How much should one pay for a potatoe masher?

[Structaural]

Heston's Ultimate Mash

God, he's a ponce.. 45-50 mins to make mash potato

 

[fear-n-loathing]

Thats the one i have, they don't come much better

 

[Structaural]

Quayle

hahahahaha shame

 

[Madusa]

Innit. If you add butter and milk it softens it, keep the pan on a very low heat so the mash doesn't go cold and mash thoroughly - it's hardly hard work!

That's exactly what i think! Weirdos with yer poncey money wasting 'utensils'.

 

[tarannau]

My grid's more like this:

I had one of them Good Grips mashers and it was pretty darn good and quick to use...

...right until the welding snapped at the join a few months in. Should have really taken it back I suppose, but it just threw it away in disgust and bought a cheaper model, much like Trashpony's. it's working fine...

 

[Structaural]

I'm on my 3rd in three years - I always bend them out of shape...

 

[tim]

God, he's a ponce.. 45-50 mins to make mash potato

Thats for a Frenchified puree, not a mash, they have different textures.

 

[trashpony]

I'm still pissed off about the loss of my old one. Do you think I can ask for it back? Or should I just steal it next time I go over to my mate's house?

She'd never know - I could hide it when she comes over here

 

[Orang Utan]

French chefs bake their potatoes first when they make mash too

 

[Wilson]

not a big fan of ricers myself, i like my mash to have some structure and texture rather than being like something served up in an old peoples home
as for the cost of a masher - about 50p in a charity shop

 

[pembrokestephen]

As I am making veggie shepherds pie tonight, I need a masher to mash my spuds. Unfortunately the kind of masher I like costs £7.95.

Is that a good price or should I shop around?

That looks like quite a nice masher. It also looks a bit like one I got from IKEA, but I'm sure I didn't pay as much as £7.95

The only problem, though, with those wiggly mashers, is that you have to mash quite a lot to get the spud all nice and, er, mashed. The upsides are: if you make skinny mash (spuds with skins on), as I tend to do, the ones with square holes just compress the skins to the bottom of the pan, rather than mixing them in; and they've got rather sharp edges, which isn't good if you forgot and boiled your spuds in a non-stick pan.

 

[pembrokestephen]

I hate 'em already!! They must be a bit of a sod to clean. Although maybe not as much so as a garlic press...

 

[boohoo]

Oh and boohoo - is a potatoe a special root vegetable that grows on toes?



*runs away*

I'm allow to be rubbish at spelling cos I am special.

 

[pembrokestephen]

Heat the butter and milk up first, with pepper and a tiny touch of nutmeg and then mash the potatoes which should have been drained for a few minutes first. Oh and don't peel the potatoes first - pull the skins off after you've boiled them

No! Leave the skins on!

 

[Orang Utan]

No! Leave the skins on!

It's nice from time to time, esp if you're having it with sausages and a load of mustard but if you want a nice dainty texture, you need to peel them

 

[pembrokestephen]

I'm on my 3rd in three years - I always bend them out of shape...

That's why I like the IKEA wiggly wire one. I can see people's points about it not being as good as the square grid ones, but spudmashing's a fairly hands-on thing for me, so the masher ends up being used as a kind of heavy-duty whisk-cum-baseball bat, and the job gets done. But I'm 6' and that's just around the wrists...

Aside: in German, "potato masher" is "kartoffelstampfer". Great word.

 

[Orang Utan]

Whatever you do with your masher, ALWAYS RINSE IMMEDIATELY AFTER USE! Or at least don't expect anyone else to wash it when it's dried

 

[SubZeroCat]

I'm allow to be rubbish at spelling cos I am special.

I'm special too! I get pats on the head and all

 

[Spion]

That's why I like the IKEA wiggly wire one. I can see people's points about it not being as good as the square grid ones, but spudmashing's a fairly hands-on thing for me, so the masher ends up being used as a kind of heavy-duty whisk-cum-baseball bat, and the job gets done. But I'm 6' and that's just around the wrists...

Aside: in German, "potato masher" is "kartoffelstampfer". Great word.

Damnit, PS! I thought you'd be along to lecture us all on the folly of spending less than 25 quid on a potato masher

 

[pembrokestephen]

It's nice from time to time, esp if you're having it with sausages and a load of mustard but if you want a nice dainty texture, you need to peel them

<grudgingly>I suppose so</grudgingly>

Thinking about this, it's true. It's just that if I don't say "let's have skinny mash!" pretty emphatically in this household, I get outvoted by the girls (especially the Small One) who want skinless mash. I tried to tilt the playing field a bit by getting the Small One to peel the spuds if she wanted mash that way. Which was OK, except that we ate at about 10pm that night

I have never seen someone peel potatoes at the speed of continental drift before...

 

[pembrokestephen]

Damnit, PS! I thought you'd be along to lecture us all on the folly of spending less than 25 quid on a potato masher

And that, readers, is what you get if you rely too much on stereotypes

(nah, Spion, it's only knives and saucepans I get prissy about. Don't tell anybody, but I swear by those polythene £1.49 for 2 chopping boards they do in IKEA, too)

*hopes Spion never finds out about the Miele vacuum cleaner*

 

[longdog]

I got mine as part of a set of plastic tools from Ikea for a fiver. Perfectly good it is too.

 

[boohoo]

Well now I'm slightly more confused than when I started - I see the benefits of a ricer but also like the good old fashion masher (curvey metal) but am now considering whether the grid masher is actually superior.

 

[SubZeroCat]

Well now I'm slightly more confused than when I started - I see the benefits of a ricer but also like the good old fashion masher (curvey metal) but am now considering whether the grid masher is actually superior.

Mine, which is the same shape as yours in the OP but the flat mashing bit has holes in it rather than squiggles, is quite good. Maybe you could borrow it to test it out?

 

[Saffy]

I got my potato ricer from matalan for 2.99!

It makes lovely mash but I must admit to reaching for my normal masher because I can't be bothered with it.

 

[trashpony]

Well now I'm slightly more confused than when I started - I see the benefits of a ricer but also like the good old fashion masher (curvey metal) but am now considering whether the grid masher is actually superior.

The grid masher is superior. I will give you my Ikea one which looks very similar to the one you are looking at if you think it looks nice. It will give me an excuse to buy myself a new one (or steal my grid one back )

 

[sojourner]

When I first saw pics of the ricer, I thought 'rubbish', but I thunk hard, and I reckon it's probably better for making rosti - if you parboiled the spuds a bit first, maybe? Otherwise you might bust a bicep

And as has already been said, any old masher will do, just takes a bit of butter and elbow grease. I never use milk in mash anymore, just more butter, and use spuds like Desiree, which are lovely and fluffy


MMmmmmmmmash

 

[pembrokestephen]

When I first saw pics of the ricer, I thought 'rubbish', but I thunk hard, and I reckon it's probably better for making rosti - if you parboiled the spuds a bit first, maybe? Otherwise you might bust a bicep

And as has already been said, any old masher will do, just takes a bit of butter and elbow grease. I never use milk in mash anymore, just more butter, and use spuds like Desiree, which are lovely and fluffy


MMmmmmmmmash

I are making teh mash tonight. We have nearly-out-of-date double cream, so I'm using that instead of butter/milk *clutches heart*. And I used my wigglywire masher to duff it up, and it's lovely creamy-looking and yum. Back in oven now waiting for the broccoli cheese to finish - curses! forgot to ask the Small One which sort she wanted, and whether she'd peel the spuds! *makes exaggerated DRAT gesture*

 

[boohoo]

well, after all that confusion, I haven't bought on yet - need to take more time to consider my options ( and also because I was shocked to find John Lewis' rather cheap looking mashers were more expensive than the one I was looking at!)

I have cooked my potatoes, sliced them and put them on top of me veggie shepherds pie with layers of mozzarella ( experimenting!).

 

[RubyToogood]

I prefer sliced potatoes on top of fish pie rather than mashed, so perhaps it'll work the same with shepherd's pie.