What's Standing Between Me and the Perfect Mashed Potatoes?

Some people are big on rice. For others it's pasta. But for me it's potatoes, and more specifically mashed potatoes with a big knob of butter or completely doused in gravy.

I like to serve sole meuniere with mashed potatoes, which I drizzle with brown butter and crispy fried capers. If I'm cooking brisket or lamb shanks or pot roast, I'll make mashers to soak up the sauce. And of course for roast turkey, which I make more than just once a year, I skip the sweet potatoes and double up on the mashed. 

In pursuit of the perfectly mashed potatoes, I once beat fluffy white potatoes into a paste, and then, mortified, served them to my assembled guests. Have you ever seen mashed potatoes repel gravy? 

I inherited a potato masher, one with a zig zag wire head, which I've read is not even as effective as those that sport a metal grid. But I think it's time for more drastic measures. I've been making a list of the kitchen tools I've lived without for just too long and along with the mandoline, I'm listing the potato ricer, the definitive tool, people tell me, for the perfect mashed potatoes.

Would you agree?

--Tracy Schneider

Comments

[Julie P. Gedalecia on March 11, 2010 at 05:37 AM]

I think a food mill makes the best mashed potatoes, something I learned while staying with friends in France. A food mill is a bigger, more expensive item but it is a multi-tasker.

[JohnG on March 11, 2010 at 06:12 AM]

I agree - a food mill is a faster, easier alternative to one of those narrow, small, cumbersome potato ricers. It delivers quality riced potato in a short about of time.

[Joan on March 11, 2010 at 06:59 AM]

Both work great in my experience; but if you're space challenged, the potato ricer is easier to store.

[Tracy Schneider on March 11, 2010 at 10:17 AM]

Thanks Julie, JohnG and Joan! I hadn't even considered a food mill, but that may be the way to go. We are definitely space challenged, perhaps that's the very reason I have had neither a food mill nor a potato ricer for so long. But I do like the fact that the food mill is "a faster, easier alternative." What about clean-up? Is that easy too?

[Patricia Eddy on March 11, 2010 at 10:30 AM]

I was told by a chef that there are several secrets to the perfect mashed potatoes.

1. Don't boil the potatoes. Cook them at a simmer, NEVER a boil.
2. Drain the potatoes and use a food mill (or potato ricer) while the potatoes are still warm.
3. Heat the cream (or milk, but cream is better) before mixing in.
4. Mix in room temperature butter before the cream.
5. Finely shredded cheese is excellent mixed in as well.

As for the food mill/ricer, if you own a Kitchenaid, get the fruit and vegetable strainer/meat grinder attachment. It makes QUICK work of potatoes and is excellent for canning and preserving as well. I've never had better potatoes.

[Tracy Schneider on March 11, 2010 at 10:53 AM]

Thanks for those 5 great chef's secrets, Patricia. Gosh, it never occurred to me that KitchenAid's vegetable strainer/meat grinder attachment would work for mashed potatoes. I had no idea there were so many options!

[JohnG on March 11, 2010 at 04:01 PM]

Tracy, I find cleaning a food mill easier than cleaning a potato ricer. I find the cup of the ricer too small to permit me to feel like it's an easy clean - no leverage. And, in addition, I feel that the edges of the holes puched in the cup are rough and sharp and that impedes cleaning efforts. I don't find either of those problems in the food mill.

Spacewise, I frankly don't see much of a difference. If you have room for one, you have or can find room for the other.

Patricia, I think a simmer is too low a setting - on a thick potato you'd be there forever. A slow boil is my choice - so as to not break the potato apart while cooking it. And, you're right - always fully incorporate the butter before you add the liquid. Otherwise you produce gummy mashed potatoes.

[Tracy Schneider on March 11, 2010 at 10:38 PM]

Thanks, JohnG. All things being equal, I'm a sucker for an easy clean-up!

[Mr. Bingley on March 12, 2010 at 06:38 AM]

Do you want mashed potatoes or pureed ones? The old-style zig metal smashers produce for me the best mashed spuds, creamy but still retaining some chunkage.

But to each his own.

[Tracy Schneider on March 12, 2010 at 06:09 PM]

I do like both, Mr. Bingley. When I'm lazy, I'll boil up red potatoes and mash them with the skins on. I call these my "country mashed potatoes." When I use white potatoes, I like them super creamy with no lumps in sight!

[B. Durbin on March 13, 2010 at 08:22 PM]

I also have an old-fashioned potato masher, though mine is actually a very stiff angled one rather than a zig-zag. Very strong, though. It was an excellent present.

[Mr. Bingley on March 15, 2010 at 06:35 AM]

mashed reds with the skins on, mashed up with feta...oh baby, heaven indeed!

[Tracy Schneider on March 15, 2010 at 02:06 PM]

B. Durbin, I don't think I've seen such a masher. I love old-fashioned kitchen tools.

Mr. Bingley, that feta ups the ante, I might have to try those tonight!

[Mr. Bingley on March 17, 2010 at 07:06 AM]

How were they?

[Tracy Schneider on March 18, 2010 at 10:58 PM]

Mr. Bingley, they were delish! Read all about it here:

http://www.aldenteblog.com/2010/03/mashed-potatoes.html.

[Mr. Bingley on March 22, 2010 at 06:09 AM]

Great!