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Need good potato ricer and safety can opener

15 years ago

What's a good potato ricer? Can anyone recommmend one that's sturdy and works well?

Also would like to buy one of those can openers that takes the top off the can clean, with no ragged edge. I bought one years ago when they first came out, and it was a joke.

Any recommendations?

RB

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Comments (10)

claire_de_luna
15 years ago
I have one that isn't very good, so I know what NOT to buy. I've been looking at the Chefn potato ricer because it looks a little easier to use because of the Fresh Force mechanism. I mentioned in another post that I use a food mill for mashed potatoes because the handle is easier to crank for me and I can do a lot at one time. If you're looking for a single use product, this is the one I might consider.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chefn Potato Ricer
jude31
15 years ago
I have one that I never use, partly because we prefer potatoes mashed/whipped with a mixer. I wouldn't think any of them would be practical for a large quantity of potatoes. Seems to me the potatoes would be cold before you finished ricing them. However one of my daughters loves hers. There's just her and her DH. May be one from WS.

jude
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I'm old fashioned... OK and old. Mashed potatoes should be potatoes - mashed. I don't need the FAS (Fat American Syndrome) version of recipes where everything needs to have cheese and sugar on it to taste good. If you have good gravy (and it's unAmerican to not) then you don't even need the extra fat in the potatoes, since there's plenty of fat (and probably salt & pepper too) in the gravy. For potatoes by themselves, they can add a dab of butter and seasoning. Plain is often great by itself. Course good fries don't need ketchup either. The ones that have to FAS the taters could just as well use instants and save time. They're eating it for the cheese, sugar and other stuff, since apparently they don't like the taste of potatoes. I don't need FAS veggies, beverages, breads and the like either. Good food can stand on its own IMO. Pass the sugar bowl when old 300# Beulah needs her feet swelled up like soccer balls. But that's my opinion. A ricer is fine and a good tool for making lefse but mashed potatoes still need to be mashed with the zig-zag masher otherwise they resemble a big tater tot. I don't bother with it for mashed potatoes. Again, I want mashed potatoes, not riced potatoes, not beaten potatoes. If you're going to use a mixer to beat the taters to death and make them extra gummy, then serve boiled potatoes to me and I'll mash them with a fork! And for the people who think the mashed (riced, beat or instant) potatoes need to drip off the fork so they can say they're "creamy" UGH! Potatoes aren't supposed to drip. You make a well and fill it with gravy. We're not talking about potato soup. End of rant. The thing about starting potatoes in cold water as I understand is that the hot water sets almost a skin on the outside of the potato so the texture will be off. Can't prove it but I always found it easier to start cold and work up. I tried using hot tap water to start (to save energy) until I heard the thing to start cold. There might be something to it.
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annie1992
15 years ago
Ann T has one that I know she uses and likes, I've never had a potato ricer and have never used one so I'm no help there.

The can opener? I have a good old-fashioned Swing Away, love it. Elery has one of those fancy pants openers like you're looking for, I haven't been able to get the lid off any can, ever, and one day got so disgusted I went out into my Jeep, got my Swiss Army knife and hacked the can open. Elery, however, loves it. It's Kuhn Rikon "lid lifter".

Annie
eleena
15 years ago
FWIW, Cooks Illustrated recommends WMF Profi Plus Masher or OXO Smooth Masher.
vacuumfreak
15 years ago
I have a Farberware saftey can opener.... it was about 10 dollars and it was a gift... I so seldom use the can opener that I was fine with my traditional Pyrex Big Lots special :o) I like the Farberware so much that I need to just throw the other one out (people with big kitchens can keep 2 of everything, I am not one of them.... I can barely get the junk drawer slammed shut). If I were looking for one I would probably go with Kuhn Rikon just because of brand reputation and positive reviews. The good thing about the Farberware that I have is that it takes up less room than a traditional can opener because it doesn't "scissor" open and it leaves both the can and the lid dull... many "saftey" can openers leave the lid, but not the can dull and that's simply inane.

I use a cheap plastic spaetzle maker for a ricer... I bought it thinking it was a ricer and it does do the job just fine.... though tonight I was using it (had to have mashed potatoes to go with the breaded pork chops!) and sqeezed too hard... missed the pot completely shot potatoes all over the control panel of my poor blender! A ricer is so tedious though, and the potatoes do get cold before you can rice them all. Sometimes I just use a wooden spoon! :o)

Good luck on your search!
grainlady_ks
15 years ago
Can't suggest a potato ricer (got rid of mine years ago), but the can opener I'd suggest is a manual Swiss-made Kuhn Rikon. Does everything from small cans of mandarin oranges to large #10 cans and NO dangerous sharp edges. The lid CAN'T fall into the can and the cutting edge of the opener never comes into contact with the food, so no gunky, nasty bacteria-covered blade. They come in many styles, several colors, and prices vary.

-Grainlady
magothyrivergirl
15 years ago
I have this can opener. After you figure out how to get the lid off the can with the little pinchers, you will love the opener. Someone on this forum recommended it a few years ago. There are different models of the OXO, but this is the exact one I bought. No sharp edges.

Here is a link that might be useful: OXO can opener
User
15 years ago
If you go with a regular ricer you want to make sure you get a French style. The basket and handle are angled so it is easier on the hand.

Little to no effort to push the potatoes through.

Ann
kimkitchy
15 years ago
Wow, Ann T, that's a cool ricer. I don't visit this forum often, but I always find fascinating topics over here. I wanted to say that we discovered ricing potatoes last summer after we'd used my mom's old (1950's) conical, rotary ricer with pestle for juicing chokecherries (for jelly). Mom said that the salesman at the homeparty where she bought it had demonstrated it for ricing potatoes. DH wanted to try it for potatoes before Thanksgiving rolled around. Anyway, we loved the way it worked, the potatoes were so smooth. We can put quite a few potato chunks in the ricer at once, DH runs the pestle around and we get done quickly, so they aren't cold. We are sold on ricing potatoes. However, we think a new/replacement wooden pestle is going to be in order soon. I've surfed the net looking for a replacement pestle for a ricer, but can't find one. I see old ricers with pestles for sale on e-bay, and NorPro makes a new rotary ricer like ours - but no pestles sold separately. I guess I may just have to scour the junk stores until I find an old one in mint condition, or find a woodworker and commission one. :-)
Bumblebeez SC Zone 7
15 years ago
I need a potato ricer too as I want to make gnocchi. Thanks for the tip Ann. Is yours stainless? I found some tin ones easily.

I have an oxo can opener I bought recently. The best hand can opener I've ever had.

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