Not-so-funny food mess-ups

[DotfromOz]

Okay, I had my tastebuds all primed for a big ol' bowlful of Alissa's mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy last night. The potatoes turned out just AWFUL, and the gravy wasn't much better!

I think the problem may have been that I have only a 2-1/2 cup food processor, so I had to do the potatoes in batches. But I'm wondering if I just didn't run them long enough as it turned out really grainy and dry even though I added some more olive oil and a bit more water and worked the mess with my hands hoping it would stick together better. I even LIKE raw cauliflower, but this tasted just awful and felt like I was eating watery sand.

The mushroom gravy was as thick as mustard, not a bit like gravy although it tasted pretty good. After the fiasco with the potatoes, I was afraid to add a lot more water. What I did add didn't incorporate well.

Anyway, it all turned out so horrid that I just dumped it into the compost pile bucket and made banana ice cream instead. That was great, or I'd probably have headed for the nearest MickeyD's, I was THAT pissed off.

I'm finding quantities specified in some of the recipes really hard to figure out. Is a cupful of Portabella mushrooms the mushrooms chopped, diced, in chunks or what???? I hate to ruin a bunch of those things experimenting, but I wiped out 3 or 4 of them trying to get that blasted gravy to turn out decent.

Anybody have a clue what I did (or didn't do) to screw it up so badly?

[SedonaSun]

I had about the same experience. I like cauliflower, but the taters made me gag. For me I think it was a texture thing. And I did them in a big processer. I'm not a mushroom fan at all, but I liked the gravy better than the taters.

I'm not knocking the recipe, it just was not a texture I could deal with... but... I like the cauliflower as rice in nori rolls and fried rice... so maybe it was just the wet cauliflower that grossed me out. I dunno, maybe if I'd run it a lot longer it would have smoothed out, but I won't be trying it again any time soon.

So, I don't know if you did anything wrong or not, but if you did, then I did too.

[VeganVixen]

I havent tried it but dnt think I will since I dont even like normal mashed potatos......lol one of the pluses about having a "weird sense of taste'' ,but I do love it in raw sushi !!!!

[RawTruth]

H, DotfromOz. I didn't try this recipe, but several others that I did try just weren't to my taste. I have a suggestion. There are several threads on here where people shared which of Alissa's recipes they liked the most. If you search for them, you'll then have a list of personally-recommended bests ... and eliminate frustrating and costly "misses."

Also, from my experience, the recipes make a LOT. I was uncooking for just me, so, after the first attempts, I began halving them. And, I began tasting for flavor as I went along rather than waiting till it was finished. Also, it is probably really obvious to everyone else, but at first I was expecting the recipes to taste like the cooked food versions that they were named for. That really set me up for major disappointments since they rarely tasted similar. I've actually found this to be true to various degrees in all the raw food recipe books I have.

Since this is Alissa's website and she's on here most every day, perhaps you can ask her directly about this recipe ... or others if disappointment crops up again ... ?

[vegangelist]

nope, you didn't do anything wrong. i made that recipe for thanksgiving and followed it to the letter and it was a disaster, it was all i could do to repair it to some decent form.

First of all the "potatoes" were like soup. In fact, at the last minute I didn't even add all of the liquid b/c it was looking soo very soupy. I unfortunately had added most of it. So, I basically strained it thru my nut milk bag (that is how soupy it was) till it was a firmer/smooth texture. I had to strain alot. I would say that it needs no more than half of the liquid, maybe even less. It was grainy yes, but not terrible, but certainly not smooth as real mashed potatoes--and i have a big cuisinart that i used, so it wasn't a problem with your food processor, just that cauliflower is grainier than potatoes.

and, with the gravy, it was a big lump, not smooth at all. So, I had to add lots of liquid to that.

So, basically, I had gravy with the texture of potatoes and "potatoes" with the consistency of gravy. After some time, I managed to get them to some kind of normalcy (i was darned if I was gonna throw it all away after that time/ingredients wasted), consistency-wise. And, then, I seasoned the heck out of the potatoes, b/c they were bland, probably half the seasoning was drained away. I added lots more thyme, but also some spicier stuff. i am a texan after all! :) Same for the gravy, added some stuff. But, all in all it was pretty decent, tho still strange texture. Warmed up and with LOTS of gravy (which was the best part), it was ok and others liked it too. But, it sure was alot of stress :) next time, if there is a next time, at least i will know what i am getting in to.

so, no, it was not just you.

kristi

[Rawkinlocs]

I made the mashed "potatoes" too and while my husband and I liked the taste, the texture was a bit "off". But I thought that perhaps maybe marinating and dehydrating them to soften a bit before processing might improve on the graininess and yes, adding less liquid so it's not so soupy.

Also, what do you think the outcome would be if you were to run the cauliflower through the Champion (those who have one) maybe with a little avocado...would that make it creamier and less grainy? Just trying to brainstorm here! :o

[Sharon in Colorado]

Me seventh. Tried doing the cauliflower mashed potatoes from a Victoria Boutenko demo I watched. It had cauliflower, olive oil and avocado. It was truly horrendous. I made my husband cauliflower mashed potatoes, but steamed and his tasted MUCH better. I tried dumping the gloopy mess in a pot and heating it but it didn't do much.

Sometimes it's better not to sub things like bread and mashed potatoes because you can't even get close to the familiarity of them.

[DotfromOz]

...which is sooooo yummy!

< whew! > I thought for sure it was something I screwed up, particularly as I'd halved the recipe. For just me, most of the recipes are far too much, so I've been having to tinker with proportions and thought maybe I'd just grossly miscalculated. Now, I'm glad I didn't sacrifice that entire lovely organic cauliflower for it.

I didn't expect it to taste like the real thing, but as delicious as the marinara sauce and pasta are, I thought I was in for a real raw taste delight with the mp & gravy. Sorta glad to hear it wasn't just me and my mini-processor to blame.

Thanks, all who replied. I DO appreciate your suggestions and commiseration.