The secret to mashed potatoes

We have mash all the time, the secret is peeling, and chopping the potatoes the same size, the smaller the chopped potatoes the greater the cooking surface and thus reduced cooking time, if you have different sizes some will cook and disintegrate and other will be lumpy when your ,asking as they aren't cooked enough. Also if adding milk, please ensure its warmed before adding and a nice lump of salted butter is really great. But the real triumph of mash is pepper and lots of it. I'm a true be
Im a believer in hestons food, but his mash looks too oversmooth for me, almost plastic and I'm really not sure on the lime jelly cubes but I'd try it to see.
 
Stev said:
Maris piper or desiree make good mash, peel it completely quatar it and leave it soaked in water for a little bit, this will leech some of the starch out.

When cooking it give it plenty of water so non are poking out of the boiling water, when you can easily push the BACK of a bread knife through they are ready to mash, drain the water and put the spuds back into the warm pan you just used to boil them.


Mash them!

now when fully mashed grab yourself a wooden spoon, add a little milk and butter sprinkle of salt and pepper, trick here when folding it is not to overwork the mash or you risk making cement!

Happy cooking :)


stev.
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+1 although I find a bit of double cream ia better if you want a creamier mash :)
 
NEVER put them through a ricer. They are supposed to be mashed... Not potato puree.

Also don't add black pepper... What is with British people putting black pepper in EVERYTHING??? All you need is butter and a pinch of salt.
 
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touch of milk
tbsp butter

pepper
pepper
pepper

more pepper (yes, lots of frshly ground pepper)

if you want to make it extra special dump in a handfull of grated cheese :)

Don't add salt directly but cook the potatoes in salty water.
 
I really don't use very much milk at all.

The trick is all in the butter.

Boil your potatoes until cooked properly through, drain well, then put them back on the heat and mash them on the heat. Then add the butter, once all mashed, while still on the heat.
You really want to keep adding butter until the potatoes are nearly at saturation point, i.e. cannot take any more butter and keep stirring it in. Add a splash of milk and season well. That's it. It's all about working the potato on the heat though, as soon as they start to cool down it makes them instantly worse.
 
Mr Jack said:
Peel the potatoes, use a ricer - as already mentioned - and cook 'til they're beginning to crumble of their own accord. Really, ricers are just a better way to make mash.

Don't add milk; it's never a good idea. If you must add something use a dash of cream instead but, frankly, it's not needed. Lots of butter and a little seasoning is the key.
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Pretty much what Mr Jack says. I never add milk to mine (or cream), just loads of butter and lots of salt and pepper.

Van Hellseek said:
NEVER put them through a ricer. They are supposed to be mashed... Not potato puree.

Also don't add black pepper... What is with British people putting black pepper in EVERYTHING??? All you need is butter and a pinch of salt.
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Pay absolutely no attention to this guy, he patently has no idea what he's talking about.
Like Glaucus, my potato ricer is the best piece of kitchen equipment I own - it makes perfect mashed potatoes. Also, black pepper is a must for mashed potatoes. It just is. Fact :p

Also, don't try to be trendy and slavishly imitate Heston bloody Blumenthal. I'm fed up to the back teeth of people idolising him and his ridiculously convoluted and time consuming methods.

Mashed potatoes:
Boil potatoes.
Mash.
Add butter, salt and pepper.
Eat.

Never mind poncing about with thermometers and boiling the damn things twice or passing them through a sieve. It's mash you charlatan - one of the simplest dishes possible. Don't make it into a chore :mad:
 
Stan do you keep yours on the heat while adding the butter and mashing? If not give it a try, it makes the whole thing that much easier to get a consistent consistency :P
 
OpenToSuggestions said:
I usually don't bother peeling because I am lazy.
Is the mash really better with peeled spuds?
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Depends, do you want the smooth creamy mash potato that most people on here are advocating or do you prefer a more rustic fluffy type of mash with heaven forbid the odd lump in it!

Personally I like both so will vary it depending on what I'm serving, bangers and mash is always smooth and creamy but if it is pie or stew and mash then I'll go more rustic and leaving the skins on is a great when going that way.

Stan_Lite said:
Pay absolutely no attention to this guy, he patently has no idea what he's talking about.
Like Glaucus, my potato ricer is the best piece of kitchen equipment I own - it makes perfect mashed potatoes. Also, black pepper is a must for mashed potatoes. It just is. Fact :p

Also, don't try to be trendy and slavishly imitate Heston bloody Blumenthal. I'm fed up to the back teeth of people idolising him and his ridiculously convoluted and time consuming methods.
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Mash potato doesn't have to be creamy smooth though does it? That is just what you prefer and to a certain extent what TV cookery shows and marketing have convinced us is right. There is plenty of room for a more rsutic fluffy textured mash (almost crushed potatoes) just like mushy peas don't need to be the vile green liquid from the chippy then can be a lovely side dish of textured crushed peas.

You are right though pepper is a must.

Totally agree with your comments on Heston though, this forum is particularly bad for idolising him just try telling someone you cook a steak without turning it every 10 seconds.
 
Peel, cut equally, cook till soft (salt water), drain, mash, butter to taste, pepper, little cream if you like, some chive too if you like, lid back on will keep hot for a while.

Done deal.
 
a1ex2001 said:
Mash potato doesn't have to be creamy smooth though does it? That is just what you prefer and to a certain extent what TV cookery shows and marketing have convinced us is right. There is plenty of room for a more rsutic fluffy textured mash (almost crushed potatoes) just like mushy peas don't need to be the vile green liquid from the chippy then can be a lovely side dish of textured crushed peas.
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I agree. Personally, I prefer it one way or the other - either creamy or crushed. The ricer makes it lovely and creamy and smooth whereas a hand masher is a little coarse. I'm just as happy with crushed potatoes (i.e. crushed with a fork so it's very lumpy). I'm just not keen on the in-between texture a hand masher gives.

a1ex2001 said:
Totally agree with your comments on Heston though, this forum is particularly bad for idolising him just try telling someone you cook a steak without turning it every 10 seconds.
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Nice to see someone else around here who hasn't been seduced by the Blumenthal fad :)
 
He's an interesting chef and I quite like his results but everything he says needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The steak flipping thing didn't come from him specifically so that's probably not a good example of people being obsessed with him though :p
 
I'm all about keeping the skins on. Cut the spuds up quite small, boil them for about 20 minutes in salted water. Drain, pour some milk or cream in and a huge chunk of butter. Add pepper, and get mashing. I'll occassionally pass the mash through a sieve, but it's a bit of a lengthy process that I generally can't be bothered with. Add mroe salt if needed at the end.

a1ex2001 said:
Totally agree with your comments on Heston though, this forum is particularly bad for idolising him just try telling someone you cook a steak without turning it every 10 seconds.
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There's a difference between idolising a chef for no reason at all, and trying out unusual methods which have grounding in decent food science. The flipping thing makes a far better steak in my experience and I shall continue to do it. I've recommended it to others, and without fail those who have tried it says it's better. Each to their own, but at least try new things.
 
QuickLink said:
Stan do you keep yours on the heat while adding the butter and mashing? If not give it a try, it makes the whole thing that much easier to get a consistent consistency :P
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Tried and tested something I saw on the Fabulous Baker Boys.

If you are adding milk and butter, or even cream, warm it up in a seperate pan before you add it. Get the butter melted.

Works like a dream.
 
xarr said:
Lets ask someone who actually knows eh;

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/how-to-cook-like-heston/4od#3284267

From the 5:50 mark or recipe here

http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/chefs/heston-blumenthal/perfect-mash-recipe
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No one makes mash like that for every day food. Seriously who wants 1/4 weight butter to potato. Or as it's done in 'fine dining' 50/50 butter to potato.

I personally have gone off using a ricer, I much prefer a less perfect mash than a puree. I used to use one all the time but found it uninteresting to eat texture wise.
 
For all the Heston lovers/haters here is probably the best resource on mash and spuds out there:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?/topic/31701-the-potato-primer/

I realise most people will not want to go to the lengths you can do with some methods in the thread but it makes interesting reading and helps you understand what is actually happening (Heston kinda glossed over a lot of the detail in his recent program and didn't use the skins in butter trick for the extra roasted flavour you can impart).
 
With Heston, you need to take what he says, try it out and ditch half the proceeses.

Most of his dishes are to complicated for home cooking, but he and the dishes can still teach you a lot, which can be used in much simpler versions.
Most of his recipes are focused on Perfection. For home cooking 90% of the taste and texture in an hour is much better than perfection that takes two days to achieve.
Bust as I say you can still improve your cooking by understanding why he does each process and incorporating some of them into a dish.


Same as stan, crushed potatoes or creamy potatoes. No creamy potatoes with the odd lump.
The biggest thing is to minimise starch which means stir/mix as little as possible.
 
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