I've been making mashed potatoes since last Thanksgiving, when TJs had golden potatoes. The result so tasty, we've kept preparing them. I used a fork, then a slotted spoon to break them up, and a hand mixer to really whip them, but that took a lot of effort. All I knew for sure was that I did not want my mother's masher, didn't want one like it in the house. I hated the job as a kid, all that milk and margarine, salt and pepper, as well as criticism for any lumps.
So, no and no.
Probably nothing wrong with either, but flashbacks, you know?
Found the one above, and it's sufficiently different, I could use it. Does a rather nice job, straightforward to clean.
And then found the bowl, at the yard sale, which it fits perfectly, especially for the amount I make at a time. Which is the potatoes that fit in a 4 cup pyrex measuring devise that I can nuke for 18 minutes. (A rather good way to boil potatoes - in water, in the microwave.)
When the potatoes are ready, the masher appears*.
9 comments:
A very satisfying food, both to prepare and eat. Some chives and soured cream work wonders added to the mash. I remember some comics from childhood, a mountain of mash with sausages stuck into it like a hedgehog. Real bangers and mash.
I've heard of bangers and mash, never seen in person. My mother's mashed potatoes were tasteless and gluey, I dumped as much salt as possible on them to get them down. Which is why I never made mashed potatoes as an adult, until this past year, when a bunch of people gushed about how wonderful they were. Decent potatoes and real butter, sour cream, and chives - yeah, now I like 'em.
I recall that, at a large family bash in the south of France, I was volunteered to make a huge quantity of mashed potato - with milk and butter! The implement I used, and very successful it was too, was something like a circular, roughly five inch diameter, garlic crusher. (Of course it couldn't be used to crush garlic, but I hope I have created a suitable mental picture.)
That sounds like a potato ricer, Tom. Very smart!
(O)
I've gone the other way and realized that *instant* mashed potatoes aren't half-bad!
Which makes sense--they're truly just dried potatoes---an ancient way of storing potatoes (the Inca's even freeze dried them).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu%C3%B1o
Fresca,
Oh, that is interesting. I never had a problem with instant potatoes, but only rarely had them. I like leaving the skins on, so I'll stick with whole taters.
Tom,
Oh, I think I saw one of those, didn't know what it would do. There was a very expensive one identified as a ricer which was beyond our needs.
I was about to mention the potato ricer, that's our usual way of doing them. Tom has quite misremembered the occasion, and thereby downplayed the herculean nature of his achievement, which was entirely accomplished with a small table fork, and no lumps. The ricer stayed at home. It is something of a kitchen affectation (I don't remember it being expensive), but is such fun to use and so effective, the resulting little starchy worms being rendered down with the milk and butter almost like instant potato pellets. It's a bit cumbersome to wash up but no worse that a fork, plus a masher, plus a whisk.
Otherwise, the frozen mashed potato popsicles recently discovered are pretty amazing, and really very cheap.
Bangers and mash are nothing mysterious, simply sausages accompanied by mashed potato. Beans, peas, fried onions, gravy, mustard, ketchup, brown sauce etc are all optional.
Lucy,
So much for bangers & mash being haute cuisine?
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