Does anyone have any professional style cookery tips?

When roasting potatoes, boil them first until the outsides go a bit soft & smushy. Then roast them in olive oil, season heavily & fling some garlic in the roasting tray. Honestly, you’d step over ur own mother for them!

Boiled carrots are great tossed with a little butter, salt and cumin.

Didn’t read the details re: potatoes. If yours ae lumpy (as mine sometimes are), it may mean they haven’t been cooked enough or that your masher does not have fine enough holes. Some say a potato ricer is the best kind to use. Also, I have read, and now do, gently heat the butter and milk together before adding them to the potatoes for mashing.

Mashed potatoes are just that and if yours are lumpy you may need to boil the potatoes a wee bit longer or put more effort into the mashing part. Some chefs will use a hand blender to “whip” the potatoes too. When I feel adventurous I will boil a clove of garlic with the potatoes and mash that with the usual butter and milk and then toss in a couple dollops of cottage cheese in for added flavor and just for a change of pace. Dice up some parsley and sprinkle over the top for window dressing and serve.

Speaking of carrots. Cut some up julienn , put them in a pan with butter and some sugar. Cover and cook on low heat until soft all the way through.
ideally cover with wax paper but if it isnt handy, a lid will suffice.

Not exactly the healthiest thing, but damn do they taste good.

When roasting potatoes the way @JeffVader has stated above, run a fork over them before you put them in the oven and they are even more crispy. A great way to “liven up” mashed potatoes: caramelise some onions to put over the top and then add fresh roasted pinenuts (roasted in a saucepan only takes a couple of minutes.) This dish is amazing!! Chef’s always add hot milk to the mashed potatoes, not cold. Then they add butter.

@Theby Yum! I’m getting hungry here!

You were wondering how professionals make the perfect mash, make a meal look so delicious ???
By having the Sous chef and prep cooks do it for them ! A chef mainly does just the finishing touches !

Same here, @Cruiser! Just started eating an orange to try and compensate.
BTW, there is something wrong with our software. Vids are overdue but still coming.

Google “Cuisine/Food/Cookery” Photographic Techniques before deciding that what something looks like is actually real. You really would not want to try eating much of what looks so good in magazines and ads.

@JeffVader Roast with olive oil, thanks I usually use vegetable oil.
@janbb I have just put a potato ricer on my ‘wants’ list, thanks
@Cruiser Ah a hand blender, so that is their secret, many thanks I must try that
@uberbatman Never thought of putting sugar in carrots, but I will certainly try it.
@Theby That sounds really delicious, such a great idea
@DarkScribe, Thanks for answering. I realise photographs can be enhanced etc. So do you have any good professional style cookery tips?

@partyparty So do you have any good professional style cookery tips?

Yes but they might not suit many. Learn the basics in the way of technique, then throw away the cookbooks and rely on your senses. Smell, taste and eyesight. I have never seen a good chef use a cookbook – but often they can’t cook with a head cold. Says something.

The best baked potato in the world is baked with sour cream and salsa on top. OMG! :-)

I actually prefer my mashed potatoes a wee bit lumpy. I don’t use a mixer or blender, because then the starch in the potato does whatever it is that starches do and can get kind of “gluey”, for lack of a better word. I like my mashed fluffy not so smooth.
@Theby I’m going to try your suggestions for sure!

Don’t buy a chopper (nuts garlic etc). Take your chef knife and smash it down sideways on the nuts/garlic- voila roughly chopped.

@Theby s ideas are superb! I also serve mashed potatoes with mashed carrots and mashed fried parsnips. A bit of crushed roast garlic and a sprinkling of chopped pine nuts. Use the traditional masher, my experiments with a food processor produced a goop only useful as baby food. Now bring on the haggis…

@Coloma I’ve had baked potato with cottage cheese, but never with sour cream. Sounds lovely, thanks
@gemiwing Great idea thanks. I’ve just broken my garlic press (don’t ask!!)
@stranger_in_a_strange_land I’ve never tried pine nuts, but they are on my shopping list now, thank. Do you like haggis?

For mashed potatoes, I cube the potatoes so they cook faster, throw them in a pot of boiling water, and let them go until they are really soft. Then, I put it in my commercial KitchenAid mixer, add cream, butter, garlic salt, pepper, and perhaps other things to taste, and let it whirl until they are creamy.

There are lots of tricks for food, but you’ll have to ask a more specific question for me to be able to remember any of them, lol.

@lilikoi Is the KitchenAid mixer the type you would put flour and margarine in to make a cake? (I am in the UK). I was thinking about shortcuts etc that chefs use, which would help me achieve more professional food

For mashed Potatoes, the chefs use a Potoato ricer. Mash them first, the put them through that.

@Dibley Thanks I really must buy a potato ricer, someone else mentioned this to me.

@partyparty You can get them from Amazon. They are really good, but make sure you put your butter and milk on it after, it goes a little sloppy if you put it in first.

@Dibley Sounds great thanks… no more lumpy mash for me. I made a really lovely fish pie tonight, but the mash… well what can I say LOLL. My SO enjoyed it anyway. Thanks again

@partyparty Your welcome I don’t think men notice much, as long as they are being fed.

The procedure I typed earlier does not produce lumpy mashed potatoes. They are creamy and smooth…I use Russet potatoes. I use the KA mixer for everything from mashed potatoes to cake batter to cookie mixes to ice cream and most recently to grind meat into cat food and open cans.

@lilikoi The KA mixer is the battleship of my kitchen, especially with all the attachments. Built like a tank and no “planned obsolescence”.

@partyparty Love a good haggis, few know how to make them properly this side of “the pond” though.

have you ever tried a yukon gold potato???

or adding parsnips to the mash??

@stranger_in_a_strange_land Although I am in the UK I have never tried haggis. Next time I am in Scotland I will send you one LOLL.

@lilikoi Wow just looked up the KitchenAid mixer online. They cost between £200 and £300 here in the UK. They must certainly do the job. Must start saving!!

@jazmina88 I serve the mashed parsnips separately, but mixing them with the mashed potatoes is a great idea. I’m going to try that. GA

@partyparty The KA mixers last forever though. Our 1976 model works good as new (cost $250 then) and all the newer accessories fit it. It’s even designed so you can replace the motor brushes without taking the case apart. The extreme heaviness keeps it from wobbling all over the place while doing heavy tasks. It cannot be beat for mixing bread dough. The sausage-making attachment is wonderful too. It’s worth the money, designed to last several lifetimes, even with heavy use.

@partyparty : My nephew is a butcher and makes Haggis. The things that go into it are disgusting. Take my word…...please!

@jazmina88 I don’t think we can get yukon gold potatoes – I am in the UK, but many thanks for the idea of adding parsnips to the mash. I have used carrots but never parsnips.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land Oh the sausage making attachment sounds fabulous. I don’t eat sausages (except the veggie type) because I don’t trust what is in them, so this attachment would enable me to make my own sausages (if I could find the sausage skins). I do have a breadmaker, but if this mixer will do the job then I am most certainly going to buy one. Another person said it makes ice cream, wow!!

@partyparty That’s why I make my own sausages, I control what goes into them. I order sausage casings through my local grocer (making them from scratch is a disgusting process). The KA machine has a power take off that allows the powerful motor to run other accessories. That way, you pay only once for the drive unit. I’ve never used the KA ice cream maker, as I have a rechargeable unit that goes in the freezer, don’t have to mess with brine solutions that way.

@Theby Yes we have friends who live in Scotland, and he has haggis every morning for breakfast yuck!! The mere thought makes me want to be sick.

I’ve never tried this but I just thought that throwing a little cheese and nutmeg into mashed potato might make a mean cheesy mash?

@lynneblundell Yes thanks for your answer. I have tried mash with cheese – usually cheddar – it is lovely, and I am going to buy a ricer now, because quite a few people have recommended it. Many thanks

@stranger_in_a_strange_land Me too! I use it for everything, and it is really fun to boot. Was a little pricey up front cost wise but I’ve had it for less than a year and already feel like I’ve got my money’s worth.

@partyparty

Yes. Like this. Mashed potatoes, creaming sugar and butter, and making bread dough have never been so easy. I also use the ice cream attachment to make my own ice cream and the meat grinder attachment to make cat food, and one of these days I’m gonna get the pasta attachment and attempt making pasta.

“I was thinking about shortcuts etc that chefs use, which would help me achieve more professional food”

There are lots of shortcuts, but they are specific to ingredients and dishes. For example, Rachael Ray’s tip about throwing garlic cloves in a tupperware container or similar and shaking it to quickly remove the skins without getting the garlic smell all over your hands. Or, the way Giada makes several cuts into an onion, then cuts it the other way to quickly break it down. Making sure to cut everything into similar sizes to facilitate even cooking / baking. Sifting flour to prevent clumping. Cutting a heavy meal by pairing it with something acidic. etc

I guess there are a few general rules, at least in my opinion, and I don’t consider myself an expert. Less sugar and fat, more flavor. Layering flavors. Unpredictable or new flavor and texture combinations. Cook less, season more. Always fresh. Appropriate and edible garnishes. Nice plating presentation.

Example:

The ground espresso on this dish to me is the “something extra” that makes it memorable. I paired this with a light and slightly acidic strawberry risotto and cabernet sauvignon to help cut the heaviness of the duck. Light salad with pomegranate reduction dressing as an appetizer and any light chocolate dessert with espresso for a finish. Yum!

@lilikoi Well thanks so VERY much for all this lovely information. I think I am going to buy one of those mixers. I do have a mincer, a pasta maker and a bread maker, but it would seem this mixer will do all these things.

The ideas and tips you have given me are fabulous. Clearly you love cooking, as much as I do. Once again many thanks