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The Basics: How to Make Mashed Potatoes
Creamy, buttery, and good with Thanksgiving gravy
From the store to the kitchen to the table: We outline the steps that get you from raw ingredients to your dinner tonight, free of measurements and complicated techniques. It’s a method you’ll remember and whip out whenever you like. It is the most basic way to make the thing you’re making.
- WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
- - a vegetable peeler
- - a large pot
- - a colander
- - a potato masher
- - 4 pounds of russet potatoes
- - salt and pepper
- - a stick of butter
- - a cup of cream
WHAT YOU’LL DO:
VIEW ONE STEP AT A TIME | PRINT PDF
1. Wash and peel the potatoes, then cut them into large chunks and place them in the pot.
2. Cover the potatoes with cold water by an inch or two and add a generous amount of salt. (You want the water to taste like the ocean.) Place the pot on the stove over high heat.
3. Once the water boils, reduce the heat and simmer the potatoes until they are easily pierced with a knife, about 20 minutes.
4. Drain the potatoes in a colander and let them rest in the sink while you prepare the butter and cream.
5. Combine the butter and cream in the pot you cooked the potatoes in. Cook over low heat, stirring until the butter has melted and the cream is hot.
6. Turn off the heat and add the drained potatoes to the hot butter-cream mixture. Mash the potatoes until they are fluffy and creamy. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Makes 6 servings. See more Thanksgiving Basics.
Illustrations by Bill Russell
Thank you for this recipe, but NO! you do NOT want the boiling water to "taste like the ocean"... I tried this method tonight, and the result was mashed-taste-like-the-ocean-potatoes... Which was not the desired result.
The recipe is very similar to Mark Bittman's in his book "How to Cook Everything", which is a recipe I've happily used for years. However, he calls for milk instead of cream. We only usually have nonfat milk in our house so I mix it with a little half and half, making it about the same as whole milk. I'm sure any type of milk or cream would work, although I wouldn't use nonfat.
Regarding the...+READ
The recipe is very similar to Mark Bittman's in his book "How to Cook Everything", which is a recipe I've happily used for years. However, he calls for milk instead of cream. We only usually have nonfat milk in our house so I mix it with a little half and half, making it about the same as whole milk. I'm sure any type of milk or cream would work, although I wouldn't use nonfat.
Regarding the question above about making mashed potatoes ahead of time - Mark Bittman's recipe says that you can boil the potatoes up to an hour ahead of time and let them sit in the colander, drying out. He says this even improves the fluffiness because the drier the potatoes, the better.
I make mashed potatoes this way frequently...just boil the potatoes and let them sit in the colander while I'm making the rest of the meal. Then, just before the main meal is ready, I melt the butter and warm the milk in the potato pot, then add the potatoes (which look a little shriveled but are nice and dry), add my salt and pepper, and mash.
As others have said, DO NOT use an electric beater or other such thing as it will turn them to glue. You want to use a hand masher or, ideally, potato ricer. I also don't bother to salt/pepper them until the end.
Oh, one more thing, Mark Bittman claims that you should boil them as large as possible (even leave them whole and then increase boiling time) as the whole point is to prevent them from becoming sort of waterlogged, which can more easily happen with smaller chunks. Can't vouch for that myself since I've done them in both small chunks and whole, and haven't noticed a big difference. Also, I like the flavor of Yukon golds okay, but much prefer the fluffier texture and more "traditional" starchiness of plain old baking potatoes (russets).
Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!-COLLAPSE
Do not use a food processor or a kitchen aid on high spead to 'whip' your potatoes unless you like either glue or potato-glue soup. And have extra potatoes to try again. :)
I did this recipe with Yukon Golds, although I halved the cream/butter mix since I was making a smaller amount and didn't salt the potatoes until mashing. The hot cream and milk really do make a difference, as well as lots of black pepper.
Try using a classic potato ricer which will give much fluffier results than a masher. A bit fussier to use, but once you have, you won't go back to mashing or beating. Heat milk, salt and butter and gently mix into hot riced potatoes, and serve immediately.
It maybe from family tradition, but my preference for potato type is bakers, peeled and cut into quarters, steamed in a small amount of...+READ
Try using a classic potato ricer which will give much fluffier results than a masher. A bit fussier to use, but once you have, you won't go back to mashing or beating. Heat milk, salt and butter and gently mix into hot riced potatoes, and serve immediately.
It maybe from family tradition, but my preference for potato type is bakers, peeled and cut into quarters, steamed in a small amount of water and drained.
Potatoes can lose their light and airy quality and become gluey when beaten or whipped.-COLLAPSE
anybody know if you can prepare this in advance?
i find you get a lighter feel to the dish ricing the potatoes and then folding in the butter and warm cream
I've found steaming potatoes works quite well and goes faster than I thought it would. I don't have to waste so much time waiting for the water to boil either since there's such a small amount in the pan.
Salting potato water for mashed potatoes is kind of silly. Not only is it an extra step/wasted time, but you're throwing salt down the drain. Seasoning them with salt/pepper at the same time you add the cream is more than sufficient.
You add salt to boiling water so that it penetrates foods- foods that remain intact, like pasta or veggies, not something you completely pulverize down the line,...+READ
Salting potato water for mashed potatoes is kind of silly. Not only is it an extra step/wasted time, but you're throwing salt down the drain. Seasoning them with salt/pepper at the same time you add the cream is more than sufficient.
You add salt to boiling water so that it penetrates foods- foods that remain intact, like pasta or veggies, not something you completely pulverize down the line, such as mashed potatoes.
Also, it's a good rule of thumb to mash the potatoes dry, then fold in the liquid/seasoning. The less agitation of the final product, the less starch is released, the less gummy they get. Mashing potatoes dry comes the closest to mimicking the effect of a ricer- the implement of choice for most professional chefs.-COLLAPSE
I love the tip of heating the cream and butter first. Genius!
Use half the cream and use low-salt chicken broth. Instead of a masher, MDK's hand mixer makes whipped potatoes alot easier!
The only step I don't do is add salt to the potatoes while they boil...I add it when the potatoes are whipped...no big deal...one thing that dramatically improved my mashed potatoes was heating the cream or milk and butter before adding the hot potatoes like they do in this recipe...that is a very important step and really improves the dish!
We've always added a couple of dollups of sourcream and whipped the potatoes with a hand mixer. Sooo good! Be careful not to over whip though.
For more flavorful potatoes use Yukon Golds and the secret to perfectly fluffy mashed potatoes, return drained potatoes to the pan and turn the burner on low and mash them halfway, allowing excess water to boil/steam out. Turn off the burner and then add the butter and cream and finish mashing. Perfect potatoes.