The trick for ultra-smooth, not-gluey mashed potatoes
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- Опубликовано: 16 май 2024
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Most recent literature review I can find on the effects of low-temperature blanching on potatoes: www.researchgate.net/publicat...
This vid isn't really a recipe, but here's the basic procedure:
1) Cut or slice your potatoes into smaller pieces than you'd normally do for mash.
2) Rinse and drain the free starch off the potato pieces (or don't - it doesn't make a huge difference).
3) Cover the potato pieces with water (and throw in a few peeled garlic cloves if you want).
4) Turn the heat on low and hold the potatoes at a sub-simmering temperature for about 20 minutes (that time is a guess - I don't know what the optimal duration is).
5) Either increase the heat to a simmer and finish cooking until they're soft enough to mash, or if you want an even more dramatic effect, drain and cool the potatoes all the way down before simmering until soft.
6) Drain, mash and finish as usual. A ricer will get you the finest texture, but whipping with beaters is fine - the low-temperature blanching step virtually assures a non-gluey texture. I like to finish with butter, sliced green onions, salt, pepper, a bit of the reserved cooking water, some powdered milk, and then I'll swirl a raw egg yolk into the hot potatoes at the table. 
Хобби
Interesting. I wonder if "Grandma's" mashed potatoes were always so good because she was cooking for like 9 people, which would take forever to get boiling.
Interesting hypothesis!
I think that (at least, in my experience), the unholy amount of butter my grandma used to add probably has something to do with it.
mind exploding gif
@@aragusea :trol:
@@aragusea Eric Wareheim perhaps?
Potential game changer: Adam simmers the garlic with the potatoes and reserves some water to get his garlic flavor in. The best garlic/herby potatoes I've ever had were made by STEEPING crushed whole garlic, sage, and rosemary in full-fat cream in a small pot on the side, and then adding the STRAINED cream mixture at the end (instead of reserved potato water).
I would hypothesize that steeping the aromatics in cream binds a lot of flavor molecules with fat, which is a better flavor delivery vehicle than water.
The flavored cream gives a nice balance and richness to the plain salty potatoes.
Hm, fat-soluable compounds! Hadn't thought of that.
Yup! And Heston even goes the extra mile and puts his potato peelings in the cream along with the garlic and the herbs before simmering it to infuse as the potato skins hold most of the potato's flavor. And either a food mill or passing the mash through a chinois will yield an even more pleasant pillowy texture, closer to what you might find at a fancy restaurant.
Why I season my water not my potatoes
What a coincidence:
the best brownies I've ever had were made by boiling the herbs in butter before straining and adding it to the brownie mix!
;)
There is some science here: people whose guts are sensitive to onions/garlic (belching, bloating, etc.) will often do fine if the aromatics are simmered in olive oil or clarified butter/ghee. The carbohydrates that cause indigestion (fodmaps) are water soluble, while the flavor/aroma molecules are mainly fat soluble.
Fun fact: Here in Chile we have our own version of mashed potatoes called Charquican, wich has ground beef and veggies mixed into it (and pumpkin in some cases) and it's usually toped with a fried egg with a runny yolk, very delicious!
Huh, I actually make something like that from time to time... Never knew it had a name, thanks.
That sounds delicious, I’ll have to make some!
sounds insane, i should try it
Brazillian here, one of my favorite childhood dishes was mashed potatos with ground beef and carrots, now you made want to put a fried egg on top next time.
Mmh, that sounds tasty, I've honestly never heard of that dish. Have to try it some time 😊
In South Africa we have something called Slap (pronounced "slup") Chips. It was accidentally invented by lazy cooks who were supposed to make french fries. They chucked in way more potato chips into the oil before it reached temperature, this caused the fries to parboil for 20 minutes before it actually started to fry. The result is an amazingly soft and smooth interior with a slightly crisp exterior, but browned enough to have the fried flavour.
Adam! Your guess was actually pretty spot on I would say(I am a chemistry PhD student). If the enzymes can not get in contact with the starch, then yes it should have a different taste. One way to test this hypothesis would be to keep chewing the mash and see if it eventually taste different. This would be similar to chewing a saltine cracker for a period of time. Alternately, you blast it in your food processor for a period of time and see if that destroys the cells and releases the starch(might get gluey though).
Great videos! Love the science!
I can tell from experience that if you use a food processor or any kind of blender to do your mashed potatoes / puree, it becomes really gluey.
@@Chakafuyo21 Yea too much air, beater or by hand are then only ways imo, even a beater can quickly make it gluey though if u beat it to long.
I hate sconce this too copliacted 1 hour instef.of 12 min is godamm stupied
Here’s why I put my potatoes in my butter, and not the other way around
Please people don't make this the top comment
@@thepatriarchy819 Too late
@@thepatriarchy819No chance
@@thepatriarchy819 why do these comments trigger you lmao?
Because everyone knows you season the earth and you never have to worry about anything.
Video request!!! I would love a video on powdered and other shelf stable milk products. I don’t use milk much so it tends to spoil but it need it often enough that to make it hassle having to pick up a small bottle every time. It would be so helpful to know the best options for a shelf stable substitute for fresh milk, even better if there’s one that’s fairly high in fat.
Seconded.
This sounds interesting!
Same problem here. I'd love to see a video on it
Also the same problem! I keep a can of evaporated milk for "emergencies" and dilute it to make it into a pasteurized milk, but I never end up using all of it before it goes bad a few days later. I tried powdered milk but it got super expensive there for a while, I think due to the formula shortage and people improperly using it to replace baby formula (hopefully with other ingredients for nutrients because cooking milk powder is NOT the same at all.) Lactaid seemed to last a bit longer than regular milk, but it would still spoil before I used it all.
You can freeze milk.
Interesting technique … I wonder about doing this Sous Vide. Could hold the potatoes at the blanching temp easily and very accurately. Put the bag in cold water, then refrigerate and cook at higher temperature when you want.
I usually do sous vide mash when spending a weekend in a self catering place. I prepare mash and a stew, sous vide, in advance and then just reheat when I get there. Works great.
Another advantage of a sous vide mash is you don’t need loads of water, so the potato cooking water is already in the bag and flavour does not escape and remains strong, in a good way.
You can also just press the bag to squash the potatoes in the bag to create a mash.
Now the autumn (fall) is with us, I am going to experiment in combining our techniques to see how it works.
Thanks Adam!
Water soluble vitamins would remain too!
It's pretty standard sous vide technique. You hold them for 1 hour at 60C and then second cook (which can actually just be at 90-95C rather than boiling) for 10-20 minutes before milling them.
Then if you want to go full Robuchon, get a fine sieve and push them through it.
Guga foods apparently sous vides' his mashed potatoes. Haven't tried it yet, but according to how he makes it, you can just take a rolling pin or bottle to the bag and only dirty a serving bowl
@@joshr408 he also puts butter and I think cream right in the sous vide bag with the potatoes.
Adam, your content is amazing. Thanks for testing out myths in cooking that no one else does. It's really refreshing. I try to do the same at home but never have the time to dial in the variables. Thanks for the quality content and analysis, we appreciate it.
The cook and cool and cook again method may make the potatoes "Healthier" by encouraging the formation of Resistant Starch, I wonder if this is why it has the smoothing softening effect?
I'm a fan of "steakhouse style" mashed potatoes. My favorite weeknight method is to cut a couple small or a medium red potatoes into cubes, cover with water, then start cold on the stove. After about 20 minutes, once fork tender, pour off the water into a measuring cup and smash the cubes to almost the desired chunkiness. Then in the hot pot, add potato flakes and add back the water to make the 1-2 serving recipe from the box (plus milk, butter, etc. called for). Salt to taste.
This method is faster than the slow simmer, gives me the red potato chunks that I like, while also having a creamy base.
Potato flakes get a bad rap, but it's just dehydrated potatoes and is an amazing ingredient.
@@machematix Yup, and not just for mash.
So THAT'S how they get that texture. I always wondered since it's not quite like anything I've had anywhere else. Gonna try that out.
@@gelusvenn5063 I don't know if that's how actual restaurants do it. It's just a convenient way to get homogeneous mash in less than 30 minutes.
Hey Adam, long time viewer who has been a lurker for a while. Love your content and you! Keep up the great work:)
This is an amazing method to try! Thank you! I am a chemist, and I always appreciate your research on each video. Yours is the only American food and cooking channel I watch, you are the best!
I wonder if this effect is what led to the use of the traditional home cook method that I learned of where you always add your potatoes to the water before you start heating the water. I would imagine you get at least some of this result as it takes so long for the pot to come to a full boil.
It’s also to stop the potato from turning brown because of oxidization while cutting the rest of the potatoes.
Adam, I discovered several years ago that cooking in a pressure cooker gives superior mash. I've been doing it that way ever since. Would be curious to see you do a follow up comparison.
I used to use the mixer to "mash" the potatoes but it got to where the result looked and felt in my mouth like gruel. And once I made that connection I could never eat whipped potatoes again without thinking Gruel. Now I use a potato masher and it leaves the potatoes a little lumpy and I like it that way.
Same!
The absolute best mash ever! Thank you as always for your work❤
I appreciate the research type video followed up by the practical application video pattern. I hope you have more opportunities to deliver videos that way in the future.
My great grandma had pride in feeding any person that came to the door, whether they like it or not, and whether they were expected or not.
She always kept mostly cooked potatoes in her fridge, she'd cook then and then keep a few in the fridge so she could use them quickly to make a meal if someone showed up. I wonder if her practice of keeping half cooked potato around would have enjoyed the same science effect.
Thanks, Adam - I will be trying this recipe with a stew tomorrow...can't wait!
Thanks Adam, for once again doing the work we can only dream of doing. 🙏 and sharing the knowledge of life
Yukon Gold have an absolutely delicious flavor though! My mom's trick was always to just cover the cut potatoes with water and cook on low,covered,Until tender.Drain any water left and mash.Her secret always was to add a tablespoon of mayo to the 5 or 6 cups cooked potatoes.Then mix in butter and finally any milk to get to the consistency you like.Also you don't have to mash them totally but leave a bit chunky and add some re-hydrated parsley flakes or chopped fresh parsley - it's delish!
Love that shot at the end!
Hey Adam, here's something you might want to try as a variation on your mashed potatoes; replace about half of your butter with sour cream. That little bit of tanginess really brightens up the mash
I like the Heston connection! Feels like your combination of cooking + science compliments his style perfectly. Even if your feelings on his mash were mixed, I'd love if you brought us some more heston techniques that can be applied in the home kitchen!
Surprised to hear something positive about Heston for sure.
Just tried it yesterday. BRO, that's F amaaaazing. Thanks for sharing that wit us. Every trick I learned from you and actually tried turned out to be a huge improvement. Thank a loooot
I’m sure someone else has mentioned it already, but the best mash I’ve ever made is potatoes, garlic and butter in a vacuum sealed bag, sous vide.
Just crush them in the bag once they’ve hit temp, maybe stir in half a tablespoon of cream or milk. Salt and pepper to taste - et voila!
Potato flavour is concentrated because you’re not boiling out the best parts
Thank you for this.
I was surprised that you mentioned people using white pepper for esthetics, never thought of it that way. For me, the distinct white pepper flavor is what makes the mash feel homely.
It tastes totally different! I love white pepper in mashed potatoes.
@@kamcorder3585 It should, black pepper and white pepper are made completely differently. It is more then just looks.
I prefer the taste of black pepper myself though.
Call me crazy, but mushy, watery mashed potatoes like these just set me off. It's like babyfood. Mash has gotta be starchy and robust enough to hold up on your fork, not slorping off the side, but still creamy and smooth.
Agreed. Chasin smooth af mash just requires a lot more effort for (imo) inferior mash. If i wanted that, i would have gone to kfc
big same, call me crazier but skins are also kinda nice especially with reds
@@xdeser2949 Oh you gotta have the skins in there! Even with russets, I love em. I'd love to see Adam do a more sturdy mash and see what he thinks of it.
Look up Yunnan pounded potatoes. It's basically the opposite of this. You pound potatoes with a mortar and pestle kinda like how you'd make dough, and end up with a very smooth but very gluey and stretchy type of mashed potatoes. I prefer that.
I'm so sad to have to agree that it's visually obvious to me that Adam has produced mashed potatoes that I would politely stir around on my plate to make it look like I ate at least some of them. Not only should mashed potatoes hold up on your fork, they should be able to hold your fork up.
Interesting choice on color balance for this video. Good looking recipe, I'll be sure to try it out!
I don't know.. I DON'T EVEN KNOW how perfectly timed this video is for me right now holy cow.
Thanks for this.
I feel like the only person on earth who likes gluey mashed potatoes
i’m with you man. i use a stick blender for mine specifically to get that texture
@@consoleking9670 Using a blender, beaters, or ricer is not "mashed". It's whipped.
@@Nyx773 Ok potato police. What are you gonna do, break into his house and beat him with his stick blender?
Gotta say Adam, that looks amazing, not sure I would go all the way for the second method, but the first one definitely seems doable (especially because it's essentially an easier way to do it).
An interresting thing to think about, is that we here in the west general consider "glue'y mashed potatoes to be bad", but in China they have dishes directly centered around mashing it until it becomes glue'y, wonder how that would change a mash and what you could do with that.
Havn't personally tried the glue'y recipes, but definitely want to try it at some point when I am able to do it better than I currently can.
Pounded mashed potato is delightful and smooth without needing even a drop of butter. I love the almost cheese like stretch of the mash.
"glue'y mashed potatoes to be bad"
I've never actually heard this until this video, so I'm wondering if it's a regional or wealth related thing. I grew up lower middle class in the South and it was always gluey mash made the most practical way possible, so I love gluey mashed potatoes. These don't look appetizing to me at all.
@@mjs3188 It's a thing I've seen in loads of cooking videos over the years. I personally live in Denmark, and while that idea does exist there, it's not as prevalent. But if you check a lot of cooking youtube channels talking about mashed potatoes, they basically stress that you must not "overbeat potatoes so it gets glue'y". I just find this odd, as it's not really a case of ruining them, but rather a case of making them different.
There we have it again. Adam turns his hand to a particular topic and ends up making the best video about said topic on RUclips. Best mash video, ever.
not really. Mashed potatoes require more heterogeneity. And a dash of nutmeg...
The best ad segues/sponsor live reads on RUclips, bar none.
I watched Bigger Bolder Baking yesterday making potato farls and a potato bread. I don't care for mashed potatoes but both the farls and the potato (quick) bread looked really nice, and I totally can make mashed potato just for make those recipes.
Here is an update. I have a lot of sous vide machines, but I used my instant pot with the sous vide function for this. I found two important steps that make this very easy. Instead of sous viding them at 119F for an extended period of time and then cranking up the temperature to 194F, I put the bag into room temperature water (filled to the top of the bowl) and then just set it for 194F. I think that the effect on the starches is the same as you experienced because it is a slow rise to 194F. Secondly, I learned that you have to put water in the bag along with butter and make sure that the potatoes are laid out flat and not in a clump. I left them in until I could break one of the potato pieces easily through the plastic. After removing them from the bag, I just proceeded as you did. I whipped them at very high speed in my KitchenAid stand mixer and they never got gluey. The potato water mixed with powdered milk tasted great! My 15 year old daughter loved the mashed potatoes so I know they were good as she would never lie to save my feelings. I can imagine preparing the bag of potatoes the night before Thanksgiving and then just throwing them in the water a couple of hours before service. What could be easier?
Thanks for all you do! I'd like to see more sous vide videos, but maybe that's not something your audience wants.
I know you've done a buncha tests in your last video, but have you tried steaming the potatoes for mash? It's my favorite way for maximum potato-ness without them drying out like when roasting.
I steam mine and the mash is always silky soft and not gluey.
Adam, THANK YOU!!!! I made a mental note to revisit this video for Thanksgiving. 'The Mashed Potatoes' have been my job in the family for a lot of years, and being the ONE day a year we do not use flakes, and use real potatoes, I fought, and tried and failed time and again! I wasn't making food, I was making brick mortar (blech).
I used home-grown potatoes (Yukon Gold) that we grew this year. Always better, prettier, and more flavorful than the store. And I used the first cooking method in this video (without the spring onion...gotta ease Mom in to the idea of potatoes with bits). I used only 3 cloves of garlic, but at the very end I had mashed potatoes I was tempted to run to my neighbors with a spoon and the bowl screaming "TASTE!!!" I did not make brick mortar this year!!
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for this video!!!
I tried this last night and it worked great - the trick of using reserved cooking liquid instead of milk to manage the texture was particularly useful, and added a lot of potato-y flavor.
3:20 - Adam: "Butter... As much as you can justify to yourself."
Me: "Don't say things like that because I can justify a LOT of butter....." 😁
Thanks for this video Adam. Next step is to make a video on how to properly reheat the extra mash.
Huh, this explains a lot to me. I have been unintentionally using this technique for a few years. Since my grandmothers on both sides of my family passed away, we've been splitting up the dishes for holiday meals, and I always do the mashed potatoes. Everyone compliments me on them, although at first I thought they were backhanded because they'd inevitably mention how the texture was "almost like instant potatoes," but I suppose they were talking about them being smooth and not gluey.
Owing to my bad experiences with unpredictable cheap electric stoves running away at high heat (yes, that's one reason I'm personally prejudiced towards gas), I tend to slow pedal the heat under my Yukon Golds and they take me a long time to cook. I also mash them through a food mill/ricer and gently fold the butter and milk in at the end. I may try powdered milk this year, if for nothing else than to have a bit more control over the final consistency while still getting the dairy flavor in. I'll just need to be sure not to salt that boil water.
Hey Adam, just wanted to say, your method is an absolute banger!
Just getting ready for a (1 day) early Canadian Thanksgiving dinner, and I'm serving these up. Super easy.
Here's a slight variation that I've had to do, as my wife is lactose intolerant.
Everything the same, except, instead of milk and butter, I've used walnut oil (~1.5 teaspoons) and Japanese mayonnaise (Kewpie ~1.5 tablespoons) for a bit of extra umami. Turned out super.
It works! I've always found potatoes hard to get right and as a result, seldom cook them, but this method was a success! Thanks.
this is the definition of diminishing returns
I love seeing the recipes you come up with after lots of empirical experimentation! Would be neat to see if the low and slow method works similarly with oatmeal.
Reminds me a lot of beer making. We hold the grain/water mixture (aka, coincidentally(?), "the mash") at certain temperatures for certain amounts of time, mostly to allow a variety of enzymes to do their thing before being denatured in the boil.
Looks like I need to pick some potatoes up tomorrow for dinner Saturday, this looks fantastic!
Note to myself: NEVER watch any Ragusea video just before going to bed, sleeping hungry is not fun 😑
Awesome vid. Just in time for Thanksgiving!!!
I like your thoughts and methods in this video. That said, I prefer more texture (or perhaps I should say less creaminess) since I usually serve mashed potatoes with a thick, creamy, heavily peppered béchamel or velouté sauce, and I like the textural contrast between the creamy sauce and stiffer (i.e., less fluid) potatoes. This is, of course, just my opinion.
I have perfected my mashed potatoes over the past 15 years and your method is nearly identical to mine. Where were you 15 years ago?! I could have saved so much time!
I prefer my mashed potatoes to be on the chunky side. I believe that to be a rarity
Thats called country mashed potatoes.
I think that's called smashed potatoes.
I do too!! I believe that mashed potatoes can only be achieved by using a hand masher. Using a ricer or beaters is not mashed, it's whipped (which Adam eludes to, but still calls it mashed).
I am team mash with a fork on your plate, for both regular mashed potatoes and salt potatoes.
The classic pre made pot for Thanksgiving like he makes here is too smooth for me.
I'm excited whenever I see potatoes, but I saw greenish potatoes and I had to click. Love your videos and knowledge, Adam!
You should try Colcannon then! Delightfully green mash.
Are you Irish?
@@vlc-cosplayer Bonito is good stuff. And Taro! All good potatoes.
@@vlc-cosplayer Purple potatoes are THE BEST.
Love the egg at the end. Reminds me of Eggslut from LA which was a big deal for awhile. They would put a coddled egg into mashed potatoes with toasted bread and herbs. Diners would mash it in together and have this amazing egg while potato mixture on toast. AMAZING and I think that’s what you are capturing here in the final step.
YAYYYY THANKS ADAM I LOVE MASHED POTATOES
Please try to use freshly grated nutmeg as well, its a wonderful flavor for mash.
Around here its very common to use a bit of fresh nutmeg and micro-plane a bit down into the mash just as its finished. Beyond the regular salt and pepper of course. And personally I also use a good bunch of parsley as well, both for color and taste, the leaks would fill a similar but slightly different function as far as taste goes.
But freshly grated nutmeg is just a great addition to mash. Don't overdo it though.
He hates nutmeg with mash.
@@thenotsookayguy he missing out big here
@@Blitzbogen Mhm
@@thenotsookayguy As Adam says, You do You, or in this case, Adam does Adam, but depending on where someone lives, nutmeg might be really common, as it is here, or it might be really uncommon and they might not even think about using it.
Luckily at least some viewers might read the comments and try it. But that's what's so great about the comments, so much things that you might try as well from various parts of the work. Don't like fine, but they might not have tried it before or knew, or they might try it and really like it.
I usually use parsley, but never tried it with leeks or spring onions, but after this video, I'm definitely trying my next mash with it.
I just love mash! And green onion on taters is amazing. Very informative Adam! I will make this for sure. I will do 2 slight alterations for my tastes and sensibilities: 1) I will add some dried dill tips during plating 2) I will use a pasteurised egg from a batch I did using my sous vide machine as raw egg yolk freaks me out. Thanks for the inspiration :)
I just tried this and I’m shocked at how well it worked! ❤
"as much butter as you can justify to yourself" is dangerous with me 😂 I used to use like half a stick on a single baked potato when I was a kid. Tastes good. I need more salt in my diet anyway. My cholesterol is good, screw it 😂
I guess the reason kitchens do that extra step is so they can have large quantities of half-cooked potatoes by the time they start cooking dinner. Makes it quicker to move huge quantitites of potatoes out the kitchen.
I really love the phrase "bossy garlic"
This feels like studying up well in advance of thanksgiving.
Through all my incarnation I’ve always appreciated the biochemical arts
Oh neat, you do the same toss the garlic in with the potatoes before boiling trick I do. I love that it gets you the nice flavor without having to do any mincing.
Just tried this (without the garlic and onion) and it is a great mashed potato! Thank you So much. It is time consuming but most of the time it can remain unattended so its just a matter of Organisation.
adam always finds a way to trick me into learning
Dam green onions and whole cloves of whipped up garlic is on a new level amazing . Cant wait to try it .
"Mash My Mash With A Masher".
Single best quote in cooking history.
I made Adam's version tonight and it came out delish. I was never a fan of mashed until now. It took a long time to boil the potatoes, 2+ hrs on a low simmer and they still weren't done so I blasted them for a couple of minutes at a higher boil. The boil liquid is very good, I used it to cook some dal in. I like the non-heterogeneous texture as he calls it that you get from whipping the potatoes. Using plenty of butter helps to smooth things out.
"I mash my mash with a masher".
Idk about you, but my non-native english knowledge got upgraded right away. 🤣
"Sim-Simmer, who's got the key to research-based recipe development..."
(Haha!)
Reminds me of sous-vide mash, which also uses very little cooking liquid and has a similar texture (but takes significantly longer time to cook). I'll have to try this one!
I will test this! When I do mashed potatoes I usually boil until overcooked, then boil some more. I think the longer the cooking process the tastier the potatoes gets. There's some very interesting and rich, yet mild flavors that come out when potatoes are overcooked that's not at all comparable to only "cooked to good/edible texture".
I just tried this method -- supremely good turnout, great texture and taste. I will utilize this method from now on (unless something better comes along).
As per an old Chef John recipe, I like to stir in an egg yolk beaten into a bit of milk into my mash. I'm not sure what exactly it accomplishes that the milk alone doesn't, but I've noticed the texture being a little lacking when I forget to include it. A little bit of cheese is great for flavor too.
The lecithin in the egg yolk is an emulsifier, binding the water in the mash to the fat in the milk to make it creamy.
I never knew about the dual boiling technique. It's very interesting. I do my mash potatoes very close to you. I follow the same process of low boiling it not simmering and let the cells break down until incredibly soft. I also add garlic and fresh spring onion/scallions the major difference I do is I add the room temp butter, but also warm up milk and add that to it. Season as required but I lay off the salt and the reason as to why is I add Feta cheese right at the end and that has a high salt content. Then garnish with fresh chopped chives for that little extra onion boost, freshness and colour. The raw egg yolk, that's definitely new for me, I may have to give that one a go.
I have not heard of adding a raw egg to your mash before - going to have to try that.
Thank you
Watching this as I literally got fresh red potatoes tonight and wanted to know what the secret was! I'm glad there was a followup video to the first one about mashed potatoes because I was going to use the tips from that one, but now there's this one. Thank you!
One thing my family has always added to mashed potatoes that takes it to a whole new level is a one chopped chili pepper (your choice of variety). Adds a little kick and some specks of color to it.
Adam, I would love to hear your take on boiling vs. baking vs. microwaving potatoes before mashing them. I tried baking the potatoes for my mash last year and I found that they were superior in taste to boiled (perhaps because no cooking loss?). However, they were inferior in texture. That might have been a result of some particular technique I used, but I'd be curious about the food science!
HAH my favorite was when you said "butter, AS MUCH AS YOU CAN JUSTIFY TO YOURSELF," good phrasing
Why I season my molecules, not my food.
This is by far the best method. Effortless, minus the peeling and cutting potatoes. Left it at a simmer for 45 mins, didn't even pay attention to it, came back and they were perfectly cooked. Drain, butter, seasoning, smash. Easy.
My parents' secret to mashed potatoes was always to use half and half fresh potatoes and instant mix. I thought it helped because they always chronically underseasoned their food, but this explains why the texture comes out better too - it's probably similar to your simmered but not cooled method.
I've been eating a lot of potatoes recently for reasons, and think I've hit on a really easy way to accomplish this if you have a digital pressure cooker like an instant pot.
The keep warm setting on most of these holds about 70-80F, which is in the range for doing the transformation you want. If you don't otherwise need the cooker, you can toss in your potatoes and enough water to get it to work (you'll use that much at least in the mash anyway). Put it on keep warm and let it sit there for a few hours to come up to temp slowly, or however long you have before cooking. Open, mash, add water, butter, and salt to get to the texture you want. This result is so difficult to make gummy that I can use egg beaters to mash it.
The last bit with the egg reminds me of the simple campfire potatoes; halve a russet, scoop a bit out, replace with egg, salt and butter, close, wrap in foil on a stick or stick like implement, put over fire until done.
I went to a potluck where someone added crushed potato chips into their mash. If you want heterogeneous texture that is a freaking delicious way to get it.
That first method seems like a winner. Even just visually that second one looks strange to me somehow. That said, I'm apparently a heathen for liking to make my mashed potatoes with pure red potatoes, skin on. So long as I don't over-beat, I have never found issue with them being overly gluey, and I find the texture of red potato skins really nice in mashed potatoes, and of course the color as well.
I've seen you whip potatoes with an electric hand whisk in two videos now and I can't help but wonder whether your mashed potatoes end up filled with little tiny chunks of un-mashed potato…? Or does overcooking them ensure that they basically just fall apart to perfect smooth mash?
Man, I tried this method tonight when I made mashed potatoes topped with gravy and shredded chicken thigh (seasoned with tons of onion, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper) and it was next level. So good, the texture was everything I'd want from mashed potato.
I'd planned on making mash for dinner tonight... Will start the potatoes earlier and give that first method a try... What fortuitous timing!
Adam, I know you thought the idea of a 2:1 ratio of potatoes to butter is ridiculous, and it is, but if you haven't had Robuchon mashed it's a must try for a really decadent meal. I also like sometimes using a bit of goose or duck fat for a meaty potato flavour.
yeah. 1/2 butter, cardboard would taste good lol.
"As much butter as you can justify to yourself" should be a standard in recipes.
"Because science" is a good go-to explanation for basically everything in the world. Also, topping mash potatoes with an egg is totally new to me.
Gonna give this a shot this weekend I think :)
Arggg! You changed various variables at the same time (mixer vs ricer)!