What's Cooking

[GoingMyWay]

[member=66216]GoingMyWay[/member] , if it works - it works.

When I finally caved and got cable tv I got hooked by the Food Network.  I then spent one year making all our meals totally from scratch.  Nothing pre-processed or frozen.

That was an interesting and expensive experiment.

My wife is a mashed potato snob.  One of the few things she makes.  Always had to make from scratch and perfectly beaten.  No lumps for her.  When I was going thru chemo food was my diversion.  I would walk around grocery stores leaning on my cart for exercise, an excuse to get out of the house, fighting depression, and looking for interesting food to try that I hadn't tried before.  I figured that if I hadn't had it before, my messed up tastebuds couldn't tell my brain it didn't taste like it should.  Weird, but it worked.  Anyway, I discovered the new versions of ready to make mashed potatoes that are around a buck a bag.  They hit the spot.

Guess what; my wife liked them enough that they are now in the pantry!

Rock on and keep cooking'

Peter

Yup it is a tasty meal.  I used to make it for my parents long time back.  It was quick and simple to make.  I couldn't even imagine trying to make chicken cordon bleu from scratch.

What brand of mashed potatoes do you buy?  I also love mashed potatoes (so long as there are no potato skins in there).  I think I may like the gravy that goes on top even more though.  Does anyone have a good recipe for homemade gravy?  I've never really had any luck attempting to make it myself.

Last night I made sous vide steaks with baked potatoes and some grilled corn.  Sort of a repeat, but this is the first time I showed grilled corn.  My wife made her corn mexican style with mayo, chili powder, and parmesan cheese.

[attachimg=1]

[attachimg=2]

[attachimg=3]

[attachimg=4]

[attachimg=5]

[attachimg=6]

[attachimg=7]

 

[Cheese]

I love mashed potatoes but the only way I know how to get them creamy without any lumps is by using a ricer. I've tried all types of mashers and even tried using a fork...lumps. 

Consequently, I seldom make them now except for the holidays...too much work with that ricer. And that's too bad because I've got a great recipe for Leek Mashed Potatoes.

Then about 3 years ago I stumbled on these, I was amazed...still am amazed.  For the last several years I've served this with the holiday meal and everyone raves when I tell them the taters are packaged. They're in the refrigerator section with the milk and eggs.

[attachimg=1]

[attachimg=2]

 

[GoingMyWay]

Have you ever tried using a food mill?  I believe that would eliminate the lumps, with maybe a little less effort than using a ricer (cleanup might be a different story?).  I wanted to buy a food mill, but my wife said we don't need another kitchen gadget!

I'll have to see if that brand is carried by a local grocery store.  I suspect it is, I just never noticed them.

 

[six-point socket II]

Yes, passe-vite it is. Tell your wife, [member=61712]six-point socket II[/member] said it's a must have in the kitchen. lol.  [big grin] [big grin] [big grin]

Try to get one of the originals, like the moulin-legumes.

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[Tinker]

I like my mashed spuds all lumpy. My wife even leaves the skins on when mashing. she dices before cooking so the skins are in tiny pieces scattered thru. We both love our baked potatoes with the skins on. She likes them done in the micro, but I like them old fashioned way baked to crisp. I slice them open, scoop the center out, pack in the butter >>> Yummy.
Tinker

 

[Michael Kellough]

I like my mashed spuds all lumpy. My wife even leaves the skins on when mashing. she dices before cooking so the skins are in tiny pieces scattered thru. We both love our baked potatoes with the skins on. She likes them done in the micro, but I like them old fashioned way baked to crisp. I slice them open, scoop the center out, pack in the butter >>> Yummy.
Tinker

I’m with you!

 

[rvieceli]

Me too on the lumps and the skins. I just use an old fashioned wire masher. I add butter, sour cream and heavy cream and then have at them with the masher,

Ron

 

[Tinker]

I do them the same way with the old wire masher. I just smashed them if we are alone or if I know the company likes them lumpy. If they prefer them with no lumps, I just do the final mash by extra whirling with the masher. Lots of butter, and milk or as @ rvieceli, sour milk and sometimes, cottage cheese mixed in. I figure with butter, I don't need to add cream. Of course, by adding cream, if I whipped them hard enough and long enough, maybe the cream would turn to butter ;-)
Tinker

 

[tjbnwi]

My mashed potatoes;

Smooth, no lumps. Hand mashed with a waffle head masher.
https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/oxo-good-grips-reg-smooth-potato-masher/1011586082

5 pounds potatoes, washed and peeled, quartered if size dictates

1 medium size onion, peeled

Place in large pot, cover 2" with water add 1 tea spoon coarse salt

Boil until soft, drain, add potatoes back to pot

Add,

Warm to 130° 3/4 cup milk

1 stick butter

Mash away

Add some Parmesan cheese to taste if desired

Remove from pot to bowl (oven safe, see below)

another option;

Flatten top of potatoes

Cover with 1/8" of milk

Place under broiler until browned

Enjoy......

Tom

 

[Dick Mahany]

Well nothing is cooking today except me.  It's 102 degrees on my covered patio and I'm enjoying my favorite Labatts Blue Canadian beer which is a rare find in the SoCal desert. Kept cool courtesy of Festool. Hmm, maybe time for one more  [big grin]

[attachimg=1]

 

[GoingMyWay]

Yes, passe-vite it is. Tell your wife, [member=61712]six-point socket II[/member] said it's a must have in the kitchen. lol.  [big grin] [big grin] [big grin]

Try to get one of the originals, like the moulin-legumes.

Kind regards,
Oliver

I had to look up what passe-vite translates to.  LOL - it's food mill!  I was surprised to see the original, moulin-legumes is only about $10 more than the Oxo that I had planned to buy.

I find it interesting to hear about the different ways people like their mashed potatoes.  Some like it "rustic" with the lumps and others prefer it to be perfectly smooth.  I guess it may largely depend on what you grew up with and is familiar or comforting to you.  Or maybe some people just like some texture in what they're eating.

Well nothing is cooking today except me.  It's 102 degrees on my covered patio and I'm enjoying my favorite Labatts Blue Canadian beer which is a rare find in the SoCal desert. Kept cool courtesy of Festool. Hmm, maybe time for one more  [big grin]

[attachimg=1]

102 degrees already?  It's not even May.  With that heat you gotta stay "hydrated" [wink]!  I don't know that I've ever had a Labatt's before.

All the talk about meatloaf on here inspired me to take another stab at it.  My wife had also been asking for meatloaf for a while.  I already had the "base" recipe, I just needed a better cooking technique.  I've always used dry italian breadcrumbs, but to my horror we didn't have any in the cupboard so I had to make some fresh breadcrumbs with Wonder Bread in the food processor.

[attachimg=1]

[attachimg=2]

[attachimg=3]

[attachimg=4]

[attachimg=5]

[attachimg=6]

[attachimg=7]

[attachimg=8]

I microwaved on high for 5 minutes, drained out about 1/2 cup of fat.  Put on 3 tbsp of ketchup and microwaved for another 20 minutes at 50% power.  Sadly the ketchup didn't really caramelize like it did when my grandmother made it.  Probably 30-35++minutes at 50% power would have been better.  I thought about adding some brown sugar to the ketchup for the glaze, but I thought that might be too much sugar and it might burn.  I don't recall my grandmother adding brown sugar.  I'm pretty sure we just dumped some ketchup out of the big glass bottle and spread it around.

We used 93% lean ground beef.  I was a little surprised by how much fat and grease was in the pan, even after draining out about 1/2 cup.  I remember it being greasy, but not that greasy.  I actually bought my grandparents a special plastic microwave meatloaf pan.  It was like a tray within another pan so the grease could easily drain away.  My grandpa thought it was a really good idea.

The mashed potatoes were the Simply Potatoes.  They were very tasty!

I have the meatloaf sandwich to look forward to today.

 

[tjbnwi]

passe-vite---I've known it as a Foley Mill, turned that crank many a times as a youngin' helping mom (I use the word "helping" loosely).
http://fantes.net/manuals/foley-food-mill-75-ways-to-use.pdf

Never used it for mashed potatoes.

Tom

 

[GoingMyWay]

I primarily wanted it to make tomato sauce from whole San Marzano tomatoes.  It's obviously much more versatile than that.

That old instruction book is neat.  Skimming through it made me think of an infomercial - but wait... there's more!

 

[tjbnwi]

I primarily wanted it to make tomato sauce from whole San Marzano tomatoes.  It's obviously much more versatile than that.

That old instruction book is neat.  Skimming through it made me think of an infomercial - but wait... there's more!

I recall moms primary directions was to make tomato sauce also. I should have keep it along with her cookbook.

Worst kitchen disaster was------ my brother recycled all her Nordic Ware bundt cake pans, she had at least 50 of different designs and sizes. Now I'm out buying them....

Tom

 

[GoingMyWay]

I learned that you shouldn't be in too much of a hurry to get rid of person's belongings after they have passed away.  I learned that the hard way.  I took someone's advice too much to heart.  He said something to the effect of "one person's stuff just becomes another person's junk."  At the time it sounded like very sage advice.  We already had too much of our own crap, no need to kind of hoard all of my grandparents belongings - most of which had no use or significance.  On the other hand, there were a few items that I wished I had thought a little bit more about before being tossing.

It does hurt having to go out and buy something again that you used to have.  It's even worse considering that most things aren't made the same way they used to be.  I bought a set of metal measuring cups around 2008.  I really liked em so I wanted to get another set (because one set is just never enough when cooking).  I bought a new set just a couple of years later.  It looks identical, but the weight and feel is much lighter than the original set. 

 

[Tinker]

>>>I find it interesting to hear about the different ways people like their mashed potatoes.  Some like it "rustic" with the lumps and others prefer it to be perfectly smooth.  I guess it may largely depend on what you grew up with and is familiar or comforting to you.  Or maybe some people just like some texture in what they're eating.

 

[six-point socket II]

Yes, passe-vite it is. Tell your wife, [member=61712]six-point socket II[/member] said it's a must have in the kitchen. lol.  [big grin] [big grin] [big grin]

Try to get one of the originals, like the moulin-legumes.

Kind regards,
Oliver

I had to look up what passe-vite translates to.  LOL - it's food mill!  I was surprised to see the original, moulin-legumes is only about $10 more than the Oxo that I had planned to buy.

I find it interesting to hear about the different ways people like their mashed potatoes.  Some like it "rustic" with the lumps and others prefer it to be perfectly smooth.  I guess it may largely depend on what you grew up with and is familiar or comforting to you.  Or maybe some people just like some texture in what they're eating.

(...)

Hi!

I don't exactly dislike any kind of mashed potatoes. If I get to choose, and if it's a dish with a great sauce, I prefer the totally smooth kind as it mixes better. But then again.

What I also like to do with bigger portions of mashes potatoes: put them under the oven's grill with some butter and panko/breadcrumbs (really, really fine)

A bit like duchess potatoes.

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[peter halle]

So last night was part of a boneless rib roast that was frozen at Christmas.  The other half was great!  This half (3 lbs. or so) was cold smoked for about an hour and a half over oak - my favorite, and then cooked sous vide for 4 hours at 132 F.  Then seared on a cast iron pan coated with coconut oil.

Let's just say that my dogs will enjoy this for a few days as fortification on top of their dogwood.  It was cooked perfectly.  The smoke flavoring would have been something that maybe everyone else would love - but not me.

I love smoking food - fish, meat, cheese for others but then I can't eat it.

The twice baked potato initially cooked on the grill was wonderful.  Yes, finished in the oven with panko bread crumbs sprayed with oil and it was great.

On to hamburgers with Hellman's potato salad - potatoes grilled instead of boiled and with Montreal Steak seasoning.- tonight.

Peter

 

[tjbnwi]

I get my mashed potato texture buy smothering them with cream style corn [thumbs up].

I really like cottage cheese, that had a little texture....

I did score another All-Clad pan, wife wanted to go to Marshals for shoes, I wonder by the cooking stuff. Caught the pan out of the corner of my eye, $120.00 pan for $30.00. They had a few Lodge cast iron, going back in a week to see if they’re still there and price drops.

Tom

 

[Cheese]

I like to eat my soup with a fork. Does that explain anything?
Tinker

Well it explains to me that you probably also eat peas with a knife.  [popcorn] [popcorn]