those and go with something more rustic looking with coarse brown skin.

>>17097185
Explain how to eat mash while driving.

>>17098115
Put the bowl into the seat next to you, buckle its seatbelt, and put a spoon into it, then occasionally take a spoonful and eat it while driving.

>>17097185
you've never had bad mashed potatoes. They reach depths unplumbed

>>17097185
What if they only have smashed potatoes?

>>17097993
>You want it soft and luxurious feeling in your mouth
yeah i bet you do anon

>>17097933
I use 1/4lb butter per potato in my mashed potato, that is about 15x more than your recipe calls for. I do not use milk though.
>Boil peeled potatoes until well softened
>Cut into wedges
>Put in bowl with soft butter, salt, pepper
>Mash with hand mixer on low setting
Once you get some practice with your technique you will have perfect mash potato this way.
Also you should know rule #1 of mash potato is use white pepper instead of black, black pepper is unsightly. If you only have black pepper omit it from the recipe and just serve with a pepper grinder

>>17098115
very carefully

I have never had bad mashed potatoes. Not once in my entire life. I think OP is on to something.

Anyone ever make 5 spice mashed potatoes?

>>17097858
Cut them into smaller pieces for the boil and take your time. If you have a vigorous boil it’s too hot. Stab the potatoes to make sure they’re very soft before removing from the heat. I like to add a half teaspoon of sugar and minced garlic into the water when it boils.

When you dump the water and re-add the potatoes into the still hot pot let them sit for a minute so to allow the excess moisture to steam off.

Butter is your friend, it’s difficult to over butter mash, but I like butter.

hard disagree, people do some weird shit to mashed potatoes you never know what you're gonna get

>>17097248
How would you know

>>17097185
Baked potatoes btfo mashed potatoes any day. They’re really hard to fuck up unless you’re a complete retard, and taste better too.

>>17097933
That is very little liquid, very little fat. Mash can be up to 1/3rd butter.

>>17099610
He eats out your moms every night.

>>17099613
This is objectively wrong in every way possible.

>>17098115
Ah jeez. I used to eat muesli and yoghurt while driving. RISKY fucking business. I guess you could load it into a piping bag and squeeze it into your mouth one-handed, haha

>>17097858
>unanimous
This is /ck/. We can't agree on anything, and are only relatively civil in threads talking about bowel movements and how food affects them. If you want unanimous, read some of the internet food blogs that plagiarize each other so they can get their articles out fast without really exploring the subjects they write about.

As for taters, I like to use a mixer. A few passes with the paddle to break up the potatoes, then whisk attachment when adding butter, milk, cream, seasoning, whatever else. I don't recommend it for serving others unless you've figured it out on your own, though. If the potatoes are waxy, they'll gum up super fast. If they're slightly under cooked or over cooked, it'll end up worse than hand mixing because they'll gum up before they get smooth, or they will turn into marsh bog potato soup, and if you don't know your mixer, you'll likely not know the settings to use to achieve good results. Instead, try finding a masher that has small holes, not those mashers with gaping grid holes, and focus on cooking the potatoes to the right consistency. It should offer little resistance to a fork when being pushed through the tines, and should not be sloughing starch off the surface. Gently toss them a little after draining, or spread them out on a sheet tray to let the majority of the steam evaporate, as well.

Bad crunch better than good smooth

>>17102099
thanks Grug
very based

>>17097858
paraphrasing a story i read on here:
>friend knows i cook
>he doesn't
>tries making mash first time in his life, does not go well
>calls me saying something about it is weird, it's all chunky
>'how long did you boil them for and how small did you cut them?'
>"you have to boil them?"

>>17102145
kek

>>17097248
Overcooked, sawdust dry fries are still miles better than home fries or steak fries or any other bullshit huge unfried “fry”

>tfw no pots or stove
>craving mash now
>gunna end up eating some microwave instant crap
Whyd you do this to me OP
WHY

>>17102310
I would think you could boil potatoes in the microwave without nervegas explosions. Alternately, wrap it in a damp paper towel, microwave on medium for about 8 minutes, add a minute until necessary until soft, then mash it. Worst case scenario is you need to add more milk and they're still more dense than if boiled. Maybe you lose a little more potato to the skin than peeling when raw, but I would guess it'd be pretty even.