Potato kugel never comes out good - blade or processor?

amother

Buttercup

Sun, Oct 17 2021, 4:56 am

Don't put into water. You prepare the eggs and seltzer in a bowl. Peel one potato at a time and grate it straight into the bowl of eggs.

If you're only doing 8 potatoes grating by hand is not big deal and may fix your problem. It will have a different taste than processor but it's much better.

You can make it in a Betty crocker.

Here is my recipe.
8 potatoes
5 eggs
1/4 cup seltzer
1/4 cup oil
Salt
Pepper

ra_mom

Sun, Oct 17 2021, 5:11 am

Before you invest in any new equipment, try this recipe from Fresh n Easy. I make it with the Braun, but it's so soft and creamy and delicious that I think it's worth a try to make this before buying a whole new machine.

Potato Kugel

5 lbs Idaho potatoes, peeled
1 large onion, peeled and cubed
8 eggs, lightly beaten
7/8 cup oil
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350.
Peel the potatoes and place each one into a large bowl of cold water. Beat the eggs in an extra large mixing bowl. Set aside.
Grind the onion. Keep them in the food processor bowl, and then grate the potatoes. Pour into the mixing bowl of eggs and mix well. Add the oil, salt, and pepper and mix. Add hot water and mix again. Pour into 9x13 pan lined with parchment paper (batter come up very high in the pan, so work carefully over a sink).
Please a cookie sheet on the bottom of the oven to catch any spills.
Bake at 350 uncovered for 2 hours.

This recipe actually has instructions for overnighting, but I love it just the way it is after being baked for 2 hours at 350. Soft and creamy.

(To overnight, after 2 hours, cover tightly with 3 layers of foil. Place a pan filled with water on the bottom rack of water. Lower oven temperature to 220F and bake 8 hours or overnight.)

amother

Gray

Sun, Oct 17 2021, 5:24 am

Before you go out to buy a new food processor or blade, borrow your mother's to make sure that is the issue. Do you still have a problem?

If so it may be technique.

Speed will not impact texture, but it will impact color.

For color, (like others have said)
Preheat oven
prepare batter first,
put potatoes in water after peeling,
cut your onion in pieces and send one through the machine first and the rest interspersed with the potatoes,
Dump out potatoes into batter once they full processor 2/3 (may need a few batches)
Keep stirring to make sure onion mixed well

I usually just use the grater blade on the Cuisinart as much of my family prefers that, but I have kids who like "caterer kugel" texture. to accommodate them I use grater blade on top and s blade underneath - you need to not overfill and let the s blade run abit (but not too long).

Raisin

Sun, Oct 17 2021, 8:34 am

I make my kugel by shredding all the potatoes, than I take about a 1/4 of the shreedded potatoes and pulse them with the onions using s blade. I use the lacy potato kugel recipe from kosher pallette. LMK if you want exact recipe.

It comes out great. For pesach I have a braun and used the kugel blade one time, but we didn't like it, so don't get what the big deal is.

amother

Natural

Sun, Oct 17 2021, 1:30 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

1 bag potatoes, finely shredded
10 eggs
1 cup oil
2 onions
5 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper

Mix ingredients together. Bake at 450 for 1 hour, then leave on 175 overnight or for at least 6 hours.

This is my mom's recipe, and it comes out quite good when she makes it. I've also tried a few others.

Wow that’s so many eggs and unnecessary

Best recipe here and foolproof, everyone loves it:

Author: Esty Wolb
Ingredients
* 5 lbs potatoes, peeled
* 1 large onion
* 5 eggs
* ¾ cup oil
* 1 Tbsp salt
* Black pepper to taste

Instructions
1. Preheat your oven to 450°F
2. Process the onion using the S blade of your food processor, scraping down the sides of the bowl midway to make sure it is finely pureed. Switch to the Kugel blade and process the potatoes. No need to empty the bowl in between onion and potatoes.
3. Working quickly, crack the eggs into a bowl large enough to hold all the batter. Add the oil and seasonings and mix well. Add the processed potatoes and onion and mix until uniform. Pour into a greased 9x13" pan and bake uncovered for 2 hours.

amother

Wine

Sun, Oct 17 2021, 2:35 pm

amother [ Natural ] wrote:

When I had the Cuisinart I made fantastic kugel by shredding the potatoes and then switching to the s blade and processed for a count of ten.
8 large potatoes
8 eggs
1 cup oil
1 large onion
1 Tbsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Now I have the Braun and I'm actually struggling to find a recipe that's just as good.

amother

Clear

Sun, Oct 17 2021, 3:18 pm

I have a cuisinart.
I use Yukon gold potatoes.
Also I shred half and and use the grating disc for the other half, and work very fast. All eggs ready to go before starting.

Before buying the grating disc I used to put half the potatoes in with the blade and pulse until almost smooth.
I bake on 415 for one hour and sometimes less.
8 potatoes, 5 eggs, 1/2 cup oil, 1 tbsp salt, sometimes 1 tbsp sugar, a few shakes of pepper.
I try to add the oil hot after everything else is mixed up.

eta: forgot: one onion pulsed until super fine.

Perhaps it is your oven?
How does your chicken cook? Do you think it isn't getting hot enough?

fleetwood

Sun, Oct 17 2021, 4:12 pm

amother [ Natural ] wrote:

Agreed..best kugel!

pause

Sun, Oct 17 2021, 5:35 pm

I also work slowly and this is what helped me keep my kugel white.

I set up the food processor on the counter. I prepare the cracked/checked eggs in a bowl and beat them together. I have the containers of oil, salt, and pepper on the counter. I have a separate large bowl filled with water ready on the counter. I turn on the oven to 425.

Then I start peeling: first the onion and then the potatoes. As soon as a potato is peeled it goes into the bowl with the water. (This helps it not turn pink/gray while waiting and also eliminates the need for rinsing off the potatoes before processing.) Once all the potatoes are peeled, I process them in my food processor (using a kugel blade), and I do the onion right before the last potato. Empty the contents of the processor into the eggs and right away pour the oil over it. (This too helps prevent air from getting to the potatoes which would turn the potatoes gray.) Add salt and pepper and then mix it well. Pour into baking pan and put into the oven. Leave it at a high-ish temperature for at least an hour till it develops a nice crust. I then lower the temperature to 375 and bake for at least another hour.

As for the recipe, it's a matter of taste. We personally prefer fewer eggs. Some recipes I've seen do a 1:1 ratio of eggs to potatoes and other recipes call for half the amount of eggs as potatoes, so I do something in between. A typical 9 x 13 pan fits 9 potatoes and 1 onion, so I'll do 6 eggs. And I'll only use Idaho potatoes.

My potato kugel is super delicious and gets rave reviews from all who taste it. Good luck in finding the perfect recipe and technique for you!

nylon

Sun, Oct 17 2021, 5:53 pm

Raisin wrote:

I have a Magimix and if I don't have it in me to hand grate potatoes, I do it like this too. Even the finest shredder on the magimix makes the potato shreds too long and square, but if I chop some with the S-blade after, my texture is much better.

Smile1234

Sun, Oct 17 2021, 7:07 pm

sunshine23 wrote:

How do I get the kugel to have a gummy texture? What's the trick?

Why do you want a gummy texture?
A few times my kugel came out gummy and I was trying to figure out why. I decided it was because I s-bladed the onions and/or that I beat the eggs and oil before adding the processed potatoes and onions. IDK which was the real reason, but I stopped doing both of those and the kugel isn't gummy anymore.

Esty Wolbe's recipe says to sblade the onion, I dont do that, but otherwise I follow her recipe.

amother

Lime

Thu, Jul 20 2023, 8:18 pm

amother OP wrote:

I still haven't figured it out. Finally bought the Braun. Tried Esti Wolbe's recipe. Better texture, but it was gray and very bland.

If you bought a new food processor and it’s still coming out like that I think it may be your oven, or something still wrong with your machine. I do NOT think it is the recipe. My own kugel always comes out great but my mothers is ALWAYS grey and “crumbly”. One time I made my regular kugel recipe in her house and it came out like hers! So it must be something other than the recipe. But she doesn’t have an old oven, and I have a very old one. So having an old oven isn’t necessarily the issue.

amother

Thu, Jul 20 2023, 8:19 pm

amother Lime wrote:

I've since switched ovens. It's new and works well for everything else. The Braun seemed to be working fine, and he texture is better.