Mashed: Mashed Potato Crisis

Subject: Mashed Potato Crisis
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
From: muddy42 at aol.com (Muddy)
Date: 24 Oct 2000 16:34:51 GMT
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It's very simple; I wanted mashed potatoes. I recalled Alton Brown's (Good Eats host on FoodTV) method, and thought I'd give it a shot.

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

4 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
8 red potatoes, cut into chunks roughly the same size as the russet chunks
1 to 2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 cup low fat buttermilk (not skim)
1/4 CUP HEAVY CREAM
6 to 8 cloves of garlic, peeled

Ok, I thought I recalled this perfectly. I remembered it because I thought it unusual to use buttermilk. The trick is to have the cream and buttermilk simmering in a pan with the garlic, to add to the potatoes during mashing.

I forgot the cream. I learned that buttermilk turns into a curdled mess when heated alone. It had to be one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen. I was vexed, thinking, this is just mashed potatoes, man! How can I be screwing this up?! So, I mixed everything up, mashed it well, and tried it. It was pungent, masking the sublte potato flavor. I was cursing Alton Brown and his weird potatoes. So, don't forget the CREAM, if you use this method. I tried it again last night when I had the recipe, and it worked fine, and was very good. The cream stabalizes the liquid, and mellows the tanginess of the buttermilk, just enough. Garlic Mashed Potatoes are simple again. I'm sure my Grandma was howling with laughter at my "fancy" ways. I should have just followed her method from the start. Anyway, I can now vouch for Alton Brown's Mashers.

So, I had this soupy, tangy, mess of mashed potatoes left over. I threw in an egg, a fistful of chopped parsley, and flour enough to make a nice gnocchi dough -- it took a lot more flour than I expected. The gnocchi from this mess of rancid potatoes was VERY good -- I made one batch with a simple tomatoe sauce, another with butter and sage. It was a slight vindication.
From: Terry Pulliam Hansen (pulliamhansen7 at earthlink.net)
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 06:03:16 GMT
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Muddy42 wrote:

<snip of a culinary crisis>

>So, I had this soupy, tangy, mess of mashed potatoes left over. I threw in an
>egg, a fistful of chopped parsley, and flour enough to make a nice gnocchi
>dough -- it took a lot more flour than I expected. The gnocchi from this mess
>of rancid potatoes was VERY good -- I made one batch with a simple tomatoe
>sauce, another with butter and sage. It was a slight vindication.

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