I’m with you on this one. It’s one of the few things I refuse to make from scratch on Thanksgiving. I don’t know how or why, but every time I’ve tried to make them from scratch they get fucked up and turn into an inedible mess. I consider myself a decent cook and so does everyone else I’ve ever cooked for, but I cannot make mashed potatoes from scratch.
In terms of nutritional value it's actually quite a huge difference, with homemade mashed potatoes being a lot better for you. Something about food being healthier when it's less processed.
Still, the powder one is not the worst thing, and boiling up potatoes takes too long some days. I like keeping some texture though, so for me it's homemade whenever I feel like having it. :)
It's more recent science, but it seems every step of processing food (boiling, mashing, drying etc) breaks down cell structures, and that this in turn can make it harder for the body to take up nutrition. So you end up eating more but getting less nutritional value.
Research is still ongoing though, and of course mashed potatoes from powder is obviously still much better than ultra-processed food.
If homemade mash tastes exactly like the box to you, you’re doing something wrong when you make them. I’m not saying instant is bad to have in a pinch, but having the dehydrated potatos in flakes immediately makes them starchier and have a more gluey consistency. Plus, there are tons of additives that definitely make it taste different from freshly cooked potatoes.
If your flakes come out gluey, you’re not using enough liquids to rehydrate it. I feel like everyone disagreeing here likes lumpy potatoes. One person already admit they don’t even remove the skin when they make theirs. Gross. They’re supposed to be smooth and creamy.
That’s me! This has to be a fundamental difference in what we consider mashed potatoes. You are going for something textureless and processed like whipped potato porridge, I like them to be, well, mashed potatoes. Recognizably potatoes, mashed up and seasoned. The pressure cooked ones are fluffy as hell, they yield to a gentle fork smash.
My stepson, the first time I was around for his birthday, asked me specifically for “mashed potatoes made from potatoes”. I don’t think most people would agree with you on this one. Instant pot whole potatoes, mash with milk and butter, salt and pepper. I never peel them. So good and so easy.
Santa (aka my credit card) brought me an instant pot for Christmas. Do you have pressure and times for the potatoes? I didn’t even think of cooking them in there and then mashing.
Peeling, boiling, mashing, mixing taking like 30-60 minutes, depending on how much you’re making vs 3 minutes boiling water in a microwave and mixing a bag of flakes in for the same starch paste.
Any differences are marginal and so not worth the effort and time it takes.
I am not peeling nor boiling, have never peeled a potato. Boiling them in chunks I agree won’t yield something so much better than dehydrated powdered potatoes - that puts too much water into the equation and makes them similarly gluey. You can microwave chunked potatoes and mash them if you don’t have a pressure cooker or instant pot.
Yes it takes longer than boiling water but in the context of cooking other things it’s easy and potatoes pressure cooked whole are so fluffy and easy to mash.
I have used the flakes for potato bread, they are useful like dry milk is. But just like dry milk, or instant coffee, something is lost in drying and rehydration.
This is a very subjective prompt though - if the marginal time savings are worth it to you, they are. I don’t usually have an urgent timeline for mashed potatoes so letting them cook while I do other stuff works out.
I don’t peel, wait to boil, or even mix. I’ll literally throw whole garlic cloves in at once, and between the heat and the mashing they’ll take care of themselves. It also helps a lot of you have an actual potato masher and you’re not just using a spoon or something. Unlike this gif I found though, I just mash them in the pot as they cook. https://media.tenor.com/6A0aFauRdZ8AAAAM/super-recipes-foodie.gif
Yeah, flavor wise, there’s not any significant difference. Texture wise, that’s where scratch cooked excels. But if you’re going to rice it or cook it down all the way anyway? Dehydrated is going to be as tasty once finished.
But making mashed potatoes from scratch is so easy and has way better texture.
Btw when you say “they come in all sorts of flavours”, what does that mean? Like strawberry or something? I have never seen flavoured mashed potatoes. Is it an American thing?
That being said, spaghetti sauce. Yeah, home made is better, but “doctoring” a jarred sauce gets 95% as good without hours of work. You can’t fix the canned shit, but I’ve not found a jarred sauce that I can’t tweak with fresh herbs and some quickly sweated aromatics and end up with something that people love. It also satisfies my picky ass. Now, I will say that fucking ragu is pretty shit overall, and doctoring it only goes so far. But it is still good enough that making sauce from scratch ain’t happening.
Edit:
There seems to be a lot of range in spaghetti sauce recipes. It’s also important to note that I’m not talking about marinara.
So, the real time involved is split between prep and simmering.
Here’s how we do it. Remember this is an american talking here, so don’t redirect expect something traditionally Italian. And I’m a southerner that’s mostly german and Scots-Irish, so don’t expect any new York style stuff lol.
You take your tomatoes, skin them however you prefer. I use a quick dip in boiling water, aka blanching.
You give those peeled tomatoes a rough chop into nice size chunks. Now, the kind of tomato matters for that because something like a roma e isn’t gong to need as many chops as a beefsteak. You’d usually be using something like a roma anyway, but if your neighbor drops off a giant bucket of tomatoes, you can only use what you got, you know?
You chop up an onion, maybe two. You mince some garlic, maybe half a bulb if you really like garlic. I love garlic, so I go heavy.
Now, that’s your usual start. Most people in my family don’t add anything else in the way of veggies. Me? I like to char a couple of red or yellow bell peppers, skin them, and get them in there too. If I’m feeling frisky, I might have zucchini, eggplant, or whatever else cut up and ready to add at the appropriate time too, but that’s optional.
You get the onions sweating. While they’re starting, you feet your herbs together. Idgaf about fresh vs dried, each has benefits for flavor, you do what you prefer. I do oregano, basil, marjoram, a little thyme, and that’s it. I’m simple.
A little black pepper, a little salt (you really don’t need much, maybe a teaspoon for a big batch; salt your damn pasta water instead) to taste.
Once the onions are almost ready, I add the peppers since the quick char and steam to peel them tends to get them halfway cooked anyway.
This is around a half hour of work for most people. For me, it’s closer to an hour. Yay disability!
Then you add your tomatoes, herbs, and any optional veggies. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer.
After that, it’s patience. You’re making sure any veggies added are tender, and after that it’s cooking things down and letting the flavors develop. And, I promise you, anything under a half hour of simmering isn’t going to taste right, and will be super runny. You’ll usually have what amounts to chunky tomato water until close to the hour mark. For a big pot (my biggest is 6 quarts, and it starts damn near full when I do it) an hour and a half is bare minimum for the right thickness.
Now, if you’re going to jar that up, you’re done except for that part, which isn’t involved in what I originally said.
If you’re going to add meat, you’ll want to start browning it off about a half hour ahead of when the thickness will be right. You add the cooked meat in and let it simmer for 15 minutes at minimum. Do yourself a favor and deglaze the pan used with a nice, semisweet red wine, add that to the pot and go at least a half hour after adding it.
Now, exactly how long it needs to simmer is variable because you’re dealing with tomatoes, and the water content varies between varieties, time of year, weather conditions, etc. But I’ve never had a full sized batch take less than an hour and a half counting from the initial bring-to-boil stage.
I dunno, maybe there’s time savers I’ve never thought of. Maybe the folks saying it’s a half hour are doing a different version of “from scratch”, or whatever. But that’s how we do it, and it’s pretty much what the typical recipes I’ve seen online do (I went and checked because I wondered if I was crazy lol), plus or minus some details that don’t really change simmer time.
I’ve had some batches need a full two hours of simmering. And, yeah, you don’t have to stand over the pot the whole time, but chances are you’ll still be in the kitchen cleaning, keeping an eye on things stirring occasionally, adding any herbs or spices to adjust taste as it goes, etc. So it isn’t like you can just pop down to the local pub (or equivalent in your location) and go by time alone. You’ll still be in the general vicinity, with the added heat and humidity from cooking.
But that’s why I rarely go from scratch. I can pick up a jar of whatever, add some herbs, extra garlic and/or onions, brown any meat and then the deglaze and be done in under an hour from start to finish, including prep. The taste isn’t the same, nor is the texture, but it’s still yummy.
I came here to hard disagree, especially with the crepes example, but egg on my face and apologies all around: I am with you regarding spaghetti sauce.
I just don't consider any of that an answer to the question. For the most part, nobody is expecting every individual ingredient of a meal to be made from the raw ingredients (I don't actually think sauce is a lot of hands on work, but I don't usually bother to make it either). While I have a pasta maker and love fresh homemade pasta, if I make a lasagna from store bought noodles, jarred sauce, and store bought ricotta, nobody is going to yell at me for calling it homemade. The version with fresh pasta, homemade sauce, and homemade ricotta is going to be better (OK, I haven't done ricotta so I might make it gross), but the first one still counts.
I’m the exact opposite on spaghetti sauce. I find an incredible sauce is very easy to make heaps of with San Marzano tomatoes and tastes almost zero effort, just lots of time. But then I have like ten spaghettis’ worth and it’s wrecks shop on any jar sauce!
Italian scratching his head here. I can think of only one particular type of ragu that takes a few hours to make properly and is obviously not what’s being discussed here due to jars, doctoring sweating and general confusion.
Mate putting together a tomato sauce from scratch for some spaghetti shouldn’t take longer than the time it takes to the water to boil plus the 9 or so minutes that it takes to cook the pasta you are overthinking it
I’m American, and do use jarred sauce if I have it, but more often what I have is tomato paste, a half bottle of wine hanging out in the refrigerator and some garlic or olive oil and butter. Anchovies. Usually have canned peeled tomatoes too, but those do have to cook awhile to taste good.
I guess I don’t set out to replicate jarred sauce, generally speaking, but can quickly dress pasta for supper with something good.
I learned from America’s Test Kitchen to look at the ingredients. If the first ingredient is tomato paste or tomato concentrate, pass. If it is tomatoes, it will probably be fine. Although usually this means a more expensive jar, there are plenty of expensive/fancy looking jars that don’t pass this test.
That said, Del Grosso’s has a premium line with “Aunt Mary Anne’s Marinara”. It is our go-to and far and away the best I’ve tried.
I’m a huge fan of Rao’s sauce, but the price jumped from about $4 a jar to $10 last year and I just can’t justify that. I sometimes find it on sale for under $5 and def grab it, but it’s rare these days.
I used to doctor storebought sauces too. Recently though, I’ve just been buying those cans of cento crushed tomatoes. They’re a blank slate, and probably better quality tomatoes too.
If you preheat the Stone and send the pizza off a wooden peal (which will take some practice, granted), the dough will start to crisp right away and it shouldn’t be stuck at all when you go to turn it in a few minutes. You don’t even need oil. Cooking cold pizza from a cold stone though, that makes sticking much more likely. Also like that other guy said, use a little bit of cornmeal and flour under the pie, or I hear you can use semolina flour, which is courser apparently.
It didn’t age well in some respects (misogyny, racism, borderline sexual assault), but it’s a great watch and the envisioning of a dystopian 2022 through the lens of 1973 is fascinating.
e: your comment inspired me to rewatch it and the 30 year old man living with his father is spot on.
I feel you on all that, I really do. Guess my brain responded to bullying by going the other way, fighting to learn socials skills to make it stop. I’m old BTW, we might have different definitions of “bullying”. Mine definition is; “getting the shit kicked out of you daily at school, while the teachers watch or participate, and/or being constantly on the lookout to avoid said ass beatings”. All that to say, I get you.
Anyhow, you might not like this take, but going outside is probably your answer. I know how facile that sounds, but you’re not going to make any sort of meaningful human connection with a keyboard.
What does “going outside” look like for you? I got no idea, but I got experience. If you like, DM me and I’ll give you my email or phone number. Hell, maybe we can help motivate each other.
Those struggles are decades past. And I learned from them! Wish OP had reached out to me. I feel I could help give them ideas, or at least the hope you mentioned.
!The fungus shapes the ice into fine hairs through an uncertain mechanism and likely stabilizes it by providing a recrystallization inhibitor similar to antifreeze proteins!<
I always find these interesting that we still haven’t figure out fungi fully.
I actually want to be educated here, because my stance is that there should be a road to cheap and speedy citizenship, and that immigrants should assimilate into the system.
My gut says that seeking asylum isn't paying for someone to smuggle you over the boarder. It would require you going through an actual boarder checkpoint where you would do the paperwork to enter the country as a refugee.
I know Republicans are assholes who have been obstructing that, but my gut tells me there is the legal way of entering the country and the illegal one.
Hiding in the back of a pickup truck and buying a fake Juan Martinez social security card doesn't feel like asylum seeking, it feels illegal.
For context, I invoke the fake Juan Martinez social security card because when I worked at the Arizona Department of Education, there were at least 3000 Juan Martinezes with the same social security number attending Arizona public education, which I thought was HORRIBLE and extremely dehumanizing to those children, and it wasn't the US government that did that. It was the coyotes and parents illegally immigrating that did that.
I would say that the legitimate process of seeking opportunities has been intentionally made to look illegal by waves of xenophobic policy from both Rs and Ds who have created an immigration system that's designed to generate workers without a legal foothold. If there was a functional way for people to seek the life they want, they wouldn't need to resort to fake IDs and hiding in trucks to get a job. But then industries would have to pay them legal wages.
A lot of people want to create a distinction between someone who's fleeing full-blown war or starvation vs someone who's fleeing poverty. I can't see how it is a crime to flee either. It is just a reality that humans will try to escape suffering, monumental suffering and everyday suffering - legislation and bureaucracy can accomodate or ignore that but it won't change it. So when we ignore it, we know that the black market will step in.
More broadly it suits the needs of capital to restrict the flow of labour as much as possible. Labour free to seek the best conditions means upward pressure on wages, lower margins and less leverage for capital.
A large part of this is being driven by illegal trafficking operations that recruit desperate families looking to give their families a safer life. Republicans have chosen to demonize both the families as well as the traffickers. It must suck living a life incapable of empathy for others less fortunate.
Anyways, this is actually a pretty good read on it, despite it coming from CNN:
Why would they do that when China can ship it in large quantities in containers? Like I know some drugs come that way but it's not even the major source.
Legalization would help more than anything. Full legalization of all drugs is the only drug war outcome compatible with conservative values such as personal responsibility and individual autonomy.
Aside from Boats, Tunnels, Ladders, Airplanes, Ropes or any of the large gaps where it’s not feasible to build a wall on. It’s more useful as a grift to pay Republican donors in the form of bloated contracts than it is effective at stopping people from crossing the border.
This new wipe looks great, and arena mode finally coming out is awesome as that’s a lot of fun. Arena alone has me coming back from a 2 year break that I needed from tarkov to get my mental health straight. That game causes major anxiety/anger issues if you take it too seriously
I’m at 13k hours, nothing gives me anxiety in Tarkov anymore. Died to a cheater? Just gear up and go again. Backend error deleted your backpack with all the kappa items? Go looting again. Did you just wipe the lobby on Labs and Tarkov decided to disconnect you before you could get out? It’s just pixels, gear up and go again. 😛
Adopt the mindset of: Gear is only a means to an end, the end is to complete tasks, level up your PMC and his skills, and have fun fights and interactions with other players. Do that and Tarkov is the best game on the planet.
Never said anyone is “obliged”. Content will go away anyway eventually, or more often I will go away before the end.
To say it all: usually I find content interesting as long as the creator is doing it out of passion. There is a very clear difference the moment he/she realizes it is possible to get money out of it: and that’s when I usually find another creator.
Gaza (with the IDF nearly expanding into Syria) reduced my Christmas spirit to 10⁻⁷ well before today. A second cold in the season (with distinct symptoms different from the first) kept me from the family dinner today.
But my wife was dismissed from a 13-year job as an chief administrator of a medium sized general contractor, having been the boss’ personal assistant above her office duties. He retired, and the new exec is cleaning house (and is making some bad management decisions). So ours is going to be an It’s a Wonderful Life Christmas until we know what our future looks like, and whether we get the good ending or the bad ending.
Update 2023-12-27 Today my wife was hired. It’s a significant pay cut, but it’s working for a nonprofit she believes in serving a good cause (which is way better than the cutthroat construction industry). I anticipate she’ll be happy there and all that’s left to work out is how we’re going to pay a few more bills. So, we’re headed for the good ending.
The religious fruitcake portion of my family. I’m so tired of listening how they’re afraid of everything. This year it was the horror of how my state legalized weed, abortion, and some Disney movie had “gay stuff” in it and how thats bad because the movie is meant for kids.
To expand, their policies were harmful and we’re still dealing with the consequences of them
“trickle-down” policies, which widened income inequality and increased national debt
initial inaction during the AIDS crisis made the epidemic and stigma a lot worse. It’s only recently that we’re starting to effectively deal with the illness
“War on Drugs” got worse under Reagan, with mass incarceration that disproportionately affected minority communities. Also the “Just Say No” campaign oversimplified the issue instead of addressing the underlying causes. Again, we’re only now starting to shift those policies into something that’s more productive
Ican only speak of my own experience. Finding what I’m looking for and not having to deal with the insane amount of ads on google and the likes is worth it to me to make a recommendation.
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