Latest news with #mashedpotatoes
Daily Mail
22-07-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Chefs explain why restaurant mashed potato always tastes better than homemade
Chefs have divulged why mashed potato at a restaurant always tastes better than when made at home. Many agree the answer is lashings of salt and butter, but some chefs insist there is far more to the art of a velvety mash. Inspired by a popular Reddit thread calling on professionals to reveal their secrets, chefs have now spilled on how to master a mash that's both creamy and indulgent. The post began: 'I'm still figuring out how to cook, but one thing that always confuses me is mashed potatoes at restaurants. 'They're so creamy, smooth and buttery without tasting too heavy. I don't know what they're doing differently, but mine never turn out like that... it still feels like something's missing. 'Just wondering what makes restaurant mashed potatoes hit different?' A fine dining cook who claimed to have worked under Michelin star chefs for many years immediately jumped in to share the method he's been using for years. He said: '[We use] either a tamis with a plastic bench scraper or a China cap with a ladle used to push it through.' A tamis - pronounced 'tammy' - is a drum-shaped sieve with fine mesh attached. A China cap is a cone-shaped strainer with perforated metal on the inside. He continued: 'When we'd make Pomme Puree [velvety mash] we would do about 16 cups of peeled Yukon gold potatoes soaked (in water to prevent oxidization) and cut up to an even size. 'Bring them to boil in a pot with just enough salted (and I mean pretty flavorful) water to cover the surface. Less water = better texture mash. 'Once it was boiling I'd reduce it to a simmer until a cake tester came out clean but not where the potatoes got over cooked/mealy. You don't want that either.' The chef then advises immediately draining the water, 'tamising or ricing' the potatoes into a large bowl and adding simmered heavy cream to the desired texture. Follow that with about 500g of cubed-up good quality cold butter. He said: 'The cold butter helps mount and emulsify the potatoes so that they have an incredibly smooth texture. 'After emulsification we'd sometimes add some garlic thyme brown butter we'd prepped earlier and quickly stir it in so it would stay emulsified. Salt and season to taste. 'Most places I've worked have done this or similar.' Multiple users agreed with this chef's approach, while others weighed in with their own tips - mostly involving excessive amounts of butter and cream. One confessed: 'So much butter and cream. Way more than you would imagine. Like some of the fancier and more luxurious places are doing their mashed potatoes 50 per cent butter by weight.' Another agreed: 'I'm a chef. It's what everyone else said. A s*** load of butter, salt, white pepper and cream. Like an amount you've never considered because most normal people can't comprehend it.' One more admitted: 'So much more butter. Like a comical amount.' Others offered a little more substance with specific tips they've always sworn by. One chef said: 'Bake the potatoes in the oven in their skin, scoop out flesh, put through potato ricer, add hot milk flavored with bay leaf, add lots of butter and salt.' A second suggested: 'Another tip to level up your mash is to steep garlic and herbs in the cream, then strain them out before you add it. It's awesome.' A third added: 'Use a potato ricer, better butter and higher fat dairy. Make sure you're using the right potato. Mix them to amalgamate and no more. Don't overwork them, they'll get pasty. Rest them, they're often made towards start of shift and reheated as needed... and I don't know why sitting for an hour-plus helps, but it makes a difference.'
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
John Legend Just Responded to Kanye West's Mashed Potatoes Insult
John Legend Just Responded to Kanye West's Mashed Potatoes Insult originally appeared on Parade. Sticks and stones may break bones, but mashed potatoes? John Legend's not losing sleep over it. During a Tuesday, July 1 appearance on Hot 97's Ebro in the Morning, the 46-year-old 'All of Me' singer finally addressed Kanye West's oddball comment from earlier this year — the one where Ye claimed Legend 'smell like mashed potatoes.' 'He was very obsessed with the sweaters, and he said I smell like mashed potatoes,' Legend said. 'First of all, potatoes are delicious,' co-host Peter Rosenberg pointed out. 'What kind of potatoes?' Legend quipped back. 'I like cheesy, garlic… you know.' 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 Rosenberg, 45, laughed with him after reassuring Legend that he smells 'fantastic,' but the EGOT winner made it clear the whole situation isn't funny so much as just plain sad. 'It never affects me personally, but just the whole story is sad,' he said. 'Seeing this guy praise Hitler, seeing this guy be like this force of hate and just like vitriol and nastiness. Somebody who has made some of the great art of this century, like as an artist, as a performer, as a fashion designer, all the things that he's done to make the world more beautiful and more interesting, and then for him to be this now, it's sad. It's just sad.' For those who missed it, the original remark came from a March interview between the 48-year-old 'Gold Digger' rapper and DJ Akademiks. Dressed in all-black KKK-style robes, West randomly launched into a bizarre rant about Legend, calling him slurs and claiming, 'They said he smells like mashed potatoes.' John legend really smell like mashed potatoes? — Fly Kaison (@FlyKaison) April 2, 2025 While fans were left scratching their heads, the former Voice coach said he wasn't offended, but made it known: 'Obviously, I smell great.' Legend also opened up about what it was like to know West before the chaos. He reflected on their early years making music together, back when the hip-hop artist was known for boundary-pushing beats, not unhinged rhetoric. 'He was full of so much energy and creativity and optimism,' Legend said. 'We really believed we were starting a new movement in music — and we were — and being a part of that was inspiring, it was truly inspiring.' 14 Years Ago Kanye West dropped the greatest song of all time Runaway — Jasper (@Jasp3r_0) October 4, 2024 The pair go way back. Legend was the first artist signed to West's GOOD Music label in 2004. At the time, he was still fighting for a record deal and traveling with the 'Heartless' artist as a singer and keyboard player. After The College Dropout took off, everything changed. 🍳 SIGN UP to get delicious recipes, handy kitchen hacks & fun food news in our daily Pop Kitchen newsletter 🍳 'Everyone wanted to know what was happening in our camp,' Legend recalled in a May interview with The Times. 'All those people who turned me down suddenly decided that my music sounded a lot better than it did the first time round.' Though they worked closely throughout the 2000s and into the early 2010s, Legend revealed he never saw this side of West. 'I didn't see a hint of what we're seeing now,' he told the outlet. 'His obsessions with antisemitism, anti-blackness, and it is sad to see his devolution.' Music aside, Legend is a father of four — Luna, 9, Miles, 7, Esti, 2, and Wren, 2 — whom he shares with wife Chrissy Teigen. West also has four kids with ex-wife Kim Kardashian: North, 12, Saint, 9, Chicago, 7, and Psalm, 6. John Legend Just Responded to Kanye West's Mashed Potatoes Insult first appeared on Parade on Jul 2, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 2, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Your Daily FoodScope for May 24, 2025
Do you often find yourself wondering what food to cook, how to cook it, and even that dreaded question—how much of it? It's a daily struggle for all of us, but need not be with our food horoscope. Satisfaction is only a click away! Today will be full of people who go out of their way to agitate you. It may get to you, but don't show it. Have your revenge later when the office fills with the intense aroma of your leftover pot roast and mashed potatoes lunch you'll have for lunch. And, guess what? You won't be sharing! Romantic entanglements may have you riding an emotional roller coaster today. But don't let that get in the way of completing your work. You can wallow in self-pity at home tonight with some comfort food. But eating meatloaf and mashers all alone won't have the same consoling effects. It seems as if all of your money is spent on bills. While it's good to keep your head above water, sometimes you just need to splurge. So take yourself for a seafood dinner heavy on the crab and shellfish. Just slap it on your credit card. You can always pay for it later. Today will be a very good day as everything goes your way. You could get that raise, snag a date or the weekend or win the lottery. But the best will come when your business card is pulled out of a fish bowl at the deli, and you'll win a free roast beef sub and bag of chips! Showing off your largesse doesn't always have to take the form of snatching the check at dinner, you know! Rather than flexing the plastic, show off your elaborate culinary creations to your favorite pals. Their praise will be nourishment for the soul. Find out what the cards have in store for you with your 2022 Tarot Reading. Use your free time this weekend helping others by volunteering your time at a soup kitchen. This could give an opportunity to give back to others, and to see for yourself whether the soup is of a creamy variety like chowder, or thin and brothy like chicken noodle. You'll be overwhelmed at work today but avoid curling into the fetal position. The weekend is only hours away and there's bound to be a happy hour stool with your name on it somewhere. So get together with your pals for after work beers and Buffalo wings, not necessarily in that order. You'll do a friend a favor today, but you'll expect immediate compensation. Oh, it's not money you're interested in. It's dinner at an upscale Chinatown restaurant that you're angling for. You won't know whether to have the Peking dumplings or soft fried fish, so go for both -- and the shark fin soup! A pre-work yoga session today will leave you feeling spiritual and mellow. So follow that with a breakfast that matches the serenity of the morning. Scrambled egg whites, wheat toast with marmalade and yogurt will capture your energy, and feed your spirit -- at least until lunch! The weekend can be a time of wanton eating and drinking if you're not careful. So keep your health in mind as you make plans for the next few days. Healthy snacks like fruits, nuts and trail mix will keep you energized, and possibly offset the effects of the other crap you'll bombard your body with. Be mindful of the tone of your voice when dealing with others today. Sounding sarcastic and condescending could be insulting to people, especially in public situations. So when at lunch it may be best to keep your mouth shut. It would really suck to get hit in the face with a slab of really hot lasagna. Your relationship with someone special is on the rise. This bodes well for a romantic weekend, so plan on a candle lit dinner tonight in the privacy of home. With the right music and ambience, your date might not notice that you're serving alphabet soup and American cheese sandwiches. What does your moon sign mean? Learn more about your emotional world with a Moon Sign Reading! 🌙
