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[Blargityblarg]

That's what I meant with the 'variety of flavouring' remark, yeah, but there's a very good chance you just haven't been salting the potatoes sufficiently. They're notorious bastards for undersalting, especially when cooked in water (i.e. precisely the varieties of potato you don't like). Undersalted anything is disappointing, but when it's got as subtle a flavour as potato to begin with it's downright criminal. The reason cooking them in oil tends to work is because a) fat content will make anything tastier and b) the oil and any crispy outer layer it causes form a barrier between salt and the all-consuming salt deficit of the actual potato flesh; because you taste the salt on the outside of the chip, it's already on your tongue when the potato hits - and also, fast food places and fish and chipperies et cetera know the value of properly salting potatoes.

Science!

[MaximumZero]

Also, when you make mashed potatoes, add cream cheese. Gives them a velvety texture and adds bite to the flavor.

[Blargityblarg]

^good mashed potatoes are pretty much always at least a quarter dairy, be it butte, cheese, cream (sour or otherwise) or what have you. This provides the critical fat content, and often (particularly in the case of cheese) salt as well.

[scrdest]

I've had some Georgian food a couple of days ago. Really interesting, it's like a mix of influences from all over the area.

[kisame12794]

I add milk and butter to my mashed potatoes. So good.

[freeformschooler]

So Cracked says that you can (basically) steam milk in your microwave for a latte. Having followed these steps a few times, unsuccessfully, I'm feeling stupid. Has anyone else successfully turned warm milk into microfoam? What did you do?

[Avis-Mergulus]

Accidentally left my caramel coffee on the stove, and half of the milk boiled away. Ended up with some kind of horribly bitter, fatty, spicy, overly sweet Heart Attack - style swill. Drank it anyway, like a boss. Or so I thought.
The aftertaste doesn't go away. It's been freeloading somewhere in the back of my throat for almost three hours already.

[Sonlirain]

RAMEN SALAD!



You need:
3 packages of ramen.
6 hardboiled eggs.
1 smoked chicken breast (half will be enough tho)
1 can of sweetcorn.
Mayo to hold things together.
And...
Just about any vegetable you want to cram into this mess because the Monosodium glutamate from the ramen will make it tasty anyway.
(the image above has Napa Cabbage and red paprica in it)
Hell you can even add pineapple to it (don't tell girlinhat that you did tho)

Basically make the ramen normally and leave it to cool down.
Once its cold (or at least not hot) dispose of excess water and cram everything into it and stir till it becomes more or less consistenf without "dry" spots without mayo.

Now throw it into the fridge for several hours and... well you'll get ramen salad.

[Duuvian]

Where the hell do you buy those? I've never seen them, but I would eat more mashed potatoes if I had those.

They are often sold at stores that specialize in bulk purchases. Gordon's Food Service has them, and I think Sam's Club might, the latter according to the search I did for the image.

My school system used them or a similar product for lunches, which could perhaps be why I enjoy them.

[meadman]

So Cracked says that you can (basically) steam milk in your microwave for a latte. Having followed these steps a few times, unsuccessfully, I'm feeling stupid. Has anyone else successfully turned warm milk into microfoam? What did you do?

I haven't tried one, but you can buy a milk frother for around $20. I think they are basically like an electric whisk. You just heat milk on the stove while running the frother.

[scrdest]

So Cracked says that you can (basically) steam milk in your microwave for a latte. Having followed these steps a few times, unsuccessfully, I'm feeling stupid. Has anyone else successfully turned warm milk into microfoam? What did you do?

I haven't tried one, but you can buy a milk frother for around $20. I think they are basically like an electric whisk. You just heat milk on the stove while running the frother.

My parents got one, it's a set of tiny paddles on a rotating wheel as a top and a heating base you pour milk into. Foams milk very fast, pretty neat and inexpensive.

[Caz]

RAMEN SALAD!

No. This is not salad.

[Arx]

Re: Mashed potatoes, I just add a knob of butter, a splash of milk, and then a healthy dash of white pepper. It provides a bit of depth and bite, a little like cheese does. Much easier though!

[Avis-Mergulus]

RAMEN SALAD!

No. This is not salad.

This is a masterful ramen salad created by Sonlirain. The ingredients are masterfully-minced ramen, exceptionally-minced hen eggs, well-minced rooster meat, finely-minced tomatoes, exceptionally-minced sweetcorn, and masterfully-minced mayonnaise.

[Sappho]

A holiday recipe for you all: Czech potato salad.

This salad is made 24 hours in advance of Christmas dinner (had on the 24th here, so the salad is made on the 23rd). Everyone loves it, so it's always necessary to make loads and loads of it so it can be had for leftovers for the rest of the week.

For a standard batch (which is quite large):
Boil ~1kg whole, unpeeled potatoes in salted water until soft. Set aside to cool.
Boil ~1/4 kg peeled carrots, parsley root, and celery root in salted water with a bit of vinegar, until mostly soft.
Hard boil 3-4 eggs.

Peel the potatoes and dice them into very small cubes, about 1 cm on a side. Dice up the other root vegetables as well, in very small pieces. Do the same with about 3 sweet pickles/gherkins, a few TB of red onion, a hunk of smoked ham (up to you how much you want in there, can be left out for vegetarian version), and the eggs. Add a handful of peas (defrosted if frozen, strained if canned). Mix together in a bowl with a few scoops of mayonaisse and a few spoonfuls of the pickle juice. Add a bit of salt and pepper if desired.

And now, the most difficult part: wrap it up and leave it in the fridge for 24 hours. It is well worth the wait.

This is traditionally eaten with fresh fried carp (which is DISGUSTING), or for those who aren't hardcore enough to bear the carp, salmon, fried chicken, or other substitute. The potato salad is almost exclusively made for Christmas, but there's really no reason not to make it all the time. It's pretty amazing. Every family has a slightly different recipe, so feel free to adjust this one as you see fit.