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Potatoes!, Friday, Second Period
Friday, January 24th, 2025 09:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
carbsliftthespirit"Okay, everyone," Raiden said to his students, "today we're moving along to another easy potato classic: mashed potatoes. Now, for these you do need a few more utensils. You need a knife, and maybe a peeler, but you can also use the knife to peel, like we did for thousands of years before someone invented the peeler. And you'll need a pot and a masher or ricer. You do not have to worry about getting things all even or pretty looking, because we're gonna mash 'em. And actually, you don't even have to peel them if you don't want to. Just scrub 'em real good first if you go that route.
"After we've washed, optionally peeled, and cut up our potatoes into chunks so they'll boil faster, we'll cover them with cold water, salt it, and put it on the stove to boil until the potatoes are tender. You could use a different liquid, if you want. I've seen people use broth or milk, but that's getting fancy. Then you'll drain them and put them back in the pot. From here you can go one of two routes. If you're using a masher, you can add your other ingredients that are gonna make your mashed potatoes have gorgeous texture and extra flavor, like butter or milk or cream cheese or roasted garlic or parmesan or all of the above, to the pot, and mash it up with the masher, like so." Raiden demonstrated briefly. "If you're using a ricer, you'll want a bowl to rice the potatoes into, and then you'll add your extra stuff to the bowl and stir to combine. A masher will result in a less even texture, possibly with some potato chunks, or lumps, left in it. A ricer makes a perfectly smooth potato sort of puree, and if you did leave the skins on, it'll take them off for you. But it's entirely a matter of personal preference. I've heard that heating your dairy first results in better texture and whatnot, but also it means another pot to wash, so that's up to you.
"Now, you've all got your potatoes, and your gear, and a bunch ofhandwavey options to add to them, so let's get to making some mashed potatoes!" Hopefully none would end up on the ceiling or anything.
"After we've washed, optionally peeled, and cut up our potatoes into chunks so they'll boil faster, we'll cover them with cold water, salt it, and put it on the stove to boil until the potatoes are tender. You could use a different liquid, if you want. I've seen people use broth or milk, but that's getting fancy. Then you'll drain them and put them back in the pot. From here you can go one of two routes. If you're using a masher, you can add your other ingredients that are gonna make your mashed potatoes have gorgeous texture and extra flavor, like butter or milk or cream cheese or roasted garlic or parmesan or all of the above, to the pot, and mash it up with the masher, like so." Raiden demonstrated briefly. "If you're using a ricer, you'll want a bowl to rice the potatoes into, and then you'll add your extra stuff to the bowl and stir to combine. A masher will result in a less even texture, possibly with some potato chunks, or lumps, left in it. A ricer makes a perfectly smooth potato sort of puree, and if you did leave the skins on, it'll take them off for you. But it's entirely a matter of personal preference. I've heard that heating your dairy first results in better texture and whatnot, but also it means another pot to wash, so that's up to you.
"Now, you've all got your potatoes, and your gear, and a bunch of