Why are my mashed potatoes stringy???!
Answers: i made mashed potatoes the other day with store bought potatoes.. i pealed, choped in to chunks boiled and then drained.. but when i mixed in the mixer little strings of potatoe was stuck on the mixing blade... it tasted great cuz im awsome but what are the strings.. how do i get rid of them...
A potato is a stringy vegetable. The strings are the fibrous bits that hold the water and starch together. The fibers shouldn't be obvious in the finished product. If the strings were evident in the finished mashed potatoes, you might not have cooked them completely done, undercooking them might lead to more stringiness. Overcooking certainly should not.
Otherwise, I shouldn't worry, it's part of the vegetable you've been eating as long as you've been eating potatoes. I've had the same little strings attach to my beaters, too. If you want to discard the strings that attached to your mixing beaters, that's fine, you don't have to add them back in.
ehh? stringy there suppose to be mushy like
you probably didn't boil them long enough, so the mixer peeled them into strings because they were too hard.
try boiling them for a little longer so they're softer.
then when you mix them they would be mashed instead of stringed.
hope this helps!!!
Actually, the potatoes are overcooked. Try again.
eww.
Guess you're not so awesome after all, Kev. I've never had strings. I'd say the potatoes weren't boiled long enough. I like to start with red potatoes, never potatoes made for baking. Peel the potatoes first. Chop them into quarters or so, if they are small potatoes, cut in halves would be fine- make sure all the peices are close to the same size. Then make sure they're fork tender- when the potatoes are boiling, stick a metal fork in the potatoes and the fork should -almost- slide off. Then make sure you mix them well (for 8-10 minutes with a hand or stand mixer) with lots of milk, sour cream and butter. I also like to add fresh minced onion. Good luck~
There could be a few things going on here. First of all the spuds may be old. What type of potato were they? They best in my opinion is Yukon Gold. The are a drier more flavorful potato. You also may have over beat them and the starchiness is coming out. Make sure also that the potatoes are well drained before mixing.
What are you using a mixer for?
For heaven's sake, just use a hand-held potato masher:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato_mash...
Even if potatoes are fibrous, I've never found strings on mine, or in the mash itself, no matter how long the potatoes had cooked or how old they were.
You get the best texture, and have the best control over the situation, with a hand masher. And it's much less hastle to clean.
You can also use a ricer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato_rice...