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Cook's Country never fails to step up with useful information at just the right time, tacking issues that every home cook - even if that cooking is only occasional - faces. At their website, they have a quick guide to mashing methods, a test of a number of gadgets to see which would produce the perfect mashed potatoes. They were looking for soft, fluffy, lump-less spuds. The electric mixer was the first gadget ruled out, as it turned the potatoes "gluey" with overmixing. The hand masher always left lumps, regardless of how long your mashed. The ricer did a very good job, but the food mill was the most consistent, turning out "super-silky and smooth" potatoes every time.
Personally, I use a ricer when I want smooth potatoes and it works beautifully for me. I wouldn't go out and buy a food mill or ricer just for Thanksgiving if you don't already have one because it's not worth cluttering up your kitchen for a gadget that you're only going to use once a year. If you have potatoes frequently and like them to be smooth as silk, however, there is no time like the present to add one to your utensil collection.
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11-21-2006 @9:30AM Alex said... We've always found the ricer to be the way forward too. Never thought of trying the food mill but I would imagine that the ricer's action is a bit more friendly, as it's more like crushing giant cloves of soft garlic!
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11-21-2006 @10:40AM Sean Hattaway said... I don't know about the food mill either, but the ricer good for me, too. I don't use the electric mixer that much these days.
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11-21-2006 @11:14AM rainey said... I use my ricer all the time. Besides mashing potatoes, it's a good stand-in for a food mill and makes a fine spaetzle press.
It is bulky but very affordable. I got mine for $12. Look for one with
the little "ears" on the ricer end to hold it steady on the rim of a
pot or bowl.
Mine has interchangeable dies of different sizes. I like the one that provides a little texture in my mashed potatoes.
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11-21-2006 @12:31PM Claudia said... I think the food mill leaves too messy to clean up. I used it once, but have used the ricer ever since.
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11-21-2006 @1:51PM Kiwi C. said... I actually prefer some lumps in my mashed potatoes, to be honest, so I like to use a masher. Really smooth potatoes always seem, well, "boxy" to me.
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11-21-2006 @9:34PM calamari said... It's not that hard to get smooth mashed potatoes with a hand masher. I've never been able to figure out why food magazine reviewers struggle with it -- I'm not the kind of person to spend one second more of labor than I absolutely must, and my mashed potatoes are not lumpy.
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11-21-2006 @11:07PM dlz said... we've used a hand masher -- the kind with the wavy S shape -- and haven't found it either difficult or a chore. and i don't mind the occasional lump.
riced potatoes always taste like something other than potato to me. it's like there's air forced ito them or something that highlights the starch or something.
agreed, "too smooth" and they taste like boxed.
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11-22-2006 @3:47AM Julian said... i have worked in professional kitchens for about 4 years and in almost all of them i had to make mashed potatoes everyday. the food mill is a head and above every other method, however it is hard work (especially if you have let the potatoes cool down) and a hastle in general to clean up. to the home cook i would recomend a ricer, it is the easiest and makes pretty decent mashed potatoes.
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11-22-2006 @8:23AM Victor Agreda, Jr. said... Anything too violent (like food processors) will rip those starch granules to pieces, releasing the gluey mess inside...
Most every recipe I've run across recommends a ricer for smoothness.
Personally, we like them lumpy, so last night I whipped out (get it?) my mom's vintage hand masher, the one with the gaudy orange handle, and within about 5 minutes took nearly 8 lbs. of potatoes to task. With a little cream and butter (and salt and pepper), they are now sitting in the fridge, a perfect blend of creamy and lumpy. That's how we roll down South!
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