Browne Cuispro Stainless Steel Potato Ricer
I just made the BEST mashed potatoes I have ever made, thanks to this handy dandy little device. Fluffy, not a lump to be seen, and - perhaps the best part - I didn't have to peel the potatoes! Scrub them, boil them whole, drain, cut them in half, and rice them. The skin stays in the bowl or on the plunger of the ricer. Mix in some melted butter, then some heated milk or half and half, and salt and pepper.
The recipe in my cooking Bible - for it was of course my favorite cookbook that suggested a potato ricer or food mill - calls for half and half and quite a bit of butter - a whole stick for two pounds of potatoes. I used less butter than it called for and 1% milk, and they are still delicious. I'll probably back off the butter a little more on Thanksgiving, to allow for some nice rich gravy.
I prefer russet potatoes for my mashed potatoes - they make the fluffiest mashed potatoes - but Yukon Golds are a decent choice, as well.
Here's my version.
Mashed Potatoes
2 pounds russet potatoes, scrubbed
5 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup milk, heated
1 1/2 teaspoons salt (decrease to 1 teaspoon if you use salted butter)
Freshly ground black pepper
Cover scrubbed potatoes with water in a large saucepan (water should be about an inch over potatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low. Simmer 20 to 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender when pricked with a thin-bladed knife. Drain potatoes.
Set ricer over still-warm saucepan. Cut potatoes in half, and put through ricer into the saucepan.
Stir in melted butter with a wooden spoon. Gently whisk in the milk, salt, and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
4 spoons thrown:
I was watchig food network yesterday and one of the shows did the potatoes with 1/2 buttermilk and 1/2 skim milk....she said buttermilk is a slim alternative with a nice tangy kick for the potatoes.
(i happen to dream of mounds of potatoes this time of year)
Martha, I have a ricer, but mine is mean-looking aluminum thing that must not go in the dishwasher. But it makes might fine potatoes.
PS. My family "doesn't know from mashed potatoes," so I am taking a jar with whole milk and butter and adding it to the potatoes when no one is looking.
Oh, I commented about how much you'd love the potato ricer before I read this post! Isn't it the greatest? Oh, and thanks for the tip about not peeling the potatoes... I hate to peel potatoes!
PS. If those people who are so hip on breeding food to be bigger or longer lasting, or crazy colors, why can't someone make a potato that is fluffy like a russet, but tastes like a Yukon Gold?
I'd so pleased about not having to choose between flavor and fluffiness. (I always choose flavor because I'm not a gravy eater.)
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