Customer Reviews

Potato Ricer and Baby Food Strainer

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I purchased my ricer a little over a month and have used it several times. With each use, I like this ricer more and more. Though it is plastic, this ricer is very sturdy and is designed very well. The handles are comfortable and I find the pot grip to be useful in keeping the ricer from falling into the pot. I tend to fill the hopper as much as I can, but I haven't had any problem squeezing the potatoes through. Not much force is needed!

The ricing disks are easy to change and clean: just squeeze the two tabs on the insert to remove it from the hopper, change the disk and finally replace the insert.

This ricer is terrific. I read about it in the America's Test Kitchen cookbook and also their web page. Before I bought the ricer, I used my stand mixer and had to whip the potatoes pretty aggressively to make sure there were only a few lumps. My mashed potatoes were popular with guests but I think it was the huge amount of butter and half-and-half that I use. I could not believe the improvement when I started using the ricer. The potatoes are silky smooth and do not have a trace of air from over mixing. I like to clean most things by hand although the ricer is dishwasher friendly. The ricer disassembles nicely for cleaning and goes back together in a snap (literally). It also has two disks for different jobs. I like this device so much that I plan to buy another one and give it to my daughter-in-law for her upcoming baby shower (along with other stuff of course - this ricer only costs 12 bucks)! The ricer can do double duty by pureeing or mashing food for the baby as well as making first class mashed potatoes. You can't go wrong with this ricer.

I bought this after seeing it on America's Test Kitchen. It got rave reviews on the show, and it gets rave reviews in my kitchen. Our potatoes are now light and fluffy - after using the ricer, I can "mash" them by stirring them with a fork! Good stuff.

I've had this ricer for over a year and I love making mashed potatoes with it. It is very easy to use (just make sure your potatoes are cooked enough and soft otherwise you'll have a hard time) and I love the fact that I can place the ricer over a large bowl/pot and push the potatoes through. However, I just discovered a disgusting thing that happens with this ricer that should make you think twice about purchasing this particular model unless the manufacturer comes up with a design adjustment to address the issue. I knew I wouldn't do the dishes right away last week so I left my ricer in water. The problem is that water seeped through the base and you can't get all of the water out. I've been flipping it around and shaking water out every day and it's impossible to remove all of the water. Today, the water had a disgusting odor to it since water has been trapped in the ricer for a week. The thought of mold spores and mildewy water getting into my mashed potatoes is disgusting and potentially dangerous depending on what type of mold is growing in there. I'm thinking about drilling in some holes to get the water out and then soaking the ricer in a bleach bath. If only there was an opening at the end of the base handle to let out water. I'm now looking at the $40 ricer model, which costs almost as much as my food mill which also makes good mashed potatoes (but I hardly ever use because it's tucked away deep inside my cupboard because it's hard to store).

Update 07/10/11: I successfully drilled several holes into the handle of this ricer using a Dremel. I soaked the whole unit in a bleach bath and now due to my new holes, the water inside the unit was able to drain out. I've been shaking the ricer around and I don't hear anymore water sloshing around inside. No more disgusting water trapped inside my ricer and now I don't have to shell out extra money for the $40 model. This is an excellent model for ricing potatoes minus the design flaw that traps water inside. Too bad the manufacturer didn't have the foresight to address this issue. If the manufacturer had drainage holes in this ricer, this item would definitely rate 5 stars.

For the record, I don't like mashed potatoes - even though I wish I did. Since I am often left cooking for my friends and family, I had to learn how to make mashed potatoes that were crowd pleasers.

This tool is a tremendous help in making uniform, lump free mashed potatoes. I always think they taste like wallpaper paste, but my entire family went bonkers for the batch I made for Xmas dinner. Everyone had seconds. It was a nice feeling.

Paired this with Cook's Illustrated's master recipe for mashed potatoes, and was very happy with the results.

The only reason I didn't give it five stars is two-fold:

1) The handle is slippery when wet. This could be easily remedied by adding rubbery grips like Oxo products have.

2) (Updated) This machine is not as effortless to use as some people make is sound. At 6'4" and 260lbs, I started to get pretty tired after ricing about 4lbs of potatoes.

I really like the potato ricer, but had a few mishaps at first. The directions do not tell you to only fill it about 1/2 - 2/3's full when you use it. If you fill it up, like I did, you will have quite a mess. Once you get used to it, however, you will love it. Makes great mashed potatoes with a wonderful taste (not starchy). Cleans in the dishwasher so no problems there. I don't use it every time, but I do use it when I have the extra few minutes it requires.

I have never been able to make good mashed potatoes, this duty falls to family members for holiday meals. I am an avid fan of Cook's Illustrated and they recommended this Ricer. It is wonderful; your results will be consistent every time. The unit is easy to assemble, clean and store. It is light weight and easy to use. It is an excellent product.

I bought this for straining/pureeing baby food, and being able to rice potatoes would be an added bonus. I am used to the metal ones where the basket is all one piece and there are holes on the sides as well as the bottom. I thought that this one would be better because it had such great reviews, has two disks with different sized holes, and I thought it might be less messy since all the food would go in one direction. In the end I think the original style would have been better though. This ricer is fairly difficult to push down (compared to the metal kind), even when the food is very well cooked. If it were just difficult I would blame my tiny hands, but after a certain point of pushing the insert that holds the disks down will pop up, because I think food gets underneath it and builds up pressure. Of course, this makes a big mess, and then you have to scrape food off of all sides of the ricer. Also, the plastic just feels cheapy compared to the metal one. This was very inexpensive though, so it's worth a shot, and I do like having the two disks.

I have found it is workable for baby food if you:

Make sure the food is very soft

Put it through the large disk first, then the small disk

Push VERY slowly

On the plus side its also fairly easy to clean, a bit easier than the metal ones probably. But I will probably be buying a metal one that works a little better :(

My old ricer was a behemoth that really took two people to operate effectively. It also shot potatoes out the side holes which made a mess. After Cook's Illustrated reviewed this ricer in 2008 and rated it their winner, I decided to give it a try - the price was certainly reasonable.

The ricer is made of sturdy but lightweight plastic, and with the pot extension it balances easily over a pot or bowl without tipping over while I load the hopper with spuds. I have no problem pushing a full hopper of potatoes through the finest plate in one smooth action, but for folks who do I can suggest not filling the hopper completely full (on this or ANY potato ricer).

Clean-up is a breeze for me - either by hand or on the top shelf of my dishwasher - but I have read that others have had problems with the green portion collecting water. I understand how this could happen, though I've not experienced it myself. I found using the ricer to be intuitive, but admit that the manufacturer totally missed the mark by not including some sort of use-and-care guide.

Aside from the lightest, smoothest, fluffiest mash potatoes ever, this gadget is indispensable for making lefse, spaetzle, and gnocchi. I am well pleased with the ricer and would recommend it to anyone.

Approved by America's Test Kitchen; found the potato oozes over the top of the masher (did I overfill it????) and it doesn't hold very many potatoes. It does a nice job of ricing the potatoes (especially good if you don't like "lumps"/texture in your mashed potatoes) and I like that the front hooks over the edge of the pot (makes it easier to handle). I like that it comes with 2 "plate" sizes, but unless the masher is dry it's hard to release the green part to remove/replace the plates.