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Post by geordy on Sept 27, 2010 16:54:13 GMT -5
On mashed potatoes/puree? I'm not talking about a big Holiday meal/family get together/romantic fest. But weeknights? Alone? For those ocassions I've moved more toward "smashed " potatoes..a crude mash of red skins or Yukon Golds with skin on. But...I got seduced by French commercials and came back with a box of Mousline..creme & noix de muscade..no less! Any opinions?
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Post by sunshine817 on Sept 27, 2010 17:20:57 GMT -5
Mousline = gag.
That goes for any brand of instant mashed potatoes in France.
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Post by georgeleitch on Sept 27, 2010 22:07:09 GMT -5
But of course. We are an Idahoan family.Once did a Burns Supper for 50 using real Haggis, Frozen turnip(rutabaga) and Idahoan mashed potatoes. Not one complaint.
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Post by sunshine817 on Sept 27, 2010 23:35:39 GMT -5
George, I'm with you 100% on the Idahoan instant -- they're real mashed potatoes, especially the Homestyle ones with the butter already in them. You don't want to know how many of those go in my suitcase when I visit the States!
But Mousline? Ugh. It's nothing against that brand in particular -- I've been trying every brand of puree I can find, and quite frankly, they're all disgusting. I can't add enough salt, creme fraiche, and butter to bring them up to anything beyond barely edible.
I've had *some* success with the frozen purees - it's weird looking -- extruded chunks of mash in a bag...but they warm up on the stove or in the micro, and are at least not vile.
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Post by GitteK on Sept 28, 2010 0:05:59 GMT -5
geordy, mashed potatoes are the easiest dish in the world - and one of the yummiest. Why on Earth would you put freeze-dry powder in your mouth instead ?? To save 10 minutes of peeling ?? You are a gourmet, forgot that ?
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Post by sunshine817 on Sept 28, 2010 0:45:00 GMT -5
10 minutes of peeling and 20 minutes of boiling and another 5 minutes of preparation is about 30 minutes more than I have some days to get something edible on the table. And it takes more energy than I have some days.
I *do* make homemade mash...when I have the time and energy.
But there's nothing wrong with a shortcut if it means the difference between handing them a ham sandwich and producing something identifiable as hot food.
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Post by Shoesy on Sept 28, 2010 1:56:59 GMT -5
Don't misinterpret what I'm about to say and think that I actually use my kitchen for cooking , but it does NOT take 10 minutes to peel potatoes.......unless you're cooking for an army !
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Post by afds on Sept 28, 2010 2:09:02 GMT -5
Geordy, when I was living away from home I tried that shortcut too. After a couple of times I started mashing my own potatoes... You can do other things while they're boiling, like setting the table or cooking other stuff, and if you peel them as soon as they're ready it takes a couple of minutes, tops. I'm probably the world's worst and most unwilling cook, so anything I can do (in the kitchen!) you can probably do much, much better. Throw out that box ;D
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Post by Jody on Sept 28, 2010 4:14:19 GMT -5
Who peels? I never ever peel, even for potatoe salad. The fiber is good for you. I usually just toss some little marble sized potatoes in olive oil and stick them in a hot oven. You can smash them on your plate!
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Post by GitteK on Sept 28, 2010 5:23:08 GMT -5
geordy, you can have a nice glass of Bordeaux during those 20 minutes................ To heck with it: on a good day I'd say I'd be able to do away with 2 rounds of Bordeaux in 20 minutes !
I may add: I have never tasted powdered potatoes. And I am not sure I would fancy to try them. I do eat Knorr's "cup-a-soup" though, is it anything like that ?
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Post by geordy on Sept 28, 2010 7:41:01 GMT -5
Really I know I have no excuse........ But those commercials...but why should they be any more true then ours? Plus I caught part of a program where teen aged girls were trying to make the perfect puree for their older female relatives I think. One went out of the box and used sweet potatoes. But it involved lots of devices, ricers, processors, sieves, plastic flat things to push it thru...way too labor intensive to get that perfectly smooth puree . I don't think instant mash resemble Knorrs's soups other than that distinctive freeze dried, artificial taste I never was a good peeler, My Mother, Irish, was a master with a paring knife right over the pot! But even she experimented with the instant ones back in the 70's. French's usually. the thing was they tasted like the kind you got in TV dinners...not real mashed potatoes but appealing as their own thing...kind of like a "good" frozen pizza and real pizza, Clydesdale's and Arabians, Me and a super model if beings from another planet landed..never believe we were the same species! Maybe I should give them a whirl while I still have my cold?
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Post by georgeleitch on Sept 28, 2010 8:17:47 GMT -5
Mashed spuds are really good if you have a cold. Real, honest- to- goodness comfort food. Just pour out the powder and in 3 minutes you can be back in bed with a plate of steaming mash with lots of butter and cream instead of standing in a draughty kitchen peeling knobbly potatoes, cutting them up, boiling them, draining them,mashing them and trying to get all the lumps out. You are a 21st century woman Geordie.
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Post by mossie on Sept 28, 2010 8:37:44 GMT -5
The best use for artificial mashed potatoes is as a substitute for ice cream This is what advertising photographers use when setting up fancy food shots, mash doesn't melt under the lights On a lighter note, when I was in the Muddle East we were fed copious quantities of that rubbish, it was always a nice shade of grey. When we got dehydrated cabbage that was the same colour and it was difficult to tell which was which. ;D ;D ;D
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Post by Anne on Sept 28, 2010 9:34:49 GMT -5
Oh yes Geordy, have that Mousline while your tastebuds are still somehow anaesthetized from the cold ! Mousline has a very distinctive artificial smell/taste which has nothing to do with potatoes and which I find yucky (goes back to childhood - yes, Mousline is that old !).
Sunshine, I sometimes use Picard's organic potato purée, it's just the mashed potatoes that you defreeze and then you add the seasoning and butter or anything else. Same taste as a homemade purée IMO.
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Post by sunshine817 on Sept 28, 2010 9:57:58 GMT -5
I've never seen instant mash anywhere in Europe that was anything but revolting...so you're all excused, as you've never had anything different. There is one and only one brand in the US that is not only edible, but could fool just about anyone.
The Idahoan Homestyle really do look, taste, and feel like the real thing. It's the only brand I'll eat. And it's one of the things that stays on an ever-shortening list of things from the US that we can't live without and can't buy a reasonable imitation here.
Anne, I agree -- the frozen ready-to-use puree seems to be the trick...it's the only hurry-mom-it's-late-and-I'm-starving substitute I can successfully use here...so I'm done with the powders.
(Two decent uses for the potato flakes...they can be stirred into some chicken bouillon to provide a little more substance when someone is suffering from the dreaded gastro. Only enough to thicken it up, but it's good way to begin weaning back onto solid food....lots of nutrients in a very gentle format.
...and potato flakes can be stirred into a soup to thicken the broth a bit if you've added too much water/bouillon during the cooking process, or just want a thicker texture without adding the calories of cream or milk.)
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Post by geordy on Oct 3, 2010 11:04:14 GMT -5
okay...so still have cold..feel like a walking mucous membrane! going to have a frozen Trader Joe Salmon thing for dinner with salad and what the Hell..the Mousline! Turns out frozen thing going to take too long to defrost and prepare so not really that hungry anyway...salad and fake potatoes it will be! Heating half and half and water , try to open packet and voila...half of the powder all over sink, counter, and kitchen floor..all of which I had cleaned earlier in the day! Improvised with what was left and another packet....improvising anyway with French directions, measurements. Didn't taste really bad...didn't taste like much of anything, not sure if that was me, the spill, whatever.....but my homemade mustard vinaigrette on the salad was spot on!!! ;D
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