Ricing potatoes

[amylou]

How is ricing potatoes different from mashing them? I don't have a ricer. How can I rice my potatoes without one?

[Andy M.]

amylou, welcome to Discuss Cooking!

A ricer pushes the cooked potato through little holes to make a lump-free finished product. It looks like a giant garlic press. If you put cooked potato through a ricer, it's just about impossible to have lumps in your mashed. Using a potato masher, you can still have lumps.

I can't think of a practical way to rice potatoes without a ricer. If you're not sure if you want one, buy a cheap one and try it out.

Some folks use an electric mixer to mash potatoes but I think that makes them gummy. I don't like that texture.

[jennyema]

Yes, like Andy says, it's pretty impossible to rice potatoes without a ricer.

A friend of mine tried smashing the spuds through a colander, but that was quite messy.

Cheap ricers are less than $10.

IMO, I prefer hand mashed with a little texture to them. I hardly ever use my ricer.

[callie]

I don't own a ricer either. I was thinking of getting one...but I like lumps (ok..."texture" maybe sounds better) in my mashed taters! Mine sure aren't pretty...I like to leave the skins on, too. I also like to boil carrots along with my potatoes and mash them, too. I like the color!

What other uses are there for a ricer?

[Andy M.]

Hmmmmm, I wonder....

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!

[kitchenelf]

Originally Posted by callie

I don't own a ricer either. I was thinking of getting one...but I like lumps (ok..."texture" maybe sounds better) in my mashed taters! Mine sure aren't pretty...I like to leave the skins on, too. I also like to boil carrots along with my potatoes and mash them, too. I like the color!

What other uses are there for a ricer?

I absolutely love to cook carrots with my potatoes - yep, the color is awesome and the flavor is even better!!!!

I like lumpy mashed potatoes too - but if you want to get them smoother, which is what ricing does - cut them in much smaller cubes.

[kitchenelf]

Originally Posted by Andy M.

Hmmmmm, I wonder....

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!

Yep, and it was a cause for concern if company was over and there were lumps. The whole town would know in no longer than 9.7 hours. VERY embarassing indeed!!!!

[Caine]

I needed a potato ricer to make a spaghetti and meatball cake, so I just borrowed one.

[Heat]

Im a mixer Woman i have to admit!! But mine never has lumps and i like the texture i make mine real stiff too. Never thought of mashing carrots with em hmmmmm. Guess what im gonna do to my next batch of Mashed Taters ahhahah

[auntdot]

After having bent three ricers I purchased at the local stores, saw what looked like one on Ebay years ago. It was industrial size and King Kong could not bend it. (They sold it as a tomato presser, but after trying it out on two overripe tomatoes, we agreed it was indeed a ricer).

My suggestion to anyone buying a ricer is find the sturdiest one you can find.

And yes, love to make mashed potatoes mixed with mashed carrots, or parsnips, or sweet taters, or squash. Would bet with beets it would taste good also. Gotta try that in the fall.

Hope this helps.