Mashed Potatoes

What is the best recipe for mashed potatoes?
Simple - the recipe your mom made for you growing up.

Bottom line, there is no one perfect recipe! It's really depends on your personal taste preferences which most likely were developed by what you were served in your youth.

Mashed potatoes are one of the ultimate comfort foods and I imagine how you like your spuds mashed is highly influenced by the style of potatoes you were served as a kid.

Think about it. What comes to mind when you think of ways to describe mashed potatoes?

Some of the more positive descriptions might be creamy, smooth, rich, textured, flavorful, buttery, fluffy, light, potato tasting.
Or maybe you weren't so lucky and were served lumpy, bland, watery, dry, gummy, pasty, starchy, heavy, gloppy potatoes. Sound familiar, I'm sure there are many more way to describe mashed spuds, but this should do for now.

I personally like mine dense, smooth, buttery but where you can still taste the potato. I have friends who like them rich and creamy but with a little texture. Think about how you like your mashed potatoes.
HOW YOU GET TO YOUR DESIRED MASHED POTATOES IS GOING TO DEPEND ON FOUR SIMPLE FACTORS:
• What type of potato you are using?
• How you cook them?
• How you mash them?
• What you add to them?

WHAT TYPE OF POTATO - HIGH STARCH OR LOW STARCH?
Potatoes are basically water and starch. High starch potatoes like russet and Yukon Gold are often used because the more starch, the fuller the actual cells of the potato resulting in a fluffier texture. Some say they tend to be creamier than other potatoes.

Low starch potatoes like round whites are more waxy and some chefs say better for mashed spuds because they absorb less water and hold up better when cooking. They also think they have more flavor and less "starchy" taste.

HOW YOU COOK THE POTATOES
Without going into the science of it, always start you potatoes in cold water with a salt added to it. How much water? Just enough to cover the potatoes. Bring the water to a boil and cook the potatoes until they are tender when pierced with a knife. How long it takes depends on how many potatoes you are cooking.

When done, drain them immediately! Do not rinse, just drain and put them back in the pot and return the pot to the stove on low heat. This will make a huge difference because the low heat will allow some of the excess water to evaporate leaving you with less water and more potato resulting in more flavor.
HOW TO MASH THE POTATOES?

How you mash your potatoes will greatly effect the texture and style. There are several tools and methods all having different results. For example, the most common masher in America is the Wire Masher. With it you can create either a smooth or textured mashed potato depending on how much you work.

If you are looking for really smooth mashed potatoes (the way I like them) you can try a Potato Ricer. Looks just like a giant garlic press and "rices" the potatoes that you then combine with your other ingredients for extremely smooth potatoes.
If you are looking for fluffy, airy potatoes, try an electric mixer. Often used in restaurants to stretch how far a potato can go, the mixer whips air into the potato giving them more volume and staying power.
WHAT TO ADD?

As important as type of potato, how you cook them them & finally mashing technique is what you add to them. Makes sense if you add cream over milk the end result should be creamier flavor. Instead of butter, some chefs have told me they use olive oil or duck fat.

Then there are the fun extras given to me by visitors to my web site with some mentioned below. I'm talking about cream cheese, Worcestershire sauce, hot English mustard, turnips, parsnips and whatever else you may find in your family's secret mashed potato recipe.
of recipes for creative mashed potatoes.