Unpleasant texture of fine blend yam, potato and any other high starch tuber vegetable

Hi, I have recently found out that when I blend yam or potato (puree or mashed) into a very fine texture, it seems to result into something that is quite out of my expectation, I have no idea what it is called, but I called it glu-ey. It has a texture like of toothpaste, maybe worse, I've tried to blend it with different machine, pacojet, thermomix, vitamix, you name.it. Tummy sieve kinda the best for me now, but it don't really get any smoother than blending it. So can you help me out with it? thank you

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Gorm_Veggerby__40759

Try steaming the vegetables first for about 20 minutes, that should stop the starch from bleeding out so much. And then use a potato ricer to mash them, in a Bowl or a saucepan incorporate butter or your desired flavouring, when youre happy with the taste, pass it through your tamis and voila

Lennard__34626

I can't remember the exact science but I think blending something like potatoes will release the starch molecules which causes it to turn 'gummy', ricer/foodmill + tamis keeps the starch intact

Lennard__34626

Your best bet is ricer + pass through a fine tamis. Robuchon passes his through a tamis 3 times, and also a ridiculous amount if butter helps with the smooth mouthfeel too

Samuel_68313

For potatoes hold at 70c for 30 minutes, then into ice water, then boil in salted water until tender. Pass through a ricer and then a fine tamis straight onto room temperature grated butter (between 30% and 60% weight of potatoes). Also gently heat the cream/milk before adding it to the potatoes. I don't know if this works for anything other than potatoes though.

Heating the milk gives you a chance to get some more flavour in there, I always throw in the potato peels, but you can put anything in there depending on what you are making, herbs, onions, horseradish, dried mushrooms, etc.

This week I actually replaced half of the butter with beef dripping. That was great as well but frankly it was so rich I didn't want to eat more than a few spoonful's.

grant

You can as @Gorm says you can heat the potatoes before cooking them to about 65c for an hour. This will give you some starch conversion so you have less available starch later(less gummy). After this you can treat them as you normally would.

You can also:

Work them less.

Add more fat to coat the starch.

Use less starchy potatoes.

Never use machines to mill or puree them.

Add a .5% dose of aplpha-amylase when the puree is about 65 then quickly heat back up to a simmer. You can fix a large batch that went gummy this way or take preventative measures using this method.

Jack_Mayer_85396

@Grant - great tips, thanks!

susu_chuen_34979

@Grant Hi, could you recommend from which site i can get my alpha-amylase? I from Singapore. Thank you.

Lennard__34626

What does the amylase do? Starch destroying?

Johan_Edstrom_5586

Converts starch to sugar.

http://www.amazon.com/Amylase-enzyme-1-5-oz/dp/B006O2D7DA

Matt_67991

@Lennard Yeah, it's an enzyme that breaks down starches. I think it's kind of a similar idea to the diastatic malt powder mashed potatoes on MDRN KTCHN. Diastatic malt powder also has enzymes that break down starches.

grant

If you have ever made beer or whiskey. Then you would have to know about amylase. You extract starch form the grain and essentially make a porridge. Then by adding malted grain you introduce high amounts of amylase that quickly break down long chain starches into shorter and shorter ones until you end up with succors, dextrose and glucose. They are enzymes and there are different strains that do different work. They really only consume different carbs and thrive at different temperatures.

Making beer and whiskey has been in my family for a long time so I have gotten use to their abilities. i have used them in breaking down mashed potatoes, thinning soups, making caramels from exotic sources to making banana and plantains do things you though were impossible before as a chef.