On Mar 6, 10:24*am, "Brian Christiansen"
> wrote:
> The other day a member of my toastmaster's club brought something called
> potato chops (http://www.curryfrenzy.com/curry/rec...ato-Chops.html) to
> the 20th anniversary party for our club. *They seem to be a simple enough
> concept - make some mashed potatoes, bread them, then fry them. *The recipe
> I just posted a link to has a tiny bit of ground lamb in it as well, but I
> did not get quite so fancy on my first try making ther. *Although the ones
> he brought did not have lamb either, they were quite tasty.
>
> I tried making them. * Although from a taste standpoint they were quite
> tasty, visually they were quite messy. *The mashed potatoes I used were way
> to soft to work with and form into round balls, and just pretty much fell
> apart, especially after I put them in the egg mixture and tried to take them
> out. *And yes, I did cool them. *After I made the chops, I had some mashed
> potatoes left over and left them in the refrigerator over night, and even
> they were really not firm enough to work with.
>
> I have never made mashed potatoes with the intention of working with them
> and making them into little balls. *Just chilling them, even over night, did
> not work. *Do I use less butter/milk? *Do I leave those things out entirely?
> Do I add something else? *I did not ask him because I think his wife made
> them, and he might not know these details. *I am not just assuming that
> because he is the man that his wife makes stuff and he brings it to parties,
> take a look at my name, I was told that by someone who was preumably told
> that by him.
>
> Also, the pan I fried it it was fairly small. *I am not sure how deep (1" or
> so?) and 8" inches or less in diameter, and 1 cup oil. *This made the oil
> quite deep, and the frying was not just "pan frying," but I think was
> essentially deep frying. *Might this recipe work better if I invested in an
> actual deep fryer, such as a fry-daddy, I suppose, and actually deep fry it.
> The pan I used was a fairly inexpensive non-stick pan. *I think I have a
> cast-iron pan around somewhere. *Would that work better, assuming of course
> that I can actually find it.
>
> I also made the bread crumbs by taking a couple of slices of bread, drying
> them out in the oven, and putting them in the blender. *Would Panko bread
> crumbs be better. *I don't think I have ever had them, and I know I have
> never made any thing with them.
>
> Brian Christiansen

If you are using LEFTOVER mashed potatoes, they will always be too
soft for any kind of potato patty or chop.
Usually.... unless you make the original mashed potato dish with
almost no milk or butter, very very stiff.

You would probably be better off starting from scratch and cooking and
mashing potatoes plain and cooling them
thoroughly before you started your recipe.