Tools of the Trade: A Potato Ricer

A friend of mine asked me to explain a ricer. A good question!

Actually, the full name is a potato ricer. It is a tool that is used for smashing potatoes (and other foods, why limit yourself?) into pieces a little smaller than the size of a grain of rice. Thus the name 'ricer'. I believe its origin is for lefse, the Scandinavian potato pancakes that my father-in-law loves so very much. Another good use for it is to cook vegetables and other foods until they are fairly soft and make baby food. Don't forget applesauce, too!

I, of course, figured out that it is sort of like a garlic press except that it can do a whole bulb at once. It does require some strength to use it that way, but you end up with lots of garlic. Warning about using it this way: crush your garlic under a knife first and make sure you have a sturdy metal ricer. It is worth the effort for that!

Cooks Illustrated in May suggested using a sturdy metal sieve and a stiff rubber spatula as a ricer if you don't have the real thing. I can't see why this wouldn't work. However, they did have a recommendation in case you'd like to purchase one; the RSVP International Classic Kitchen Basics Potato Ricer available from http://www.cheftools.com for $11.99. They also recommended the Bethany Housewares Heavy-Duty Potato Ricer available from http://www.target.com for $16.99, but not as highly.

For another view with other links, see the Wikipedia article here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato_ricer

I really like this commentary on ricers from a UK magazine back in 1997:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-for-mash-get-mechanised-1241031.html

The basics

I've been asked to have a cooking blog including recipes. So here it is. While you are going to be put off by the first few paragraphs if you like convenience over flavor, read on and I'll show you how easy it can be to make things from scratch.

Cookbooks and Recipes

I love cookbooks that have ethnic foods in them, particularly the reasonably authentic ones. However, if it has the ethnic flavor and the food is good, why not? Salad and vegetarian books grace my shelves, though I usually use vegetarian meals as side dishes. I have a lot of healthy cookbooks. Not diet, just healthy.

For novices, the Fanny Farmer is, in my opinion, the best starter cookbook. The Betty Crocker is okay, but lacks some old-time basics.

I do not enjoy 'hometown cooking' with a few exceptions like sweet corn during the summer. I don't buy casserole books because I generally only make a couple a year to make my husband happy.

Ingredients

First I'll cover the ingredients I won't use. There are a lot 'semi-homemade' ingredients I will not touch:

-Bisquick or other 'mixes' such as for cakes and muffins

-canned creamed soup

-boxed pasta/rice dinners. (to be fair, I've been known to use boxed pasta and rice dinners when I need to make a quick meal. Who doesn't? However, they are NOT ingredients and I will not use them as such.)

-Ketchup (it's a condiment, not an ingredient.)

-Jell-o (when I do make jell-o, I buy the gelatin and use juice.)

-bottled sauces ready to go, like sweet and sour, alfredo, et cetera.

-frozen bread dough

-Miracle Whip (I prefer mayonnaise and Chris won't eat either)

-canned vegetables (frozen is much better if you don't have fresh)

-Cool Whip (I couldn't even think of its name at first)

-A-1 sauce (it is too salty)

Now for the ingredients I do use.

I do use bottled spaghetti sauce, but it doesn't really resemble its original bottled self by the time I'm done. I've just never like canned tomato sauce that's plain for you to flavor and tomatoes you buy don't have enough flavor in the autumn and winter. I will also use canned diced tomatoes in the winter for a fully 'homemade' sauce.

I use lots of flavorful additions to my cooking. The staples in my pantry include just about every herb and spice available. I always have onions and garlic on hand. I buy ginger paste from the Indian store and most of the time it works in recipes, but if a recipe really needs fresh ginger, I try to have that on hand too. For fresh herbs, I consider parsley and cilantro my staples, but during the summer basil and mint are in there, too.

Different vinegars are very important, as is extra virgin olive oil and canola oil for the dishes that require an oil without much flavor of its own. Hot sauce is must for me, but I can understand if not everyone is interested in that. I know Minnesotans are bland. *wink*. Salsa and yogurt are also always in my house.

Hummus or at least Tahini and chickpeas in case I need to make some hummus. Vegetables of all kinds, so my meals are colorful. I have all sorts of different meats in the freezer, but if freshness is important for a big meal, I will go buy fresh anyway. Cans of tuna, chicken broth, beef broth, tomatoes, and different kinds of beans are always in my pantry as well as pasta and rice.

Condiments such as ketchup (as previously mentioned), mustard (which can be an ingredient, unlike ketchup), hot sauce for both Latin and Asian cooking, salt, pepper, Parmesan, BBQ sauce (also sometimes an ingredient), Heinz 57 (not an ingredient), Worcestershire Sauce (also sometimes an ingredient), and salad dressings (though for big salads that I am sharing with friends I make it homemade) are usually on hand.

Bananas are always in my fruit bowl but I think that has more to do with brain washing as a child than anything else; I was required to eat a banana every morning. I always have frozen berries of some kind in the freezer, too. Frozen coconut, also, because the stuff in the bag in the baking aisle has sugar, and I don't buy it for baking, I buy it for Indian food.

I also keep apple sauce on hand for baking; that way I can use less oil and sugar and my quick breads and cakes are still moist. Speaking of baking, I always have baking ingredients on hand, including different types of flour and yeast and the whole nine yards.

I think that is enough for this note...it at least gave you the basics. I will write another note about tonight's dinner.