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Post by everso on Mar 7, 2010 14:39:48 GMT
Do you have a potato ricer? no. why would anyone want to turn potato into rice? surely you'd just buy rice? You squish the boiled potato through this contraption and you get no lumps. At the same time, because you're not handling the potatoes roughly (like I used to trying to get them through a sieve) they don't go all gooey but stay just right.  |
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Post by Patrick on Mar 7, 2010 15:11:39 GMT
One write up on mashed potato - Slater or Stein - had them pushing the stuff through (that word again) muslin cloth and cooking the stuff about 4 times!!! Sounded like it ended up like blancmange!  I have a garlic crusher similar to this:  You crush it through the holes with the smooth side, then you twist it over and use the hedgehoggy bit to push the gummed up garlic back through again where you can scrape it down to the bottom to push it back with the smooth side again - hardly any wastage. |
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Post by Weyland on Mar 7, 2010 15:19:56 GMT
You crush it through the holes with the smooth side, then you twist it over and use the hedgehoggy bit to push the gummed up garlic back through again where you can scrape it down to the bottom to push it back with the smooth side again - hardly any wastage. Been there, done that. Repent. Just buy (or grow) good fresh garlic and use a sharp knife. Simple, quick, efficient, and ultimately better in the flavour department. IMHO. |
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Post by Patrick on Mar 7, 2010 15:38:10 GMT
Our Greengrocer sells fresh garlic occasionally. You have to wrap it in half a dozen freezer bags and lock it in a box under the floorboards to stop the smell getting everywhere!  Bit like my leek and potato soup really |
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Post by swl on Mar 7, 2010 15:49:27 GMT
No I don't have a potato ricer - though I have considered them. But seeing as how I've broken 2 or 3 garlic presses over the years, the potato ricers look a bit flimsy to me  |
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Post by jean on Mar 7, 2010 16:08:54 GMT
... cooking the stuff about 4 times!!! That'll be Heston Blumenthal. Every separate cooking will have to be done at its own precise temperature. |
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Post by Patrick on Mar 7, 2010 16:23:54 GMT
.........and considering how rotten the potatoes have been over the past few years, most wouldn't get past the first!
I've found a way of putting the body back into the mushy tatties though, a good dollop of a mild cream cheese.
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Post by swl on Mar 7, 2010 16:51:52 GMT
.........and considering how rotten the potatoes have been over the past few years, most wouldn't get past the first! I've found a way of putting the body back into the mushy tatties though, a good dollop of a mild cream cheese. Aww I first came across cream cheese potatoes in America. They're ace. You can also try adding delicate slivers of spring onion. |
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Post by Weyland on Mar 7, 2010 17:18:26 GMT
I've found a way of putting the body back into the mushy tatties though, a good dollop of a mild cream cheese. How can that be? Surely cream cheese has even less body than mushy potatoes? And with even less flavour as well. What am I missing? (Especially American cream cheese.) |
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Post by Weyland on Mar 7, 2010 17:22:13 GMT
Our Greengrocer sells fresh garlic occasionally. You have to wrap it in half a dozen freezer bags and lock it in a box under the floorboards to stop the smell getting everywhere! That's my kinda garlic, like you get in a French supermarket -- often three or four varieties -- sold by weight. Food of the Gods. |
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Post by betty on Mar 7, 2010 21:54:29 GMT
we get it here - farmers market - mr bets is in charge of providing good veg and game.
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Post by riotgrrl on Mar 17, 2010 18:10:00 GMT
I buy fresh garlic (in the bulb) but I don't think it smells at all. What's wrong with mine?
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Post by Weyland on Mar 17, 2010 18:15:51 GMT
I buy fresh garlic (in the bulb) but I don't think it smells at all. What's wrong with mine? It's not fresh. Have you ever been in the fresh-veg section of a French supermarket? Or any food market in France? Not just France, of course, but particularly there. Britain is the poor man of Europe in the fresh food department. Too much like our Special Friend, the USA. GoCompare. |
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Post by riotgrrl on Mar 17, 2010 18:20:32 GMT
I buy fresh garlic (in the bulb) but I don't think it smells at all. What's wrong with mine? It's not fresh. Have you ever been in the fresh-veg section of a French supermarket? Or any food market in France? Not just France, of course, but particularly there. Britain is the poor man of Europe in the fresh food department. Too much like our Special Friend, the USA. GoCompare. Interesting. I've often wondered just how fresh the fruit and veg I buy is, as it seems to go off very quickly and, certainly, the bulbs of garlic are pretty much odourless. I have been in supermarkets on the continent (or, 'the mainland' if you want to wind people up) but not with a specific idea of comparing the freshness of fruit & veg in mind. Next time I will pay attention. |
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Post by everso on Mar 17, 2010 18:25:49 GMT
I guess the answer is to grow your own garlic. I might ask Mr. E. to have a go. Has anyone here tried?
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Post by Weyland on Mar 17, 2010 18:54:00 GMT
I guess the answer is to grow your own garlic. I might ask Mr. E. to have a go. Has anyone here tried? Not yet, but it's on my list of seeds to get. It grows wild, even in Northumberland. How hard can it be? |
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Post by Weyland on Mar 17, 2010 19:08:32 GMT
I have been in supermarkets on the continent (or, 'the mainland' if you want to wind people up) but not with a specific idea of comparing the freshness of fruit & veg in mind. Next time I will pay attention. Even in the most mundane of French supermarkets, at least where I've been, you will see at least three or four varieties of garlic. Ultra fresh, not dried out like the stuff they sell in SainsTescoSonsDA. And it's not just garlic -- be sure not to miss the rest of the fresh veg. Germany is not quite so up to speed, and Holland even less, but still streets ahead of anything you'll see in a supermarket here. I blame Margaret Thatcher. (I was going to say Ian Paisley, but that would be childish.) |
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Post by jean on Mar 21, 2010 9:26:20 GMT
But only when it's in season. |
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Post by revisedartlily on Mar 27, 2010 12:14:21 GMT
Ian Parsley......
But riot, you say " I buy fresh garlic (in the bulb) but I don't think it smells at all. What's wrong with mine? " . I hope you are not buying chinese garlic.We get a lot of that over here, goodness knows why. it has no taste and is grown in human wee and poo, I have been told about a hundred times by greengrocers.
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Post by riotgrrl on Mar 31, 2010 18:41:33 GMT
Don't know what kind of garlic I'm buying. White bulbs of it. No smell.
On a separate, but vaguely related note, I am currently trying to grow my own coriander and I'm sucking at it big time. Anyone grow their own coriander, and if so, any tips?
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