Also using firm baking spuds.
Choose floury if you can.
+1 on all this.
An alternative to leaving the skins on is to add the peelings to the water you boil the potatoes in, and fish them out before you mash. Gives a bit of that baked potato flavour. (Got this idea from the magician of Bray)
Egg yolks can amp up the richness even more even more and give a great colour if you want. (There’s a supposedly French preparation that does this, and you then form a cone on an oven proof plate, rough up the sides and coat with a mix of grated cheese and bread crumbs and bake for a few minutes in a very hot oven. Haven’t done this in ages. More to the point it’s going in the opposite direction for what you want in terms of simplicity. But it can look pretty impressive!).
NB For the lactose intolerant olive oil works.
You can also use ‘sous chefs’ for much of the work if you are making it on the day.
My grandmothers secret was to wash the starch off them after cutting but before boiling. I’ve done this my entire life and it’s shocking to see how white and starchy the water gets. You’ve already got the pot and colander out so it’s not really much trouble.
Interesting. I rinse the potatoes after cutting them before boiling.
To me the priorities are in order
- dry them off well after draining
- dont undercook potatoes. (Don’t overcook either! Who said life was easy. But under is worse: you get a nasty grainy texture )
- smaller amount of butter, cream or egg yolk vs larger amount of milk
- don’t overmash (assuming you aren’t aiming for a purée)
- mix of potatoes, russet and Yukon gold say
Wondering if the OP thinks we are meeting the “easy” part of the brief…
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The other thing that I find makes a serious difference is cooking the salt into the potatoes.
When I season my water, I get it just a little less saline than sea water. If I’ve done it correctly, there is no need to add salt afterwards. I use unsalted Kerry Gold, heavy cream, and white pepper.
Once the potatoes are fork tender, I drain them and return them to the same pot over a very low flame, to dry out a bit.
This looks yummy. Will have to try sometime. Not sure if it’s mashed potato per se versus crushed potatoes.
Sounds like they would be killer with fish.
Yes. I use a ricer like the one pictured below. You simply put cooked, quartered potatoes into the hopper – skins and all – close the handle, then pull the leftover skins out of the hopper. Add butter, salt, etc. and give a quick stir. That’s it.
J rock
Made my trial run. Man that was easy ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
We do these every year. Make them the day before and reheat. Can’t tell the difference. Don’t leave the rosemary in the milk/cream too long as it can get a little strong.
Can’t abide the white pepper thing, just doesnt taste right, so using black only. And t-day is all about the gravy, so no additives like garlic or lemon or vinegar or breakfast cereals or fruitbats or…
I peel, soak, rinse, cut in chunks, put in pressure cooker w the canning rack in the bottom and small amount of water. Cook at 15 lbs pressure for 5 mins, cook under cold faucet, drain into colander return to the pressure cooker add butter, milk, sour cream, salt pepper and mash by hand add fresh chopped chives as a garnish. Easy.