Ricing potatoes

[Claire]

You can also rice potatoes in a food mill. Not quite the same, but close. I personally have a potato masher I "inherited" from my mil that is identical to the one my mother has, and I like my potatoes mashed with THAT masher.

Since everyone here likes food stories, I'll tell you about a coworker and freind. She was a good ol' gal, a southerner, didn't know a lot about food and nutrition and such. One time she commented to me that her folks were real ignorant, they called mashed potatoes "rice potatoes". I just started laughing. She'd never heard of a ricer, and I explained it to her. She loved it, and realized that her parents weren't quite as ignorant as she thought! Her family riced them in a food mill, which many households that do canning have.

 

[Claire]

I think it's a china cap. I've never mashed peas with potatoes, but a favorite is to mash the potatoes, carrots and whatever other root veggies are in a New England boiled dinner (sometimes turnips or parsnips) all together, pour the broth and tons of butter, S&P over and mash on my plate and eat 'em up.

 

[jpmcgrew]

A ricer is good but if you are making mashers for a big crowd it would take too long.Im with Heat I will use a mixer as long as you cook potatoes long enough in enough water were they come out creamy and lumpless my mashers are not gummy.The only time Iv'e ever had gummy mashed potaoes is when a french man made them this was on 2 different occasions by 2 different french men.I dont know what they did wrong but they were just awful.

 

[Constance]

I peel my potatoes and dice them into cubes (less than 1 inch) before I cook them. That makes them easier to mash. They also cook faster that way.
Once they are cooked and drained, I put them back in the hot pan to mash. Then Kim takes over, using an old fashioned potato masher. If I have to keep them warm for a while, I put the lid on the pot and move them off the heat but still on the stove.
I think the kind of potato makes a difference, too. Kim insists on using russets, but I always used to use red potatoes, and they were never sticky, as they don't have as much starch. Yukon Golds are awfully good, too.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Something different than what the others have said is what I give you. Yes the ricer makes lump-free mashed potatoes a cinch. Yes you can use a ricer, a chinois, or a food mill to get nearly the same end result. But don't use the ricer just for making smooth smashed spuds.

The potatoe ricer is quite adept at making great spaetzla noodles. I've also placed layers of cheesecloth in the bottom of mine and removed the seeds from frehsly picked raspberries to make seedless raspberry jam (the best I ever made, but boy was it a lot of work to squeese the berries). But my favorite thing to use the ricer for is to make riced potatoes. I prefer to rice the spuds directly onto the plates. The look is elegent, and with just a touch of salt, and a pat or two of butter, you have a tremendous potato flavor that is unmatched by their mashed cousins.

Now dont' get me wrong, I love mashed potatoes in their various forms. But once in a while, the simple riced potato is an elegant side dish present to your crew, guests, or whomever.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[urmaniac13]

Potato ricer is great, especially perfect for making gnocchis.
However I recommend that you will get one made with stainless steal, I had had 2 of them snapped before I finally got a good SS... (or should I stop eating so much of my wheaties?? )

 

[Claire]

I find potatoes come out gummy if you put them in the food processor or use the immersion blender rather than masher, ricer, food mill, or regular old mixer. Food processor or blender over-mixes them and you get that gummy texture. Hubby actually likes it. I think it turns them to glue. But they are nice and smooth!

 

[Dicksie]

Riced potatoes

Riced potatoes were always a holiday staple when I was growing up. Mom cooked them in an iron skillet, then put them in a cone-shaped ricer with the skins still on. Now I'm wondering if it would be possible to cook them in the microwave, then rice them with the small grater blade on my food processor. Has anyone tried this?

 

[Rocklobster]

When I was a kid, all mashed potatoes were supposed to be lumpless. If you served mashed potatoes with lumps, you were a failure.

Now, lumpy mashed potatoes have "texture". I wonder if that came into being because some restauranteur somewhere was too lazy to completely mash the potatoes so he just told people that he preferred his potatoes to have "texture"

Verrrrry Interrresting!

One owner I worked for wanted us to leave lumps in the mashed taters so people would know he uses real potatos and not boxed...

 

[CookingLawyer]

Oh boy, a site to discuss my favorite pastime! When I was a kid, I detested mashed potatoes. Once in a while, my mom would rice them in her potato ricer, and I loved them!! Fast forward 40 years...I buy an Oxo potato ricer. There are no directions with it. So, I boil a potato, and run it through the ricer; disaster! For some reason, it was extremely watery. What did I do wrong? I love, love, love riced potatoes, but nobody seems to know about these any more! So glad I found this site. All advise is most welcomed!

 

[buckytom]

well, i can answer your questions, cookinglawyer, but i'm going to have to charge you by the hour...

if i have to ask andy m., that'll be additional for interrogs and deposition...

welcome to dc, btw.

 

[CookingLawyer]

well, i can answer your questions, cookinglawyer, but i'm going to have to charge you by the hour...

if i have to ask andy m., that'll be additional for interrogs and deposition...

welcome to dc, btw.

Thanks, I think. Send me a bill! So, what's the trick for non-watery potatoes in the ricer?

 

[buckytom]

boil the spuds until just cooked thru, not until falling apart. then, after boiling and straining, you should let them steam out a bit before ricing.

that'll be $150...

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

Does anyone rice chestnuts?

 

[buckytom]

only when i'm drunk and lonely...


lol, i'm not sure what that means, exactly, but it sounded funny.

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

Do you roast your nuts on an open fire?

 

[buckytom]

no, but i was once known as a a leader of them. i was once a chessmaster, where my fans would proclaim my victories from doorway to doorway. in fact, they wrote a song about it. you may have heard it.

"chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer..."

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

yes, I have the white label by Boris and Doris Spassky .

 

[msmofet]

only when i'm drunk and lonely...


lol, i'm not sure what that means, exactly, but it sounded funny.

Do you roast your nuts on an open fire?

ONLY when he stands to close the the BBQ grill!!


So sorry I just couldn't pass that up!!

 

[Dicksie]

My mom thought the trick was in cooking the potatoes slowly in a covered iron skillet - too much bother, so didn't do it often. She used a large cone-shaped ricer that stood on three legs, then had a wooden pestle to force them through the holes. I think she also used it to make applesauce.