All the Recipes From ‘Recipe Club’

Woman Slammed Over Unique Mashed Potato Recipe That People Say 'should Be A Crime'

Mashed potato is a classic side dish that's hard to mess up but it has faced a culinary curveball from one woman's unconventional approach, leaving many social media users quite disturbed.

Online food experimenter Elaine routinely posts her adventurous cooking creations across Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook but it's her latest take on the humble mashed spuds has left the internet in horror.

With over 40 million views and countless comments on the viral video, Elaine showcases her rapid-fire alternative recipe writing: "Favorite summer side dish."

Her process kicked off with a pot of boiling hot water into which she chucked two tubes of salted Pringle crisps. She mixed the crisps around until they softened and amalgamated.

Then, a smattering of red onion bits, a heaping of garlic paste, dashes of paprika, and turmeric were thrown in before letting it all stew together for some time. Once the ingredients had time to mingle, it was time for mashing.

Continuing to cook it a bit longer to ensure proper sogginess, Elaine then drained the mixture and returned it to the pot. A hefty portion of butter, "to season," some milk, dried garlic, and onion powders followed stirred gently on low heat.

Read More Related Articles

Elaine further shared that she's fond of grating cheese into her mix for extra thickness. After incorporating the melted cheese and butter thoroughly, she sprinkles chopped parsley as a final touch.

The video has divided opinions online with some questioning if it was a joke or a genuine attempt at a new recipe. "If you don't have Pringles at home you can replace it with potatoes," one user joked. However, not everyone saw the funny side.

"This is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen. It's a crime! " one disgusted viewer wrote. Another added: "I don't even watch car crashes on the highway but these have me stuck with a horrified expression, unable to move."

Another concerned user simply asked: "This is the most odd and unskilled "cooking" I may have seen my whole life. Please tell me it's a fake."

Do you have a story to share? Email eve.Wagstaff@reachplc.Com

I Asked 6 Chefs The Best Way To Make Mashed Potatoes—They All Said The Same Thing

To perfect your mashed potatoes, try this method.

Simply Recipes / Getty Images

There is no wrong time of year for mashed potatoes. That being said, the frequency with which I prepare mashed potatoes does increase in the fall, and as the leaves change colors, I find myself wishing my grandmother was still around. She made the absolutely best "mashies," as my family calls it. Alas, I never got her recipe, so I have no idea how she made them!

Missing my grandmother and her incomparable spuds, I decided to perfect the art of mashed potato making. To help, I reached out to some chefs and cooking experts to find out how they make the staple side dish. Much to my surprise, there was a single method preferred by the culinary pros I interviewed.

The 6 Chefs and Cooking Experts I Asked The Best Way To Make Mashed Potatoes, According to Chefs and Cooking Experts

The experts I spoke with had slight variations in their mashed potato-making methods, but they all agreed on the basic steps: Boil your potatoes thoroughly in salted water, then drain well and allow them to cool slightly. Mash your potatoes using a ricer or food mill, and add them back to the still-hot pot along with a healthy dose of "the best butter you can find," as Schafer puts it.

Finally, slowly stir in just-boiled cream or, if you like your mashed potatoes lighter, just-boiled milk, and tasting along the way, season them with salt and black pepper.

Read More: I Asked 7 Pro Bakers To Name the Best Butter, They All Said the Same Brand

The Best Potatoes To Use for Mashed Potatoes

For the creamiest mashed potatoes, all the chefs I talked to use either fingerlings or Yukon Golds. Waxier potatoes like these take longer to break down than fluffier potatoes. They hold onto their starch, the cells absorbing water until they burst from the pressure when milled, releasing their starch and creating a silky, smooth texture for your mash.

Chefs who prefer to boil their potatoes skin-on opt for fingerlings. This is "the real way to make French mashed potatoes, or purée de pommes de terre," explains Maillet. He finds that the little potatoes are easier to peel once "cooled just enough to handle, but still hot."

In fact, maintaining warm potatoes throughout the process is of utmost importance. Schafer, also a fingerling fan, says, "If the potatoes cool down, the starch will make them pasty and goopy."

Those who prefer Yukon Golds recommend peeling and cutting the potatoes before boiling them.

Som advises extra care when cutting to yield "relatively even pieces for even cooking." Once they're boiled to fork-tender and drained, he recommends returning the potatoes to the pot, where the residual heat "will evaporate away any excess water." Ensuring they're dry before mashing gives the potatoes a light, creamy consistency. "Water is the enemy," Schafer agrees, "so the drier the potatoes, the better."

Simply Recipes / Getty Images

The Best Method for Mashing the Potatoes

The chefs I spoke with mash their potatoes by passing them through a potato ricer or food mill. They all agree that there's one piece of equipment to avoid when mashing: the food processor.

"Do not put them into a food processor or blender," cautions Som, "or the starch will activate, and you'll end up with wallpaper paste."

Maillet recommends one additional step for achieving a velvety texture. "Pass the purée through a fine sieve to further lighten the mash. This can be repeated multiple times to make the purée silky smooth."

How To Enhance the Flavor of Mashed Potatoes

Looking for ways to put a twist on that pure potato flavor? When they're mashing, and in some cases, just before serving, several of the pros I spoke to add unique touches that boost their mashed potatoes' flavor.

Muller swaps the milk for Mexican crema. "This adds a rich, velvety creaminess that's simply irresistible," she declares.

Graf, who cooks her potatoes in the Instant Pot, mashes in "olive oil with garlic cloves for a nice savory punch" and finishes the spuds with freshly ground pepper, a slice of butter, and some chives.

Thomas recommends roasted garlic, truffle oil, or shaved Parmesan cheese." Simply put, yum!

Read the original article on Simply Recipes.

View comments

'I Make Mashed Potatoes With Unlikely Ingredient – Everyone Thinks It's Disgusting'

Mashed potato is a side dish that very little can go wrong with, and is usually a guaranteed table pleaser.

However, one woman's unique recipe for making the squashed spuds has left people "traumatised".

Social media user Elaine regularly shares her unusual meal ideas on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook but this particular set of cooking directions attracted a massive 40.2 million views and thousands of comments.

Sharing a video of the speeded-up method and ingredients, she wrote: "Favorite summer side dish."

Starting with a saucepan of boiling water, Elaine began by adding two tubes of ready-salted Pringles — yes, Pringles — and then stirring them and allowing them to become soggy and melt together.

She then added a small amount of diced red onion, a large spoonful of pureed garlic, a sprinkling of paprika, and turmeric, and left it to simmer for a while. After everything has had a chance to mix, she took a potato masher and began to mash.

Elaine allowed it to cook through for a few more minutes until everything was nicely soggy, then drained the water from the mixture completely and returned it to the saucepan. After this, she added a large chunk of butter, "to season," a dash of milk, dried garlic, and onion powder, and stir while on low heat.

The cook also said that she likes to grate a little cheese into the mixture to thicken it up a bit. Finally, once all the cheese and butter had melted and was stirred through, she sprinked some chopped parsley to garnish. Scooping a large portion she then presented it to her husband Marty, who appeared to be surprised when Elaine revealed it was made from Pringles.

People in the comments could decide whether the video was satire or serious with many remarking that lots of American recipes can be unusual and use lots of store-bought ingredients.

One user penned: "If you don't have Pringles at home you can replace it with potatoes." While another person added: "This is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen. It's a crime!" A third person also wrote: "I don't even watch car crashes on the highway but these have me stuck with a horrified expression, unable to move."

While a fourth added: "This is the most odd and unskilled 'cooking' I may have seen my whole life. Please tell me it's a fake."

---