The Very Best Mashed Potatoes
To make the very best mashed potatoes, you only need 2 ingredients. Potato and Butter. It’s all in the technique. Steam, not boil. Steaming cooks the potatoes gently, delicately, disturbing the starch molecules as little as possible. Boiling is more violent, direct contact with the hot, boiling water, potatoes knocking against each other in the boil. The more that the starch is beat up like a thug, the more chance it has to get gummy, glue-y and mealy.
Prep Time:
Cook Time:
Total Time:
Ingredients:
| 6 | medium potatoes russet or yukon |
| cup | salted butter, room temperature |
| salt and pepper, to taste | |
| chives (optional) |
Directions:
Peel the potatoes and compost the peels.
Quarter the potatoes. Using a large saucepan or steamer, bring water to a boil. Add potatoes into a steamer basket and cover. Steam 20 minutes,or until soft. Using a potato ricer or potato masher, mash the potatoes. A ricer will give you the best smooth texture. (Do not use an electric mixer).
Mix in salted butter with a wooden spoon. Again, no electronics here – mixing too fast (like in a mixer) will make the potatoes gummy and glue-y. Add salt and pepper to taste.
If you want, top with chives.
And maybe a bit more melted butter. No cream, no milk.
