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Mashed Potatoes

I think mashed potatoes should be fairly light and fluffy, so this is a pretty straight ahead recipe that does a couple things that remove the potato starch, which is mostly responsible for them being fluffy.

Notes taken from both the Serious Eats recipe and Alison Roman's.

If you're planning in advance I'd really recommend using buttermilk.

Ingredients

2 lbs of russet potatoes 1/2 cup of milk, either whole milk or buttermilk. 1/2 stick / 1/2 cup butter salt black pepper A bunch of chives, chopped

Instructions

Peel potatoes and cut into roughly 2 inch pieces. Put them in a pot and rinse the starch off of them like you would with rice (fill with water, agitate the water, dump as much water out, repeat til the liquid is clear, 3ish times). When the liquid is clear submerge the potatoes in cold water and add lots of salt (the only time I can think of that 'salty like the sea' could even feasibly apply). Set on high heat, bring to a boil and boil for 15 minutes or so, until they are totally tender.

Set the heat to low. Transfer potatoes to a strainer and rinse them off under hot water and let them steam for about 1 minute. While the potatoes are in the strainer add the butter to the still-hot pan so that it starts to melt. Return potatoes to the pan.

Mash the potatoes in the pan and until they're mostly completely mashed and pour in the dairy. Mix in until they're the right consistency, add more milk a glug at a time if you want it thinner. I find potatoes can vary a lot in starch so it's best to add milk until they're the consistency you like. Check for salt, crack in a ton of pepper and stir in as many chives as you'd like.