Interesting, why don’t you like them for mashing? That’s specifically what I like them best for. Although IIUC a knish needs a different texture to hold together well. I also don’t use golds for (unbreaded) potato cakes unless I mash them in advance and use them left over.
In my experience that’s true for a hand-held masher or hand mixer, but if I’m slow-whipping in a stand mixer with butter and cream, golds give a fluffier, smoother, lighter result.
I used to use a ricer, but found that it always made the potatoes too cold by the time I ate them. Do you find this? If not, do you (even if you never thought of it this way) do anything specific to prevent it? If so, do you then reheat them, and how?
With a stand mixer and the whisk attachment I found removing the ricer step hasn’t really mattered, but any other whipping method and yeah, it’s very useful.
I rice my potatoes while they’re still burning hot, which is annoying, but I’m impatient and it means the result is still warm. If you’re (reasonably) waiting for the potatoes to cool down, you might be able to re-heat them in the microwave or on the stove without too much of a change to texture, although you’d have to be careful about how you stir it.
Doesn’t the stand mixer method overmix and produce glue-y mashed potatoes? I actually don’t mind that texture but I thought that’s why people don’t usually do it that way.
You would think so, I certainly used to think so, but somehow it doesn’t seem to work that way in practice. That’s usually the step where my wife does the seasoning and adds the liquids, so IDK if there is something specific she does that makes it work. But I’m definitely whipping them with the whisk attachment, which incorporates air, and not beating them with a paddle attachment. I suspect that’s the majority of why it works.
Not best for mashing, therefore not best for knishes, therefore not best!
(I agree that Yukon Golds are very good for many other applications, though.)
Interesting, why don’t you like them for mashing? That’s specifically what I like them best for. Although IIUC a knish needs a different texture to hold together well. I also don’t use golds for (unbreaded) potato cakes unless I mash them in advance and use them left over.
Starchy potatoes are best for mashing, I find, texture-wise. (So, your standard russet potato.) Yukon Golds are more waxy.
In my experience that’s true for a hand-held masher or hand mixer, but if I’m slow-whipping in a stand mixer with butter and cream, golds give a fluffier, smoother, lighter result.
I also like Yukon Golds best in mashed potatoes, but I use a ricer (similar to this one).
I used to use a ricer, but found that it always made the potatoes too cold by the time I ate them. Do you find this? If not, do you (even if you never thought of it this way) do anything specific to prevent it? If so, do you then reheat them, and how?
With a stand mixer and the whisk attachment I found removing the ricer step hasn’t really mattered, but any other whipping method and yeah, it’s very useful.
I rice my potatoes while they’re still burning hot, which is annoying, but I’m impatient and it means the result is still warm. If you’re (reasonably) waiting for the potatoes to cool down, you might be able to re-heat them in the microwave or on the stove without too much of a change to texture, although you’d have to be careful about how you stir it.
Doesn’t the stand mixer method overmix and produce glue-y mashed potatoes? I actually don’t mind that texture but I thought that’s why people don’t usually do it that way.
You would think so, I certainly used to think so, but somehow it doesn’t seem to work that way in practice. That’s usually the step where my wife does the seasoning and adds the liquids, so IDK if there is something specific she does that makes it work. But I’m definitely whipping them with the whisk attachment, which incorporates air, and not beating them with a paddle attachment. I suspect that’s the majority of why it works.