Converting restaurant recipes for home use

[cyalexa]

I have been given a recipe for potato soup from a restaurant and would like to convert it for home use. It uses both fresh potatoes and "potato buds". My online research leads me to believe the potato buds are essentially the same as I can buy at the local grocery. I don't generally use products like this and am unsure about how to proceed.

 

Do you think the use of potato buds important to the consistency/taste or are they used for convenience/cost?

[Lisa Shock]

I think it's just cost, peeling potatoes takes time. Also, the dry stuff takes up less space in the storeroom.

 

If they note a particular type of potato, be mindful of that -it's important.

[cyalexa]

I think it's just cost, peeling potatoes takes time. Also, the dry stuff takes up less space in the storeroom.

 

If they note a particular type of potato, be mindful of that -it's important.

 

Thanks.

 

Potato type is not noted in the recipe. I generally use yukon golds for soup but wonder if russets might be more common in a restaurant. Also, I wonder if Potato Buds might best be replaced by russets.

[Lisa Shock]

Yes, Russets should work fine for the buds. Yukon gold is a good choice because it can go either way. If you want a potato to remain chunky, try red or white bliss.

[Shel_B]

Do you think the use of potato buds important to the consistency/taste or are they used for convenience/cost?

[btbyrd]

The potatoes in Potato Buds (and instant mashed potatoes more generally) have been pre-cooked and cooled, which retrogrades the potato starch and minimizes the amount of starch that comes out of the potato flakes during the final cooking process. This prevents instant mashed potatoes from becoming gluey and gross when you rehydrate them. In the context of your recipe, potato buds allow you to thicken the soup and add potato flavor without turning the final dish into a pot of glue. You could do this without the instant potatoes, but it would take a lot more work and I doubt the finished product would be significantly better.

[cyalexa]

The potatoes in Potato Buds (and instant mashed potatoes more generally) have been pre-cooked and cooled, which retrogrades the potato starch and minimizes the amount of starch that comes out of the potato flakes during the final cooking process. This prevents instant mashed potatoes from becoming gluey and gross when you rehydrate them. In the context of your recipe, potato buds allow you to thicken the soup and add potato flavor without turning the final dish into a pot of glue. You could do this without the instant potatoes, but it would take a lot more work and I doubt the finished product would be significantly better.

 

I don't mind extra work but am trying to reproduce a favorite dish for an ill friend. Guess I'll put Potato Buds on my shopping list (and will resist the urge to try to hide the box in my cart and pantry!)..

[Lisa Shock]

I have some in the back of my pantry, vacuum sealed, of course. They last a long time (years if sealed) and can be useful for kitchen emergencies like needing to thicken a soup at the last minute when you have company over or help a dish that is too salty. They are also ok as emergency food for disasters as well, if you have a source for hot water in your emergency kit.

[AlaMoi]

keep in mind that a restaurant is not going to whip up potato soup from zero "on order"

 

Russets and other high starch potatoes will distingrate over time when held hot or reheated-reheated. 

low starch / waxy potatoes are less prone to this.

 

so it could be the instant potato makes for the body of the soup while a waxy potato makes for the chunks.....

[btbyrd]

I wish people were more thoughtful and less snobbish about ingredients. Modernist Cuisine has a couple recipes that use potato flakes and Alex and Aki from Ideas in Food are big fans as well. There are lots of uses for them if you think outside the suggested labeling. They make a nice gluten free substitute for panko, they taste great in bread, and they're great as a thickener in creamy soups. The Ideas in Food folks like to roast them in the oven and use the browned flakes to make all sorts of potato-chip-flavored goodness, like Potato Chip Soup and Potato Chip Ice Cream. They also smoke them and use them to bread potatoes which they then deep fry. Their first book has a recipe for potato chip pasta using potato flakes. There are lots of possibilities.

 

They also make decent mashed potatoes in no time.

[Toliver]

...so it could be the instant potato makes for the body of the soup while a waxy potato makes for the chunks.....

I was thinking the same thing. The buds are a quick thickener.

Call it a cheat, call it a "truc"...a rose (red) by any other name, etc.

[cyalexa]

I wish people were more thoughtful and less snobbish about ingredients. 

 

I'll admit to being a food snob. That said, I don't buy potato chips because they are my crack. Perhaps I should google some of the things you mention in your post.

[Anna N]

I wish people were more thoughtful and less snobbish about ingredients. Modernist Cuisine has a couple recipes that use potato flakes and Alex and Aki from Ideas in Food are big fans as well. There are lots of uses for them if you think outside the suggested labeling. They make a nice gluten free substitute for panko, they taste great in bread, and they're great as a thickener in creamy soups. The Ideas in Food folks like to roast them in the oven and use the browned flakes to make all sorts of potato-chip-flavored goodness, like Potato Chip Soup and Potato Chip Ice Cream. They also smoke them and use them to bread potatoes which they then deep fry. Their first book has a recipe for potato chip pasta using potato flakes. There are lots of possibilities.

 

They also make decent mashed potatoes in no time.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Adding potato flakes (which is what I keep around) or buds is so much easier than taking part of your cooked potatoes, putting them in a blender, risking potato lava, and having to clean the blender.

 

I use potato flakes to thicken chowders with chunks of real potato, and for one other purpose.

 

I grew up in Vermont. In our elementary school cafeteria, cottage pie was misnamed shepherd's pie, but it was still good. It was made with potato flakes. As an adult, I've tried to make it with proper peeled, cooked and mashed Idaho's, but it's just not nearly as good to me. I also add onion and grated carrot to cook along with the ground beef, then the layer of (usually frozen, thawed) corn kernels under the potatoes, because this is a winter dish.

 

I'm making either sauteed salmon, broccoli and starch tomorrow or salmon chowder with potatoes, onion, corn,  and 2% milk. Said chowder, if it appears, will be thickened with instant potato flakes without shame. 

[cyalexa]

OK all you instant potato proponents - what's your favorite brand?

 

I went to Betty Crocker's website to get some information for my calculations to scale down the recipe and was shocked by the reviews. To be fair, it seems that the consistency may be the biggest problem and that probably won't matter in a soup. That said, if I'm going to try a product of which I am already suspicious I would at least like to try a brand that others recommend. 

 

http://www.bettycrocker.com/Home/Products/Potatoes/Products/Potato%20Buds

[Shel_B]

When I was using potato flakes, I used THESE.  At the time, they were the most robust-tasting of the three or four brands I tried, and they also had the least amount of additives, etc. 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I too can vouch for the Idaho Spuds brand Shel_B recommends.

 

They're fine for the thickening soups and topping shepherd's/cottage pie, but I would never use them for mashed potatoes. I want mashed potatoes that start from whole Idaho russets always, without exception.

[Shel_B]

On ‎1‎/‎30‎/‎2015 at 6:15 PM, Shel_B said:

When I was using potato flakes, I used THESE.  At the time, they were the most robust-tasting of the three or four brands I tried, and they also had the least amount of additives, etc. 

 

On ‎1‎/‎30‎/‎2015 at 9:46 PM, Thanks for the Crepes said:

I too can vouch for the Idaho Spuds brand Shel_B recommends.

 

They're fine for the thickening soups and topping shepherd's/cottage pie, but I would never use them for mashed potatoes. I want mashed potatoes that start from whole Idaho russets always, without exception.

 

A few days ago I was in our local produce market looking for some Bob's Red Mill products, and, to my surprise, came across these potato flakes:  http://www.bobsredmill.com/potato-flakes.html which caused me to remember this discussion.

 

I didn't buy them, and, therefore, haven't tried them, but I may.  What I liked about them was their ingredient list: Potato flakes, nothing more.  Maybe they're worth a try ... had they been in my pantry, I may have added some to my potato-leek-cabbage soup last night, just to give it a scosh more thickness.

[Deryn]

I like the Honest Earth 'brand' (made by Idahoan I think, only available in a large box containing a number of smaller bags, at Costco) because their product doesn't have additives. One box lasts me many years so they are a good buy for me.

 

A Washington Post taste test article (from a couple of years ago) also says their panel found my choice to be the highest rated (not that that influences me to any great degree). http://www.dailylocal.com/article/DL/20131127/LIFE/131129632 

[cyalexa]

@Shel_B thanks for remembering this thread and posting.