If you like your mashed potatoes fluffy and no lumps, you need a potato ricer. My family likes them just put through the ricer and I do fix them that way as it is of course less calories, but if you stir them in the bowl and add some hot milk and butter you will have marvelous mashed potatoes. I have tried doing it with cooked potatoes with the skin on but prefer to use peeled potatoes so I don’t have to remove the skins from the hopper. Just drop the potato in and squeeze the handles like you would use a garlic press.
For years I used one like the metal with the red handles, the only drawback with this type is only one size of holes, but they have a lot of holes and will handle a larger potato.
Now I also have a rsvp ricer that has two ricer discs but no side holes. It does an excellent job of smashing fruit also.
There are few more to chose from now days than when I got my first one, but all of them work on the same principle. If you watch the cooking shows on PBS where the chefs are chefs not celebrities many of them use potato ricers.
The quality of materials used will contribute to how easy they are to use. The more holes you have the faster it will be and the easier on your hands. Having more than one disk will also give you the chance to adjust how fine the finished texture is.
This simple hand tool will save you getting out your mixer to mash the potatoes with, and I feel gives you a smoother and creamier texture than with a potato masher. I use it as a type of food mill when I have a lot of fruit or tomatoes to crush so more than one use for it.
I have one, but hate to say it I've never used it.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to give it a try. We have been weeding out the kitchen items we don't use and not everyone uses the same things. I do like mine though I don't use it every day by any means.
Deletethe big hole disk on mine is big enough to do spaetzle as well.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'd be just as likely to use it for spaetzle as for riced potatoes!! I usually just cut mine off a small board with a knife, but I've seen those big spaetzle makers they use in Germany, and I was jealous. Hadn't thought about the newer ricers having holes big enough. Thanks for the idea.
DeleteSo do you use it for potatoes as well? I sure wouldn't have thought of using it for that, a great idea, I am going to get mine down and think about what else I can use it for, LOL
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