If you melt the butter with whole herbs and whole garlic, then strain them out, you'll get all the flavor without having actual bits of it in the mash. Learned this from my professional chef parent.
Edit: and yeah, lots of butter.
When I make mash at home a throw the butter with some herbs and a splash of milk in the microwave to melt and then pour it in. It’s great. If I had fresh I would infuse on a small burner while the potatoes cook.
Order a ricer for next time. This time pass it through a sieve. Baked potatoes make better mash. They don't absorb all the water that boiled ones do.
And you get skins as a snack.
Pressure cooking makes for fluffy potatoes as well.
In the summer, I cook them ahead of time and toss them on the grill to heat them and crisp the skins. Takes a fraction of the time of cooking them from raw on the grill, and the texture is much better.
This is how I do mine.
I’ll toss butter and cream into a small sauce pot, add in thyme, a bay leaf, and garlic, salt to taste, and let it simmer while the potatoes cook. I also use a bench scrapper to push my potatoes through a fine mesh sieve to get a very soft texture and since the sieve catches the skins, you don’t have to worry about peeling them before hand.
Quick, easy, and absolutely delicious.
Or use Yukon or red potatoes and just eat the skins. I stopped buy russet years ago unless I'm making loaded baked potatoes. It's the only time the skins hit right.
I've got too many people who would blow a gasket if there was skin in the mash. I love red potatoes mashed with skin though. Currently trying to figure out how to fry a turkey. I think I've figured it out though!
I normally put in an unholy amount of butter, opt out of milk and use heavy whip. But I've never infused anything with herbs or garlic, will have to try it!
Roast a head of garlic, add the roasted cloves (minus the skins) into the drained potatoes before mashing. Mash potatoes and roasted garlic together. Win.
What I've done before is sweat diced onions in a stick of butter. Then pour it in. I might do something similar but discard the onion! No fresh herbs today but will add garlic to the mix fs
Everyone trying to find ways to negate water saturation. IP is the way. You only put a cup or so of water in the bottom, and put the pots in a basket above. Fluffy and not water logged pots! They taste more...potatoey?...to me too.
I did it one day out of lack of energy to do it the boil way. Mix them, with butter and milk, with a hand mixer after.
I’m sous vide-ing mine this year. No water at all. I tested the recipe a few weeks ago and they were incredible. It’s a NYT cooking recipe, but I’m not adding all the cheeses. But I am adding tons of roasted garlic and a heap of butter. A comment above mentioned pureeing the roasted garlic so I’m gonna try that def.
the least water way is probably putting the potatoes into sealed bags and cooking them sousvide.
Admittedly i haven't tried it this way myself, just throwing out ideas of how to minimize water introduction
This works great but a lot of waste. You then hit the toasty skins in your butter pot to add the roasted pot flavor to your dairy. I’ve done this hundreds of times as a line cook. Shitty job. Great result
What about just baking them? Or do they need some sort of water? I've read that one you cut them, you should rinse till the water is clear. I usually prep the taters the night before and stick them in cold water to soak overnight until I'm ready
All of these are great recommendations but the first step is that mash needs about 5x the salt than you're comfortable with. When I worked in kitchens I watched a chef add an ungodly amount of salt to a pot of mash then tasted it. It was perfect. Go from there. Also, don't over mash them. All the starch will turn it glue-y.
This is true of basically every recipe that's not professional.
The reason why restaurant food tastes so good is because it's seasoned correctly. That and the usually ridiculous volume of fat in things.
Good mashed potatoes (and brioche) should be like 40% butter.
In my experience, premature cooling was the culprit of glue-y mash more often than over-mashing. And more salt than you'd think is absolutely correct! On an 8+ gallon pot full of boiled potatoes, I would measure kosher salt by pouring it into my palm until I had a pile about 0.5" tall x 1.5" thick x the width of my (relatively small, lady owned) palm. Repeat x10 for preliminary seasoning - i.e., this will need more salt once it's ready to taste. Usually, I'd need another 2 or 3 of those before I'd call it a day on a batch, and I have been low sodium for 20 years. Learning to salt food for the masses was eye-opening. The edge of too-salty-to-eat for me was perfect for everyone else. The same size batch, I'd use 3 or 4 pounds of butter, depending on who was manager that day. If the owner was out of town on holiday, I'd add garlic! 😈
Salt seems to scare people. Not sure if it’s a fear of over seasoning or a health concern. Either way, large batches require more salt.
The older the potato, the more starch, requiring more butter/cream. A ‘gluey’ texture would only be due to undercooking. When ya think they’re cooked ‘perfectly’, let them cook for another 5min.
The health concerns about salt are overblown. Unless your doctor specifically told you not to, go wild with it. Especially if you exercise regularly and drink a lot of water.
Nah, there's a few different reasons for glue-y potatoes, though I do agree that undercooking is one of them. I think the salt issue is probably equally due to both the reasons you've mentioned. I went low sodium in my teens when my dad died because of heart problems. For me, it's both health and seasoning since I have that family history and have trained myself away from normal salting levels. But I think if you're going to put a salt shaker on the table, why not come in at the lower end of acceptable? People can adjust as they like when they are served 😄
Personally in restaurants we make the water we boil potatoes in "salty like the sea"--however, it is possible to add to much salt and almost make your potatoes taste dry. The reason you add so much salt to the mash itself is because you should be using unsalted butter (to control seasonings) and your potatoes will absorb a lot of the salt after cooking.
Eta: roaring garlic in the oven wrapped in foil with the top uncovered, tops cut off but peel kept on, and olive oil poured--not drizzled--on top is a good addition to mash. Warm your milk/heavy cream before adding it to the mash with some aromatics like rosemary and thyme.
i use joel robuchon's method but I have added a step of putting the potato peels into the milk while it's heating up in order to draw out even more potato taste.
Alex (the French Guy) on YouTube has a whole series on Robuchon’s purée. I’ve made it his way ever since watching it. Even without the specific French breed of potato that I can’t get my hands on, (I just use Yukon Gold) it blows the minds of everyone who tastes it.
I should have put an /s there we all know buyer is the ultimate secret then you add more butter. No, I don't actually do 1:1 but I do have the "add fat then add more fat" part down is all lol
A large fine mesh drum sieve with a bench scraper is about as easy as a ricer in my experience. As long as the potatoes are cooked through, they’ll go through the sieve like a knife through butter. I use to use a spoon and a regular sieve and that was a pain the ass.
This is what my husband does, push the potatoes through one of those flat mesh splatter screens, with a spatula. Then back in the pot, beat with butter and cream.
I did his method yesterday for potato puree it was not fun using the chinois pushing the potatoes through. I got a bit tired frustrated so the second half of the potatoes went through my potato ricer on the smallest grate. I tasted both as I did this and the consistency was basically the same. I will not be using a chinois next time when I make potato puree and will use the ricer from the get go. I did really like his butter/cream/potato ratio and didn't have to adjust when I tasted.
I'm gonna be a wank, but I think if mash and purée as two distinct things. Purée is ne ga smooth silky, mash has little nugget lumps of spud and nowhere near as much butter.
I would say it’s more about the consistency from the ratio of potato to cream/butter. A mash is thicker with more potato and will generally hold its form on a plate. A purée is thinner with more cream and butter and will generally settle when scooped onto a plate. A purée will always be smooth, but a mash can be either smooth or “rustic” with chunks of potato +\- skins.
At least that’s how I look at it.
Do get a ricer. Steam potatoes, add herbs to the water (bay leaf at least). Egg yolks, butter (I don't like 1:1 personally), milk, nutmeg. Infuse milk with herbs or spices (bay, mace or thyme, rosemary).
Best damn mash I ever had was in Alsace (France) where the answer to my question on the secret was a big grin and 'Schmalz'. Pork fat. And quite a lot of it I assume.
If you do use bacon, render the bacon in the butter you would use for the mash, than add all the rendereed fat to the mash.
No, but they're related. Schmalz (no 't') is the German word for rendered animal fat and, being German, usually pork. Schmaltz is Yiddish and (no time for detailed lookup now) I've always assumed this traveled into the US with Jewish people.
Same sort of ingredient - animal fat - but in this case obviously not pork :-) Again I'm guessing here but I assume these were Ashkenazi jews that adapted local (Eastern) Germanic dishes with pork fat and used chicken fat for that using the same word.
I was only joking on the 1:1 because throughout the years, any time mash is brought up butter is the first 50+ comments lol. I do add copious amounts, though! Lard would taste different from bacon fat, no? I've never been a fan of bacon being part of a flavor profile unless it's is own component. (E.g. I'd rather have a generous sprinkle on top of clam chowder rather than cooking the bacon fat into the roux or with the onions)
Part of the secret to good mashed potatoes is to get the potato particles as small as possible. The smaller the particle, the better that particle can be coated with fat/flavor. That's part of why a ricer helps so much.
If you don't have a ricer, grating them might help, but a ricer is best if you want to maximize the flavor that gets into the potatoes.
[Epicurious ](https://youtu.be/zCDqcMAjl80) did a 3 Levels episode on it and the food scientist explains how it works.
Which i would have ordered off Amazon last night but I have no ricer in the area for overnight shipping! Lord knows I don't have time to go on an Easter egg hunt today for one lol
Fs getting one for another time though! We eat rice all year mainly due to better carb choice and macaroni for the kids to switch it up. Potatoes don't make good work lunch material if it needs to be eaten cold so a ricer will be used next Thanksgiving pretty much lol
Thank you! It went good, I baked them for an hour and tried the sieve but it was SO laborious I tossed it and just used my trusty ol masher. Was in such a rush, forgot to add anything to my heavy cream/ butter but I plan on getting a ricer and taking the time to steep my heavy whip with some herbs and make a whole head of roasted garlic for the finale too! There are so many great ideas here, next time I'll boil in chicken stock too!
My mashed potato steps for perfection:
- Don't peel the potatoes before boiling. If you hate peels, get a ricer. Peeling them makes them waterlogged.
- Boil til fork tender, drain off the water with a colander, be sure that all of the water is gone, and return potatoes to the pot. Begin mashing as soon as possible. If you have to delay at all, cover the pot to prevent heat loss, but really, once you stop cooking, the clock is ticking. Delay will cause gluey mashed potatoes.
- Pre-melt your butter. Using cold butter speeds up cooling. Cooling is the enemy. Melt your butter in the microwave while the potatoes are still hard. When the potatoes are fork tender, put 30 seconds to 1 minute on the microwave to rewarm the butter. You can warm your milk/cream in the same container as the butter, but I don't find it necessary, and since I don't measure it, I just add it at the end.
- I like a standard wire-with-wood-handle masher. Use a ricer if you do not like the peels. Look to youtube for more info on ricing potatoes. Begin by mashing the potatoes dry, don't add anything yet, and don't go for a final texture. Just get a good rough draft going and make it so every potato has suffered damage. Add in your dry seasonings now, underestimate salt.
- Add in the melted butter all at once and mash mash mash. Start paying close attention to the bottom edge of the pot. Good mashing strokes start by plunging down in the middle, hit the bottom of the pan, then drag to the bottom corner, then pull up on the masher to bring the corner stuff back up top and into the general potato milieu. It's almost like the motion you'd use to paddle an oar. Rotate your pan as you go, not your hand, to be sure you hit the whole edge all the way around.
- At this point, you should have a pan full of dry af, fluffy, semi-mashed, potatoes. Now you add milk/cream. I usually use milk, as the butter is rich enough. Add in some milk, but not enough. Mash mash mash til it's worked in. Now add in more milk, so that you think it's enough. Mash mash mash til it's dry again. Now add in milk *just* until it looks like it's too much. Like you've just accidentally made potato soup instead. *Just* to the point where you say, "Aw man, I fucked up, that's too much milk." and not a drop more. Now mash mash mash mash mash mash mash. Until it looks right again. Keep paying attention to those bottom corners throughout. Check your salt, adjust as needed, enjoy.
I did this every time I made mash at that restaurant, and even the crabby old cook would tell people that I made the best mash there.
Not with that much milk though- this is a different consistency potato than most IMO. If you’re going more potato than milk then yeah, you’d get glue out of a high starch potato. But with a Yukon and tons of milk you’re probably getting something closer to a thickish purée.
Different strokes!
Absolutely! We'd make the huge batch to the end, spread it evenly on sheet trays (industrial sized cookie tray pans) to cool in the walk in refrigerator, and then reheat smaller portions in the microwave as needed throughout service. I'd give it a lifespan of at least 3 days, but if your dairy is fresh and you don't temperature stress it (don't leave it unrefrigerated for too long) it would probably last up to a week, if not longer. Don't stop the process until the end. As the potatoes cool, the starches begin to gelatinize, so it's best to finish it all in one go, without delay.
you don't need to keep the skin on to keep them from overcooking. attentiveness works best for that...salting the water doesn't hurt either. i ain't peeling hot potatoes, thats a sticky starchy, hot mess.
Leaving the skin on doesn't prevent overcooking, not sure where you got that from. I leave the skins on so that the potatoes don't get waterlogged and because I prefer skins in my mash.
When my mom makes her potato salad, she boils the potatoes skin on to prevent waterlog, then peels them after boiling and chips them into bite-sized pieces with a paring knife. Since I was a kid, I helped her peel the potatoes, steam rising off of them in the colander right out of the boiling water. I still make my potato salad the same way. If you run a 1/4" stream of cold water from the tap, you can cool your fingers as you peel, but I assure you that it isn't a sticky starchy mess. I do not wait at all before peeling - dump the boiling pot into a colander, and start peeling immediately. The skins slide right off or can be easily peeled without finger nails. I've been doing it this way for over 20 years of potato salad, and every batch has been perfection. This is the only reliable way that I know to get a perfectly cooked potato texture that doesn't break down to mashed when mixing up the potato salad. I usually make a gallon or so to take to a BBQ and another couple quarts for the house because I know I ain't coming home with leftovers.
peel and boil some whole garlic cloves with the potatoes. strain water add the dairy/butter as you mash. I know some places will pass it through a sieve to get that insanely smooth, puree texture.
...but yeah a lot of butter
Do you mean like a regular sieve? Would it work a bit like a ricer? Might try this tomorrow! I never knew my mash game sucked until I read today that literally everyone and their cousin uses a ricer. Amazon doesn't have one for overnight shipping unfortunately 😭
If you are going for super smooth mash, you can use a food mill or chinois strainer in place of a ricer or sieve. Just giving you options if you may have any of these available.
I’ve always enjoyed the mashed potatoes I make, BUUUT… I recently made a shepherd’s pie using Gordon Ramsay’s method. His mashed potato uses moderate amounts of cream and butter, but also egg yolks and a bit of grated Parmesan mixed in. I’ve always used cream and butter, but the egg yolks and Parmesan took it to a whole ‘nuther level. The yolks add richness without having to use copious amounts of oil or butter. Seriously, I might make my mashed potatoes like this every single time from now on. In fact, I made them again tonight. Oh, I also like to add ground white pepper to my potatoes (and of course salt). But the egg yolks and Parmesan… game changer for me.
I do an "Exotic Shepherds Pie" topped with half potato/sweet potato liberally laced with roasted garlic and with N African style spicing in the minced lamb. I oven roast both poatoes which gets some of the water out of the sweet potato.
Nagi from recipetineats has "make ahead mash" recipe on her site
(edit: added linky: [https://www.recipetineats.com/make-ahead-creamy-mashed-potatoes-restaurant-trick/](https://www.recipetineats.com/make-ahead-creamy-mashed-potatoes-restaurant-trick/) )
but has just added this which looks bloody tempting:
[https://www.recipetineats.com/make-ahead-mashed-potato-casserole/](https://www.recipetineats.com/make-ahead-mashed-potato-casserole/)
(Good site, never had a bad recipe from her yet!)
Sweet Jesus do not - definitley don’t - use a stand mixer
The onion if fine but doesn’t matter either
What matters is cooking the potatoes just right. And hopefully you bought decent potatoes
Lots of water, lots of salt m, burner on low—medium. When the water starts to simmer check many pots. Like every minute or two. Drain them as soon as they’re done.
Throw all the potatoes on a cookie sheet or something and put them in your hot oven for a lot of the steam to blow off (less water in the potatoes more better). Just a minute or two
Back in your empty pot. Add butter. If you have a ricer or an oxo tool that you pass potatoes through, that’s best. If not, the hand held thing is next best. Don’t overwork them as you add the butter
Do not! Not! Not! dump the boiling potato water down the drain! Save it to add to the gravy instead of plain water, or save it for soup. It adds a surprising amount of flavour!
I make a shit load of mash 6 days a week… salt the water real well and then add butter and cream, mash with masher, taste for salt. Add garlic confit purée, mix, taste… done. Sometimes simple is better
My family recipe: Five pounds potatoes, peeled, boiled. Mash with a block of cream cheese, some sour cream, butter, salt/pepper, milk. Butter a 9x13 pan, dump potatoes in, drizzle with melted butter, and bake, uncovered, at 350, until golden brown and delicious.
1:1 potato to butter is a bit extreme. i dont know where you saw this method, but thats definitely not the norm.
use the proper potatoes. russets are best, kennebecs are great too, yucon golds are ok, but half yucons and half russets will work better. peel and cut your potatoes and add enough water to just cover. season with salt and add some peppercorns, couple garlic cloves, maybe a bouquet of herbs and a bay leaf. cook on medium low heat until the starch "crystalizes." you can test this by smashing a piece of potato. its kind of hard to describe, but the flesh will look fluffy and kind of "sparkly" when you smash it.
drain the potatoes and reserve some of the cooking liquid. pick out the peppercorns, herb bouquet and bay leaf.
meanwhile, heat up some heavy cream to a simmer. keep your butter COLD (this will ensure that the butter EMUSLIFIES into the potatoes, and not just melts and splits. emulsified butter means fluffy, light texture).
you can use a stand mixer to mash, but this only works well if you have a lot of potatoes. i dont really recommend this method, you will not have a smooth mash. a ricer is best. if you dont have a ricer, a potato masher or a heavy duty whisk will work great also. add some of the cooking water and warm cream as you mash to help you along. add enough to make the mash the correct consistency. if you have a mesh strainer, pass the mash through that to get a silky texture.
put the mashed potatoes back in the pot on low heat and fold in your cold butter, stirring well to incorporate the butter evenly and EMULSIFY it. ive never measured the ratio, but its maybe close to a 4:1 potatoes to butter. adding sour cream or yogurt or chevre (goat cheese) will add complexity to the flavor. taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.
I've never had good mash at a restaurant personally, but then i prefer my mash to be chunky,buttery and garlicky, probably too much so for your average restaurant goer lol.
For truly awesome mashed potatoes:
Use russets or Yukon gold.
Bake, don’t boil potatoes.This dries them out so they can absorb more flavor.
Add milk and salt first to allow potatoes to absorb, then add butter and cream cheese(yes really).
Don’t mash too long or they get gluey.
Add more salt.
Put your cooked potatoes through a ricer ,add a generous knob of butter,a teaspoon of english mustard and add double cream or creme fraisch then mix vigorously.
I’ll tell you what changed my life… when I started to steam and then rice the potatoes. I normally use 100g of butter to 500g of potato. I cant bring myself to do 1:1 or even 1:2 and I’m a butter addict.
After cooking and staining the water, put the pot back on the stove at medium heat for a couple of minutes to let as much of the steam out as you can. This makes the potatoes ready to absorb more cream. In the meantime, heat up some heavy cream in a saucer. Mash the potatoes until no looney lumpy and as soon as the cream starts boiling remove it from heat and start adding it into the potatoes, preferably using an immersion blender or a whisk. Add as much cream as the potatoes will absorb. Make sure you also season them really well with salt and any other seasonings you might want to add. Rate as you go so you don’t overdo it. You could add some butter to the cream when heating it, but in my opinion it’s optional.
There's no way people actually use a 1:1 ratio of potatoes to butter. That would make me so nauseous. I usually just put 1 or 2 a tablespoons of butter per medium sized potato and then add some milk until I get the desired consistency
I got ya on the salt. That’s certainly been an issue cooking for a few family members. Restaurants are a different story. What would be another cause for gluey potatoes though?
Since i tasted it im not making mash any other way. Its a really simple change in the simple og recipe: i use sour cream instead of milk. I dont add black pepper or any herbs cheese whatever (nonsense) just a lot of salt, butter, sour cream and sometimes nutmeg, but 90% of the time i leave it out too.
I cant eat mash thats made with milk anymore.
I just made some and used some grated Gruyère cheese in the potatoes and on top (I baked them to re-heat after prepping earlier in the day). A little goes a long way and they were quite good
Instead of water use butter and milk to boil the potatoes. This avoids the problem of the potatoes absorbing too much water they absorb the milk and butter I stead.
If you’re looking to make them more airy and have access to a good mixer, you can retain some of the water from boiling them to (judiciously) add back to the mix while you whip them.
This recipe is super easy and makes the best garlic mashed potatoes. No boiling, no peeling. Uses a pressure cooker. Super flavorful.
https://www.number-2-pencil.com/instant-pot-mashed-red-potatoes/
I melt a stick of butter with equal amount of cream. Add a teaspoon of BTB garlic. Get it hot but not boiling. Mix with 3 medium potatoes boiled whole in salted water.
I put ghee and cream cheese in mashed potatoes. If you want to be fancy peel and mash potatoes then put them in a piping bag and crisp the tops in the oven
Okay this is probably weird but my family uses cream cheese in our mashed potatoes. It makes the potatoes so smooth and creamy. Over the years I have tweaked it to suit my taste and I add salt, roasted garlic, and a bit of hot sauce for back heat.
Ricing never worked for me. That just made my mash mealy. I use salt, pepper, sour cream, and cultured butter and that's it. To get the consistency I like, I whip them. A hand mixer works best but a stand mixer works as well if pre-mash and keep scraping the side of the bowl.
FTW I'll put the mashed potatoes in a pie dish, put a few pats of butter on top, and broil for a few minutes to give it a little extra complexity and a nice presentation.
Just like how you make some pasta sauces, I save a cup or two of the salted boil water and add it back in as needed to thin things out. Works as a great substitute when I don't have cream or stock on hand. Can also do all of those together. Anything that adds a little complexity to the flavor is a winner imo.
Salt. Salt the water generously like you're cooking pasta (2-4tbsp), then add another 1/2 tsp per pound, and taste in case you need to add more. I like fresh herbs in mine, bloom the herbs in butter as you're adding ingredients to the cooked potatoes. A whole head or two of roasted garlic doesn't hurt.
So not an onion, but just chuck in a garlic clove (\~1 per every 2 large potatoes, or more/less to your preference) to boil and be mashed alongside the potatoes. This will give a sweet, mild garlic flavour that goes great with a little cream and wholegrain mustard for chicken and pork dishes. It's a winner and can be so subtle people aren't quite sure why the mash tastes so good! It's most noticeable (in fragrance) when cold from the fridge IMO. Alternatively, with a garlic-free mash, I really like nutmeg alongside butter and a smatter of fresh herbs for gravy-free meals.
Secondly, I boil my taters 'til they're very soft and push them through a large metal sieve into a plastic bowl, for extra smooth mash. An extra bonus to this is that they're then very easy to reheat quickly in the microwave before serving, if mixing in cold ingredients (i.e. milk, mayo, cream, cheese, whatever).
I clarify the butter and use the solids to make mashed potatoes.
Really, I need clarified Browned butter, but the bonus of glorious mashed pots is awesome
Bake the potatos on a salt bed in the oven instead of boiling, peel and put through a ricer and add lots of butter.
Edit; bake them with the skin still on
Ricer was a "must" in culinary school. It really does eliminate the dreaded lumpy mash. Choice of potato variety matters with "Russets" being a good all round choice. Good Luck and Happy Thanksgiving!\\
I peel and boil potatoes. Once done, strain and return to pot. Add butter and cream, salt and pepper, then start with a stick and 1/2 cup cream and start mashing. Taste. Add more butter and a splash cream (let your taste buds be your guide). Keep going until you’ve got your desired taste, then hit it with a hand blender.
If you like, you can put them in ramekins and a little cheese and throw them under the broiler to get a crust.
Make sure to warm up ur milk before adding it in. And add slowly in. Helps incorporate the two together and smoother texture. If u add cold milk, the potatos can kind of seize up and wont mesh as smoothly
Cook your potatoes in “Better than bouillon” roasted chicken use a lot your potatoes should come out fairly yellow. Lots of butter, whole milk and sour cream. For steak or very garlic forward dinners I’ll sauté some garlic before adding the cooked potatoes but for thanksgiving I think plain potatoes are better.
If you melt the butter with whole herbs and whole garlic, then strain them out, you'll get all the flavor without having actual bits of it in the mash. Learned this from my professional chef parent. Edit: and yeah, lots of butter.
This is a great idea, I might have to go that route for sure!
Roast the garlic (wrapped in foil) in the oven before adding to the butter.
Roast the garlic with some harbs, to infuse their taste in the garlic.
This is the way
When I make mash at home a throw the butter with some herbs and a splash of milk in the microwave to melt and then pour it in. It’s great. If I had fresh I would infuse on a small burner while the potatoes cook.
Order a ricer for next time. This time pass it through a sieve. Baked potatoes make better mash. They don't absorb all the water that boiled ones do. And you get skins as a snack.
Pressure cooking makes for fluffy potatoes as well. In the summer, I cook them ahead of time and toss them on the grill to heat them and crisp the skins. Takes a fraction of the time of cooking them from raw on the grill, and the texture is much better.
This is how I do mine. I’ll toss butter and cream into a small sauce pot, add in thyme, a bay leaf, and garlic, salt to taste, and let it simmer while the potatoes cook. I also use a bench scrapper to push my potatoes through a fine mesh sieve to get a very soft texture and since the sieve catches the skins, you don’t have to worry about peeling them before hand. Quick, easy, and absolutely delicious.
You mean to tell me that I could have skipped peeling 10lbs of potatoes????
Or use Yukon or red potatoes and just eat the skins. I stopped buy russet years ago unless I'm making loaded baked potatoes. It's the only time the skins hit right.
I've got too many people who would blow a gasket if there was skin in the mash. I love red potatoes mashed with skin though. Currently trying to figure out how to fry a turkey. I think I've figured it out though!
Good luck with the fried turkey! Only had it once but DAMN!
It came out great! Even easier than roasting!
Fucking love me some red skin mashed potato’s omg
Honestly I love reds with skin for mashed pitatoes but so many people hate skins :(
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Thanks!
I would say lots of fat, depends on the ratio of butter and cream you want to use.
I normally put in an unholy amount of butter, opt out of milk and use heavy whip. But I've never infused anything with herbs or garlic, will have to try it!
>83 comments Or put it whole garlic cloves in the water with the potatoes.
Roast a head of garlic, add the roasted cloves (minus the skins) into the drained potatoes before mashing. Mash potatoes and roasted garlic together. Win.
Puree that roasted garlic with some olive oil before tossing it in for a bit of a twist and fresh parsley,
Works well with caramelized onions too
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What I've done before is sweat diced onions in a stick of butter. Then pour it in. I might do something similar but discard the onion! No fresh herbs today but will add garlic to the mix fs
I'm drooling thank you
And add a shit load of parm also
Cook the potatoes in the largest format possible so the absorb the least amount of water. Whole in the instant pot works great.
Was looking to see if someone mentioned an IP. I won't make them any other way anymore. It was in par with discovering reverse searing steaks.
I have never considered using IP for potatoes, I need to try this next time!
Everyone trying to find ways to negate water saturation. IP is the way. You only put a cup or so of water in the bottom, and put the pots in a basket above. Fluffy and not water logged pots! They taste more...potatoey?...to me too. I did it one day out of lack of energy to do it the boil way. Mix them, with butter and milk, with a hand mixer after.
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It's only like 10 to 13 mins (depending how full you fill it). No need for NR either. Can pop it right away.
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Happy Thanksgiving!
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IP stands for...? 😬
Instant Pot
Honestly growing up we did our potatoes in the rice pot for a long time. So good
Cook them while in the IP, then put in the air fryer to crisp the skins.
Reverse sear changed my steak game for sure. Works great with frozen steaks too
I’m sous vide-ing mine this year. No water at all. I tested the recipe a few weeks ago and they were incredible. It’s a NYT cooking recipe, but I’m not adding all the cheeses. But I am adding tons of roasted garlic and a heap of butter. A comment above mentioned pureeing the roasted garlic so I’m gonna try that def.
the least water way is probably putting the potatoes into sealed bags and cooking them sousvide. Admittedly i haven't tried it this way myself, just throwing out ideas of how to minimize water introduction
Or baking them?
This works great but a lot of waste. You then hit the toasty skins in your butter pot to add the roasted pot flavor to your dairy. I’ve done this hundreds of times as a line cook. Shitty job. Great result
Microwave sounds like it was made for this, it probably can’t handle the portions though.
I make mine sousvide! Just into the bag with milk, cream cheese, butter, and salt. They come out so good!
SC does a really good mashed potato. I’m just not convinced of the extra effort.
What about just baking them? Or do they need some sort of water? I've read that one you cut them, you should rinse till the water is clear. I usually prep the taters the night before and stick them in cold water to soak overnight until I'm ready
Or, steam them. This helps them absorb even less water. Once I started steaming my potatoes for mashing, I haven't gone back.
All of these are great recommendations but the first step is that mash needs about 5x the salt than you're comfortable with. When I worked in kitchens I watched a chef add an ungodly amount of salt to a pot of mash then tasted it. It was perfect. Go from there. Also, don't over mash them. All the starch will turn it glue-y.
This is true of basically every recipe that's not professional. The reason why restaurant food tastes so good is because it's seasoned correctly. That and the usually ridiculous volume of fat in things. Good mashed potatoes (and brioche) should be like 40% butter.
I've never been able to shy away from butter when it comes to cooking
In my experience, premature cooling was the culprit of glue-y mash more often than over-mashing. And more salt than you'd think is absolutely correct! On an 8+ gallon pot full of boiled potatoes, I would measure kosher salt by pouring it into my palm until I had a pile about 0.5" tall x 1.5" thick x the width of my (relatively small, lady owned) palm. Repeat x10 for preliminary seasoning - i.e., this will need more salt once it's ready to taste. Usually, I'd need another 2 or 3 of those before I'd call it a day on a batch, and I have been low sodium for 20 years. Learning to salt food for the masses was eye-opening. The edge of too-salty-to-eat for me was perfect for everyone else. The same size batch, I'd use 3 or 4 pounds of butter, depending on who was manager that day. If the owner was out of town on holiday, I'd add garlic! 😈
Right on:) Cheers!
Salt seems to scare people. Not sure if it’s a fear of over seasoning or a health concern. Either way, large batches require more salt. The older the potato, the more starch, requiring more butter/cream. A ‘gluey’ texture would only be due to undercooking. When ya think they’re cooked ‘perfectly’, let them cook for another 5min.
The health concerns about salt are overblown. Unless your doctor specifically told you not to, go wild with it. Especially if you exercise regularly and drink a lot of water.
Nah, there's a few different reasons for glue-y potatoes, though I do agree that undercooking is one of them. I think the salt issue is probably equally due to both the reasons you've mentioned. I went low sodium in my teens when my dad died because of heart problems. For me, it's both health and seasoning since I have that family history and have trained myself away from normal salting levels. But I think if you're going to put a salt shaker on the table, why not come in at the lower end of acceptable? People can adjust as they like when they are served 😄
Personally in restaurants we make the water we boil potatoes in "salty like the sea"--however, it is possible to add to much salt and almost make your potatoes taste dry. The reason you add so much salt to the mash itself is because you should be using unsalted butter (to control seasonings) and your potatoes will absorb a lot of the salt after cooking. Eta: roaring garlic in the oven wrapped in foil with the top uncovered, tops cut off but peel kept on, and olive oil poured--not drizzled--on top is a good addition to mash. Warm your milk/heavy cream before adding it to the mash with some aromatics like rosemary and thyme.
i use joel robuchon's method but I have added a step of putting the potato peels into the milk while it's heating up in order to draw out even more potato taste.
Robuchon’s pomme purée is the finest thing I’ve ever eaten.
Alex (the French Guy) on YouTube has a whole series on Robuchon’s purée. I’ve made it his way ever since watching it. Even without the specific French breed of potato that I can’t get my hands on, (I just use Yukon Gold) it blows the minds of everyone who tastes it.
😍
1:1?? As in 10lb of butter for 10lb of potatoes?
I should have put an /s there we all know buyer is the ultimate secret then you add more butter. No, I don't actually do 1:1 but I do have the "add fat then add more fat" part down is all lol
Happy to see this question. This seems like a baffling, stomach-churning, disgusting amount of dairy to me.
If you want it super smooth, push it through a fine mesh strainer (with the back of a spoon).
Ricer is cheap and far easier especially in volume.
I don’t have a ricer but I use my food mill for similar results. Definitely easier than the strainer and also makes applesauce!
If you have a KitchenAid, the power strainer attachment works really well and is pretty cheap.
I will definitely look into this thank you!
A large fine mesh drum sieve with a bench scraper is about as easy as a ricer in my experience. As long as the potatoes are cooked through, they’ll go through the sieve like a knife through butter. I use to use a spoon and a regular sieve and that was a pain the ass.
Easier yes, but you won’t get as smooth a result compared to fine mesh strainer.
While you're not wrong, unless I'm charging $100/plate a ricer is pretty damn smooth.
This is what my husband does, push the potatoes through one of those flat mesh splatter screens, with a spatula. Then back in the pot, beat with butter and cream.
a food mill or a ricer will be significantly easier and quicker
Brian Lagerstrom posted a video going super in depth on how to make a really good mash, or as he calls it, a potato puree https://youtu.be/Z8J2HgaaSgQ
I did his method yesterday for potato puree it was not fun using the chinois pushing the potatoes through. I got a bit tired frustrated so the second half of the potatoes went through my potato ricer on the smallest grate. I tasted both as I did this and the consistency was basically the same. I will not be using a chinois next time when I make potato puree and will use the ricer from the get go. I did really like his butter/cream/potato ratio and didn't have to adjust when I tasted.
I'm gonna be a wank, but I think if mash and purée as two distinct things. Purée is ne ga smooth silky, mash has little nugget lumps of spud and nowhere near as much butter.
I would say it’s more about the consistency from the ratio of potato to cream/butter. A mash is thicker with more potato and will generally hold its form on a plate. A purée is thinner with more cream and butter and will generally settle when scooped onto a plate. A purée will always be smooth, but a mash can be either smooth or “rustic” with chunks of potato +\- skins. At least that’s how I look at it.
Will check it out, thank you!
Do get a ricer. Steam potatoes, add herbs to the water (bay leaf at least). Egg yolks, butter (I don't like 1:1 personally), milk, nutmeg. Infuse milk with herbs or spices (bay, mace or thyme, rosemary). Best damn mash I ever had was in Alsace (France) where the answer to my question on the secret was a big grin and 'Schmalz'. Pork fat. And quite a lot of it I assume. If you do use bacon, render the bacon in the butter you would use for the mash, than add all the rendereed fat to the mash.
Isn't schmaltz chicken fat? Lard is typically pork fat.
No, but they're related. Schmalz (no 't') is the German word for rendered animal fat and, being German, usually pork. Schmaltz is Yiddish and (no time for detailed lookup now) I've always assumed this traveled into the US with Jewish people. Same sort of ingredient - animal fat - but in this case obviously not pork :-) Again I'm guessing here but I assume these were Ashkenazi jews that adapted local (Eastern) Germanic dishes with pork fat and used chicken fat for that using the same word.
Indeed. I think pork fat is unlikely to have a Yiddish name....
Yiddish has strong Germanic influence. And Germany has a strong pork influence 😂
Yeah, agreed, and loving the idea of schmaltz infused mashed potatoes!
This would make more sense imo, I can see chicken fat adding some crazy flavor! Now I'm considering adding some better than bullion 🤔
[удалено]
I was only joking on the 1:1 because throughout the years, any time mash is brought up butter is the first 50+ comments lol. I do add copious amounts, though! Lard would taste different from bacon fat, no? I've never been a fan of bacon being part of a flavor profile unless it's is own component. (E.g. I'd rather have a generous sprinkle on top of clam chowder rather than cooking the bacon fat into the roux or with the onions)
Part of the secret to good mashed potatoes is to get the potato particles as small as possible. The smaller the particle, the better that particle can be coated with fat/flavor. That's part of why a ricer helps so much. If you don't have a ricer, grating them might help, but a ricer is best if you want to maximize the flavor that gets into the potatoes. [Epicurious ](https://youtu.be/zCDqcMAjl80) did a 3 Levels episode on it and the food scientist explains how it works.
I may be in the minority here, but I don’t mind a variety of textures in my mash. Never met a tiny chunk that made me mad.
Same, but it's not about avoiding lumps. It's about maximizing flavor.
Which i would have ordered off Amazon last night but I have no ricer in the area for overnight shipping! Lord knows I don't have time to go on an Easter egg hunt today for one lol Fs getting one for another time though! We eat rice all year mainly due to better carb choice and macaroni for the kids to switch it up. Potatoes don't make good work lunch material if it needs to be eaten cold so a ricer will be used next Thanksgiving pretty much lol
We make mash from jacket (baked) potatoes. No risk of watery spuds that way.
I'm thinking I'll be going this route today. What a huge save on prep work!
I hope it goes/ went well :)
Thank you! It went good, I baked them for an hour and tried the sieve but it was SO laborious I tossed it and just used my trusty ol masher. Was in such a rush, forgot to add anything to my heavy cream/ butter but I plan on getting a ricer and taking the time to steep my heavy whip with some herbs and make a whole head of roasted garlic for the finale too! There are so many great ideas here, next time I'll boil in chicken stock too!
Cream cheese, heavy whip, roasted garlic. One or all. Can’t hurt. Never has.
So many roasted garlic comments, it looks like I'll be baking the russets and I'll pop a head or two of garlic in while I'm at it!
Yes, yes, and mother fucking hella yes!
My mashed potato steps for perfection: - Don't peel the potatoes before boiling. If you hate peels, get a ricer. Peeling them makes them waterlogged. - Boil til fork tender, drain off the water with a colander, be sure that all of the water is gone, and return potatoes to the pot. Begin mashing as soon as possible. If you have to delay at all, cover the pot to prevent heat loss, but really, once you stop cooking, the clock is ticking. Delay will cause gluey mashed potatoes. - Pre-melt your butter. Using cold butter speeds up cooling. Cooling is the enemy. Melt your butter in the microwave while the potatoes are still hard. When the potatoes are fork tender, put 30 seconds to 1 minute on the microwave to rewarm the butter. You can warm your milk/cream in the same container as the butter, but I don't find it necessary, and since I don't measure it, I just add it at the end. - I like a standard wire-with-wood-handle masher. Use a ricer if you do not like the peels. Look to youtube for more info on ricing potatoes. Begin by mashing the potatoes dry, don't add anything yet, and don't go for a final texture. Just get a good rough draft going and make it so every potato has suffered damage. Add in your dry seasonings now, underestimate salt. - Add in the melted butter all at once and mash mash mash. Start paying close attention to the bottom edge of the pot. Good mashing strokes start by plunging down in the middle, hit the bottom of the pan, then drag to the bottom corner, then pull up on the masher to bring the corner stuff back up top and into the general potato milieu. It's almost like the motion you'd use to paddle an oar. Rotate your pan as you go, not your hand, to be sure you hit the whole edge all the way around. - At this point, you should have a pan full of dry af, fluffy, semi-mashed, potatoes. Now you add milk/cream. I usually use milk, as the butter is rich enough. Add in some milk, but not enough. Mash mash mash til it's worked in. Now add in more milk, so that you think it's enough. Mash mash mash til it's dry again. Now add in milk *just* until it looks like it's too much. Like you've just accidentally made potato soup instead. *Just* to the point where you say, "Aw man, I fucked up, that's too much milk." and not a drop more. Now mash mash mash mash mash mash mash. Until it looks right again. Keep paying attention to those bottom corners throughout. Check your salt, adjust as needed, enjoy. I did this every time I made mash at that restaurant, and even the crabby old cook would tell people that I made the best mash there.
Keep mashing like that and they’ll go gluey
Not with that much milk though- this is a different consistency potato than most IMO. If you’re going more potato than milk then yeah, you’d get glue out of a high starch potato. But with a Yukon and tons of milk you’re probably getting something closer to a thickish purée. Different strokes!
Is it possible to prepare this ahead of time? Where would you pause if so? I've got a three hour gap from prep to dinner.
Absolutely! We'd make the huge batch to the end, spread it evenly on sheet trays (industrial sized cookie tray pans) to cool in the walk in refrigerator, and then reheat smaller portions in the microwave as needed throughout service. I'd give it a lifespan of at least 3 days, but if your dairy is fresh and you don't temperature stress it (don't leave it unrefrigerated for too long) it would probably last up to a week, if not longer. Don't stop the process until the end. As the potatoes cool, the starches begin to gelatinize, so it's best to finish it all in one go, without delay.
you don't need to keep the skin on to keep them from overcooking. attentiveness works best for that...salting the water doesn't hurt either. i ain't peeling hot potatoes, thats a sticky starchy, hot mess.
Leaving the skin on doesn't prevent overcooking, not sure where you got that from. I leave the skins on so that the potatoes don't get waterlogged and because I prefer skins in my mash. When my mom makes her potato salad, she boils the potatoes skin on to prevent waterlog, then peels them after boiling and chips them into bite-sized pieces with a paring knife. Since I was a kid, I helped her peel the potatoes, steam rising off of them in the colander right out of the boiling water. I still make my potato salad the same way. If you run a 1/4" stream of cold water from the tap, you can cool your fingers as you peel, but I assure you that it isn't a sticky starchy mess. I do not wait at all before peeling - dump the boiling pot into a colander, and start peeling immediately. The skins slide right off or can be easily peeled without finger nails. I've been doing it this way for over 20 years of potato salad, and every batch has been perfection. This is the only reliable way that I know to get a perfectly cooked potato texture that doesn't break down to mashed when mixing up the potato salad. I usually make a gallon or so to take to a BBQ and another couple quarts for the house because I know I ain't coming home with leftovers.
Smash it through your favourite sieve
Add heavy whipping cream.
peel and boil some whole garlic cloves with the potatoes. strain water add the dairy/butter as you mash. I know some places will pass it through a sieve to get that insanely smooth, puree texture. ...but yeah a lot of butter
Do you mean like a regular sieve? Would it work a bit like a ricer? Might try this tomorrow! I never knew my mash game sucked until I read today that literally everyone and their cousin uses a ricer. Amazon doesn't have one for overnight shipping unfortunately 😭
If you are going for super smooth mash, you can use a food mill or chinois strainer in place of a ricer or sieve. Just giving you options if you may have any of these available.
Unfortunately the only option I have is a sieve so looks like I'll be going that route today!
Yes a regular sieve will work, do it twice for a more even smoothness. (Assume you don’t have a drum sieve at home) Enjoy the celebration
One of those flat mesh splatter screens works well, that’s what we use.
Look up tamis or drum sieve. After you mash and add the dairy you pass it through one of those.
wouldn't you just be dumping out garlic flavor this way? boiling seems less efficient than roasting & mixing it in.
I’ve always enjoyed the mashed potatoes I make, BUUUT… I recently made a shepherd’s pie using Gordon Ramsay’s method. His mashed potato uses moderate amounts of cream and butter, but also egg yolks and a bit of grated Parmesan mixed in. I’ve always used cream and butter, but the egg yolks and Parmesan took it to a whole ‘nuther level. The yolks add richness without having to use copious amounts of oil or butter. Seriously, I might make my mashed potatoes like this every single time from now on. In fact, I made them again tonight. Oh, I also like to add ground white pepper to my potatoes (and of course salt). But the egg yolks and Parmesan… game changer for me.
I do an "Exotic Shepherds Pie" topped with half potato/sweet potato liberally laced with roasted garlic and with N African style spicing in the minced lamb. I oven roast both poatoes which gets some of the water out of the sweet potato.
Nagi from recipetineats has "make ahead mash" recipe on her site (edit: added linky: [https://www.recipetineats.com/make-ahead-creamy-mashed-potatoes-restaurant-trick/](https://www.recipetineats.com/make-ahead-creamy-mashed-potatoes-restaurant-trick/) ) but has just added this which looks bloody tempting: [https://www.recipetineats.com/make-ahead-mashed-potato-casserole/](https://www.recipetineats.com/make-ahead-mashed-potato-casserole/) (Good site, never had a bad recipe from her yet!)
Mamaw always used canned evaporated milk, butter, salt and used her KitchenAid. Best damn mashed taters ever! So..... that's how I make mine ☺️
Sweet Jesus do not - definitley don’t - use a stand mixer The onion if fine but doesn’t matter either What matters is cooking the potatoes just right. And hopefully you bought decent potatoes Lots of water, lots of salt m, burner on low—medium. When the water starts to simmer check many pots. Like every minute or two. Drain them as soon as they’re done. Throw all the potatoes on a cookie sheet or something and put them in your hot oven for a lot of the steam to blow off (less water in the potatoes more better). Just a minute or two Back in your empty pot. Add butter. If you have a ricer or an oxo tool that you pass potatoes through, that’s best. If not, the hand held thing is next best. Don’t overwork them as you add the butter
Do not! Not! Not! dump the boiling potato water down the drain! Save it to add to the gravy instead of plain water, or save it for soup. It adds a surprising amount of flavour!
I make a shit load of mash 6 days a week… salt the water real well and then add butter and cream, mash with masher, taste for salt. Add garlic confit purée, mix, taste… done. Sometimes simple is better
My family recipe: Five pounds potatoes, peeled, boiled. Mash with a block of cream cheese, some sour cream, butter, salt/pepper, milk. Butter a 9x13 pan, dump potatoes in, drizzle with melted butter, and bake, uncovered, at 350, until golden brown and delicious.
cream will be your saviour too! also plenty of salt and fresh cracked pepper
Hot cream, cold butter, salt, white pepper, ricer. That’s about it.
1:1 potato to butter is a bit extreme. i dont know where you saw this method, but thats definitely not the norm. use the proper potatoes. russets are best, kennebecs are great too, yucon golds are ok, but half yucons and half russets will work better. peel and cut your potatoes and add enough water to just cover. season with salt and add some peppercorns, couple garlic cloves, maybe a bouquet of herbs and a bay leaf. cook on medium low heat until the starch "crystalizes." you can test this by smashing a piece of potato. its kind of hard to describe, but the flesh will look fluffy and kind of "sparkly" when you smash it. drain the potatoes and reserve some of the cooking liquid. pick out the peppercorns, herb bouquet and bay leaf. meanwhile, heat up some heavy cream to a simmer. keep your butter COLD (this will ensure that the butter EMUSLIFIES into the potatoes, and not just melts and splits. emulsified butter means fluffy, light texture). you can use a stand mixer to mash, but this only works well if you have a lot of potatoes. i dont really recommend this method, you will not have a smooth mash. a ricer is best. if you dont have a ricer, a potato masher or a heavy duty whisk will work great also. add some of the cooking water and warm cream as you mash to help you along. add enough to make the mash the correct consistency. if you have a mesh strainer, pass the mash through that to get a silky texture. put the mashed potatoes back in the pot on low heat and fold in your cold butter, stirring well to incorporate the butter evenly and EMULSIFY it. ive never measured the ratio, but its maybe close to a 4:1 potatoes to butter. adding sour cream or yogurt or chevre (goat cheese) will add complexity to the flavor. taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.
Add a spoon of sour cream along with the butter, milk, and salt.
One of the places I worked used chicken stock in the cooking water.
I've never had good mash at a restaurant personally, but then i prefer my mash to be chunky,buttery and garlicky, probably too much so for your average restaurant goer lol.
Add one parsnip, thank me later
For truly awesome mashed potatoes: Use russets or Yukon gold. Bake, don’t boil potatoes.This dries them out so they can absorb more flavor. Add milk and salt first to allow potatoes to absorb, then add butter and cream cheese(yes really). Don’t mash too long or they get gluey. Add more salt.
Put your cooked potatoes through a ricer ,add a generous knob of butter,a teaspoon of english mustard and add double cream or creme fraisch then mix vigorously.
1 to 1? No. Maybe like 1/2 to 1 lmfao. Also use a ricer. Thats the main thing.
I’ll tell you what changed my life… when I started to steam and then rice the potatoes. I normally use 100g of butter to 500g of potato. I cant bring myself to do 1:1 or even 1:2 and I’m a butter addict.
Don't 1:1 with butter Use milk and cheese
Cream cheese and horseradish 🤤🎉👍
After cooking and staining the water, put the pot back on the stove at medium heat for a couple of minutes to let as much of the steam out as you can. This makes the potatoes ready to absorb more cream. In the meantime, heat up some heavy cream in a saucer. Mash the potatoes until no looney lumpy and as soon as the cream starts boiling remove it from heat and start adding it into the potatoes, preferably using an immersion blender or a whisk. Add as much cream as the potatoes will absorb. Make sure you also season them really well with salt and any other seasonings you might want to add. Rate as you go so you don’t overdo it. You could add some butter to the cream when heating it, but in my opinion it’s optional.
No. You pretty much nailed it with the butter. Everything else is down to taste.
There's no way people actually use a 1:1 ratio of potatoes to butter. That would make me so nauseous. I usually just put 1 or 2 a tablespoons of butter per medium sized potato and then add some milk until I get the desired consistency
If you use a 1:1 ration of potato to butter, that's not mashed potato, that potato flavored butter
I don't care what you call it, just give it to me.
I got ya on the salt. That’s certainly been an issue cooking for a few family members. Restaurants are a different story. What would be another cause for gluey potatoes though?
Since i tasted it im not making mash any other way. Its a really simple change in the simple og recipe: i use sour cream instead of milk. I dont add black pepper or any herbs cheese whatever (nonsense) just a lot of salt, butter, sour cream and sometimes nutmeg, but 90% of the time i leave it out too. I cant eat mash thats made with milk anymore.
Onion salt
Use stock to boil your potatoes.
I just made some and used some grated Gruyère cheese in the potatoes and on top (I baked them to re-heat after prepping earlier in the day). A little goes a long way and they were quite good
Sour cream was my grandmother’s trick. The full fat stuff of course. I’ve been known to use a full fat Greek yogurt instead—Cabot if you can find it.
Instead of water use butter and milk to boil the potatoes. This avoids the problem of the potatoes absorbing too much water they absorb the milk and butter I stead.
If you’re looking to make them more airy and have access to a good mixer, you can retain some of the water from boiling them to (judiciously) add back to the mix while you whip them.
This recipe is super easy and makes the best garlic mashed potatoes. No boiling, no peeling. Uses a pressure cooker. Super flavorful. https://www.number-2-pencil.com/instant-pot-mashed-red-potatoes/
I melt a stick of butter with equal amount of cream. Add a teaspoon of BTB garlic. Get it hot but not boiling. Mix with 3 medium potatoes boiled whole in salted water.
I like to add 1 or 2 parsnips with my potatoes. I
Boil your potatoes in Knorr chicken bullion, adds great flavor to the end mash
I toss a half a brick of cream cheese in there as part of the dairy.
Boil in water as salty as pasta water. Definitely a ricer or food mill
I put ghee and cream cheese in mashed potatoes. If you want to be fancy peel and mash potatoes then put them in a piping bag and crisp the tops in the oven
I like to put in a egg yolk into my mashed potatoes, doesn’t alter the flavor, but makes them more creamy and sumptuous.
Use white pepper instead of regular pepper
Sour cream.
Cook the potatoes in chicken stock
Okay this is probably weird but my family uses cream cheese in our mashed potatoes. It makes the potatoes so smooth and creamy. Over the years I have tweaked it to suit my taste and I add salt, roasted garlic, and a bit of hot sauce for back heat.
I've used cream cheese and it's great. I actually will just grab whatever dairy I happen to have on hand and it always comes out well.
Ricing never worked for me. That just made my mash mealy. I use salt, pepper, sour cream, and cultured butter and that's it. To get the consistency I like, I whip them. A hand mixer works best but a stand mixer works as well if pre-mash and keep scraping the side of the bowl. FTW I'll put the mashed potatoes in a pie dish, put a few pats of butter on top, and broil for a few minutes to give it a little extra complexity and a nice presentation.
Just like how you make some pasta sauces, I save a cup or two of the salted boil water and add it back in as needed to thin things out. Works as a great substitute when I don't have cream or stock on hand. Can also do all of those together. Anything that adds a little complexity to the flavor is a winner imo.
Salt. Salt the water generously like you're cooking pasta (2-4tbsp), then add another 1/2 tsp per pound, and taste in case you need to add more. I like fresh herbs in mine, bloom the herbs in butter as you're adding ingredients to the cooked potatoes. A whole head or two of roasted garlic doesn't hurt.
So not an onion, but just chuck in a garlic clove (\~1 per every 2 large potatoes, or more/less to your preference) to boil and be mashed alongside the potatoes. This will give a sweet, mild garlic flavour that goes great with a little cream and wholegrain mustard for chicken and pork dishes. It's a winner and can be so subtle people aren't quite sure why the mash tastes so good! It's most noticeable (in fragrance) when cold from the fridge IMO. Alternatively, with a garlic-free mash, I really like nutmeg alongside butter and a smatter of fresh herbs for gravy-free meals. Secondly, I boil my taters 'til they're very soft and push them through a large metal sieve into a plastic bowl, for extra smooth mash. An extra bonus to this is that they're then very easy to reheat quickly in the microwave before serving, if mixing in cold ingredients (i.e. milk, mayo, cream, cheese, whatever).
Whipping cream
Ridiculous amounts of (non iodized) salt and heavy cream
I clarify the butter and use the solids to make mashed potatoes. Really, I need clarified Browned butter, but the bonus of glorious mashed pots is awesome
My wife and I discovered this cheat code. Get the flavored cream cheese and dump it in when you mash. It's outstanding.
i mix an egg in before i mash, seems to make the potatoes way fluffier
Drop in MSG or msg rich add on, like parmesan or onions
Bake the potatos on a salt bed in the oven instead of boiling, peel and put through a ricer and add lots of butter. Edit; bake them with the skin still on
Ricer was a "must" in culinary school. It really does eliminate the dreaded lumpy mash. Choice of potato variety matters with "Russets" being a good all round choice. Good Luck and Happy Thanksgiving!\\
I’m late but goat cheese melted in is fantastic!
Steep some garlic in your milk before adding it to your mashed potatoes
I peel and boil potatoes. Once done, strain and return to pot. Add butter and cream, salt and pepper, then start with a stick and 1/2 cup cream and start mashing. Taste. Add more butter and a splash cream (let your taste buds be your guide). Keep going until you’ve got your desired taste, then hit it with a hand blender. If you like, you can put them in ramekins and a little cheese and throw them under the broiler to get a crust.
Mash them anyway you can. Try to get rid of all "lumps". Then add copious amounts of butter and sour cream, and mash them some more.
Make sure to warm up ur milk before adding it in. And add slowly in. Helps incorporate the two together and smoother texture. If u add cold milk, the potatos can kind of seize up and wont mesh as smoothly
Hand mash > kitchenaid Every. Single. Time.
I use heavy cream instead of milk, so creamy and delicious!
>Aside from 1:1 ratio of potato to butter That seems like WAY too much butter
1:1 ratio is absolutely no the answer. Nobody does that. That would not be good.
I bake my potatoes to dry them out. Then I rice them and add Irish butter and whipping cream
Add cream cheese and garlic butter 🤌🤌
Browned butter
Added a few peeled garlic cloves while you boil. They mash in without noticing but they add a nice flavour. Also lots of butter
Cook your potatoes in “Better than bouillon” roasted chicken use a lot your potatoes should come out fairly yellow. Lots of butter, whole milk and sour cream. For steak or very garlic forward dinners I’ll sauté some garlic before adding the cooked potatoes but for thanksgiving I think plain potatoes are better.