Food, glorious food...

[mrph]

Today featured some unexpected cookery. Not exactly challenging stuff - a purchased pie, some greens, some mash - but quite nice. Now, if I could just get the timings right (and remember to warm the plates beforehand)...

Spinning out of this, a couple of questions for the readership -

1) What's the perfect mashed potato? What, in your opinion, needs to be added to make it a little bit special?

2) Which cookbooks are utterly wonderful things that need to be purchased?

Comments

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

To me, perfect mashed potato has no skin in it, has salt, pepper, butter and a splash of milk, and cheese in it - cheddar or, occasionally, y fenni with MUSTARDY GOODNESS in. It has to be mashed smooth, no lumps. But a lot of people like it to have lumps and skin and things in.

I have got the Good Housekeeping cook book that I stole from was given by my mother when I left for university. It has recipes for everything and while they are often not just right, they are a good starting point for further optimisation. The chart for meat times is invaluable, as are the cake recipes. The other one I wouldn't be without is the Bean Book by somebody Jane Elliot. The recipes are more often than not fatty, eggy and unpalatable, but it has the table for pulse cooking times in the front.

Thanks!

[mrph.livejournal.com]

Lumps do seem to be controversial. I don't think I'm in favour of skin, although someone (Delia?) wrote that the peelings should be boiled, inside a muslin bag, along with the potatoes - this adds more flavour without ruining the texture of the mash, apparently. I haven't tried it, but it sounds like a decent idea.

With regard to cookbooks, I do generally feel that the useful ones fall into two categories - the ones full of recipes you use, and the ones full of Stuff You Should Know, even if the actual recipes aren't practical in their original form (or at all)...

Re: Thanks!

[giolla.livejournal.com]

Not in favour of skin? Wierdo. Mind if you're keeping the skins on the potatoes need to be decent and not need peeling.*

Add pepper and nutmeg mash thoroughly so the skin is broken up into fairly small pieces.

* At least as good as you'd use if baking in skins.

Re: Thanks!

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

My cooking is based on the how do I turn this fridge full of shite food into a meal school of thought.

Re: Thanks!

[arachne.livejournal.com]

We generally don't fill our fridge with shit food ;)

[arachne.livejournal.com]

We had the perfect mashed potato tonight. We'd saved the stock from spiced beef done in the crockpot with guinness and additional spice and stuff, and boiled the potatoes in it. It won at *everything*.

The recipe book I find myself reaching for most often is Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian. There's some great stuff in it.

[redcountess]

That sounds absolutely delicious, I must try it some time.

[mrph.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Haven't got that one. I may have to keep an eye out for it...

That mash does sound excellent, although I'd probably have incapacitated mister_jack if I'd used that version tonight... :)

[velvet-nothing.livejournal.com]

I reckon good mash is definitely without skin or lumps! It has to have butter, salt, pepper, and full-fat milk or creme fraiche. I also like to be a complete slob and buy Bisto Cheese Sauce and mix a bit of it up with some mash (you don't need the butter etc. then) and just eat it by itself! It's sooo nice!

You should join the sydtrough community. I can't do links, but it's on my userinfo page.

[mrph.livejournal.com]

Full-fat milk. Yep. That's one thing we were missing today - the fridge was a bit empty after my weekend away, so I was using semi-skilled stuff donated by my sister.

[kittentikka.livejournal.com]

1) Whip up the potatoes with a fork or a whisk, and add a touch of milk and a knob of butter, to get them really light and fluffy. If you really insist on adulterating it, caramelised onions or a touch of cheese.

2) Good Housekeeping. Delia's How Not to Fuck Up. One book with a seasons theme. One book with lots of pretty pictures.

[wildeabandon.livejournal.com]

I'm in favour of skin and lumps, and depending on mood either stilton or pesto are good additions.

[deborah_c]

I just use butter, full fat milk, lots of pepper, and sometimes a little nutmeg in my potatoes.

As for cookbooks, anything by Nigel Slater is good. Delia Smith is sort of canonical basics, if you don't have it. I have quite an assortment; for complicated things, one of my favourites is Blanc Mange, by Raymond Blanc, which is very good at explaining why you want to do things the way it says!

[mrph.livejournal.com]

I've got Delia's Winter Collection, purchased shortly after elise introduced me to it when I visited your place. Rather useful. Still haven't tried that braised steak with mushrooms again yet, though. Must get 'round to that... :)

In terms of generalities, I currently swear by the River Cottage 'Meat' book as a reference on anything involving dead animal. Any cookbook with emergency advice for saving gravy is good for me... :)

[mimmimmim.livejournal.com]

Butter, milk, salt and pepper. Make sure the milk's warm - that way the mash stays light and fluffy. Cold milk maketh stodgy mash.

I'd recommend Mary Berry's Ultimate Cake Book, Katie Stewart (plain, but always useful) and I'd second Deborah's Nigel Slater recommendation. My favourite cookbook is actually one from 1936, written by Quaglino. (Yes, he who founded the restaurant.) It has no quantities and doesn't go into much detail about the methods so you need a bit of skill to use it, but I've found it very good for easy food that looks impressive when we have friends over. I don't think it's been available for about 70 years, though, and it's rubbish if you're cooking for veggies.

Mashed Potato

[ninshubur.livejournal.com]

Apart from the obvious things like no skin, no lumps, some milk or cream (but not too much!) and a bit of butter (although I know some people who hate butter in their mash), the one really important unusual ingredient IMHO is a good helping of freshly grated nutmeg. It does make a tremendous difference.

[girfan.livejournal.com]

Most of my cookbooks are from the US, but Delia is good for basics.

[graylion.livejournal.com]

1) no such thing - they are hideous whichever way

2) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Taste-New-Cook-Sybil-Kapoor/dp/1845332253/ref=sr_1_28/026-0366203-7301260?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179219859&sr=1-28

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

Perfect mashed potato has lots of butter, and possibly a splash of cream or some fontina cheese in it to make it extra special.

My favourite cookbooks are Nigel Slater's - he writes beautifully and with enthusiasm that occasionally borders on the pornographic. Real Food, Real Fast Food and Real Cooking are favourites in my household.

My parents have a marvellous Indian book called simply The Curry Cookbook, by Charmaine and Reuben Solomon, which is now sadly out of print. The New Curry Bible is a godsend too.

[crashbarrier.livejournal.com]

Perfect mash for me has to be white no skin (who has mash with skin in it!)have the cosistancy of Cement(without the grit:D)it must also be able to double as a barrier to form Gravy reservoirs.

Boil your spuds. When just soft and before they start to disintegrate. Pull em off the heat, drain (saving the water to make your gravy) add Knob of butter and begin to mash, once you have integrated the butter add milk (a little at a time) and mash until you reach the correct consitancy. If you want rich mash add a smaller knob of butter and add a splash of double cream then milk, I find it makes the mash smoother and creamier. Season to taste serve.

I also find the above makes nice bubble and squeak the day after.

The perfect cookbook for me is a hard backed version of My mums Stork and Oxo cook book that I found in a charity shop (which mena ti didn't have to steal hers when i left home). It has the perfect Christmas cake/Fruitcake recipie, Yorkshire puds, pancakes and other such golden oldies from my childhood.

[livingarmchair.livejournal.com]

Anything by Ken Hom - especially Hot Wok
Cooking with Mummyji (Curries)

[juudes.livejournal.com]

The modern trend is to have potatoes half-mashed so they still have soft pieces in (but not what I would describe as 'lumpy', which brings to mind inedible school mash!). One thing everyone agrees on: never use an electric processor to make mash; the potato fibres break down too small which creates a starchy paste. Heston Blumenthal has a method for restaurant-quality mash; someone else (possibly Hugh Fearnley-thing) suggested cooking potatoes in their skins in the microwave then peeling them, rather than boiling them, which makes the mash less watery (especially if like me you are lazy and cut the potatoes up small to make them cook quicker).

Also, I use a potato ricer which was the best £10 or so I ever spent on a bit of cooking equipment.

Things to add? Finely sliced spring onions (possibly sauted in the butter which you add to the mash), mustard with seeds in, chopped parsley, chopped rosemary, mashed roasted or sauted garlic. Or make mash with half potatoes and half steamed/boiled swede or other root veg (which you have to mash with a fork as it won't go through the ricer).

If it's to go with something I'm cooking in the oven anyway, I sometimes put the mash in a warmed shallow oven dish, spread it out and drizzle melted butter over the roughened surface - the idea is that it goes brown and crispy on the top but it doesn't always work!

[velvet-nothing.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I've done the microwave-then-peel thing and it was really nice! (But I burnt my fingers peeling them!! *ooops*)

[silentq.livejournal.com]

For cookbooks, check the Where to Begin posts at the bottom here:
http://paperpalate.net/author/crisc/
He's also the cook of my favourite mashed potato recipe, which involves simmering garlic in cream and lots and lots of butter (can't seem to dig up the recipe right now though). He goes for skin on, I only like it if it's from new red potatoes. I also like adding wasabi to my mash if I'm serving it with a dish that calls for soy or sesame sauce.

[mrph.livejournal.com]

Wasabi and mash. Oh my. Joy on a plate... :)