The trick for ultra-smooth, not-gluey mashed potatoes
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Date: 2022-09-15
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Comments and reviews: 15
Martin
Interesting technique I wonder about doing this Sous Vide. Could hold the potatoes at the blanching temp easily and very accurately. Put the bag in cold water, then refrigerate and cook at higher temperature when you want.
I usually do sous vide mash when spending a weekend in a self catering place. I prepare mash and a stew, sous vide, in advance and then just reheat when I get there. Works great.
Another advantage of a sous vide mash is you don t need loads of water, so the potato cooking water is already in the bag and flavour does not escape and remains strong, in a good way.
You can also just press the bag to squash the potatoes in the bag to create a mash.
Now the autumn (fall) is with us, I am going to experiment in combining our techniques to see how it works.
Thanks Adam!
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Interesting technique I wonder about doing this Sous Vide. Could hold the potatoes at the blanching temp easily and very accurately. Put the bag in cold water, then refrigerate and cook at higher temperature when you want.
I usually do sous vide mash when spending a weekend in a self catering place. I prepare mash and a stew, sous vide, in advance and then just reheat when I get there. Works great.
Another advantage of a sous vide mash is you don t need loads of water, so the potato cooking water is already in the bag and flavour does not escape and remains strong, in a good way.
You can also just press the bag to squash the potatoes in the bag to create a mash.
Now the autumn (fall) is with us, I am going to experiment in combining our techniques to see how it works.
Thanks Adam!
reply
memespace
I deliberately make my mash chunky. I leave the peels on and throw some peas in. Working for French chefs has made me reject certain ideas for my own cooking that I find booring, and homogeneity is boring (I too prefer wedge shapes.
I leave about half of the peels on and then throw the other half in the air fryer to make a crunchy garnish too.
But if you do want it smooth and fluffy put it through a ricer. It's the only way.
I'll try the low temp trick though. I don't have trouble with my potatoes getting gluey, but I'll give it a shot.
Also, I don't serve mashed potatoes without some sort of brown sauce or cheese sauce.
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I deliberately make my mash chunky. I leave the peels on and throw some peas in. Working for French chefs has made me reject certain ideas for my own cooking that I find booring, and homogeneity is boring (I too prefer wedge shapes.
I leave about half of the peels on and then throw the other half in the air fryer to make a crunchy garnish too.
But if you do want it smooth and fluffy put it through a ricer. It's the only way.
I'll try the low temp trick though. I don't have trouble with my potatoes getting gluey, but I'll give it a shot.
Also, I don't serve mashed potatoes without some sort of brown sauce or cheese sauce.
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Reid
I'm a fan of steakhouse style mashed potatoes. My favorite weeknight method is to cut a couple small or a medium red potatoes into cubes, cover with water, then start cold on the stove. After about 20 minutes, once fork tender, pour off the water into a measuring cup and smash the cubes to almost the desired chunkiness. Then in the hot pot, add potato flakes and add back the water to make the 1-2 serving recipe from the box (plus milk, butter, etc. called for. Salt to taste.
This method is faster than the slow simmer, gives me the red potato chunks that I like, while also having a creamy base.
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I'm a fan of steakhouse style mashed potatoes. My favorite weeknight method is to cut a couple small or a medium red potatoes into cubes, cover with water, then start cold on the stove. After about 20 minutes, once fork tender, pour off the water into a measuring cup and smash the cubes to almost the desired chunkiness. Then in the hot pot, add potato flakes and add back the water to make the 1-2 serving recipe from the box (plus milk, butter, etc. called for. Salt to taste.
This method is faster than the slow simmer, gives me the red potato chunks that I like, while also having a creamy base.
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op4000exe
Gotta say Adam, that looks amazing, not sure I would go all the way for the second method, but the first one definitely seems doable (especially because it's essentially an easier way to do it.
An interresting thing to think about, is that we here in the west general consider glue'y mashed potatoes to be bad, but in China they have dishes directly centered around mashing it until it becomes glue'y, wonder how that would change a mash and what you could do with that.
Havn't personally tried the glue'y recipes, but definitely want to try it at some point when I am able to do it better.
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Gotta say Adam, that looks amazing, not sure I would go all the way for the second method, but the first one definitely seems doable (especially because it's essentially an easier way to do it.
An interresting thing to think about, is that we here in the west general consider glue'y mashed potatoes to be bad, but in China they have dishes directly centered around mashing it until it becomes glue'y, wonder how that would change a mash and what you could do with that.
Havn't personally tried the glue'y recipes, but definitely want to try it at some point when I am able to do it better.
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Staris
One adjustment I've made for my mashed potatoes is 1/3rd to 1/2 of the fats added I use Extra Virgin Olive Oil which lets me go a little heavier handed on the amount of fats I'm adding.
Still plenty of butter flavor, added healthier fats without really affecting the taste especially if you include garlic in the mash, and with the fats added helps to lower the glycemic index some. Doesn't mean my diabetic Grandma can eat my mashed potatoes with impunity but can enjoy it responsibly.
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One adjustment I've made for my mashed potatoes is 1/3rd to 1/2 of the fats added I use Extra Virgin Olive Oil which lets me go a little heavier handed on the amount of fats I'm adding.
Still plenty of butter flavor, added healthier fats without really affecting the taste especially if you include garlic in the mash, and with the fats added helps to lower the glycemic index some. Doesn't mean my diabetic Grandma can eat my mashed potatoes with impunity but can enjoy it responsibly.
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Ha
Hooray, I've been planning smothered chops and mashed taters for tomorrow so this came just in time. I'll try the beater method along with the 2 step cooking process. We actually like instant mashed potatoes, but I think making good from scratch mash is a skill I'd like to learn just because.
Never forget the time I cooked my mother in law's new, own grown potatoes and tried making mashed potatoes. You can guess how gluey it was.
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Hooray, I've been planning smothered chops and mashed taters for tomorrow so this came just in time. I'll try the beater method along with the 2 step cooking process. We actually like instant mashed potatoes, but I think making good from scratch mash is a skill I'd like to learn just because.
Never forget the time I cooked my mother in law's new, own grown potatoes and tried making mashed potatoes. You can guess how gluey it was.
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Mr. Welbig659
I would use this method naturally since I believe Chef John recommends it for mash. Then I started seeing people just boil it hot so I started doing that. But ever since I would get these lumps of potato in the mash no matter how much I mashed. They were cooked lumps so they weren't that bad or anything I just preferred a smooth texture. Gonna have to go back to lower temp/longer time.
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I would use this method naturally since I believe Chef John recommends it for mash. Then I started seeing people just boil it hot so I started doing that. But ever since I would get these lumps of potato in the mash no matter how much I mashed. They were cooked lumps so they weren't that bad or anything I just preferred a smooth texture. Gonna have to go back to lower temp/longer time.
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Ivy
Video request! I would love a video on powdered and other shelf stable milk products. I don t use milk much so it tends to spoil but it need it often enough that to make it hassle having to pick up a small bottle every time. It would be so helpful to know the best options for a shelf stable substitute for fresh milk, even better if there s one that s fairly high in fat.
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Video request! I would love a video on powdered and other shelf stable milk products. I don t use milk much so it tends to spoil but it need it often enough that to make it hassle having to pick up a small bottle every time. It would be so helpful to know the best options for a shelf stable substitute for fresh milk, even better if there s one that s fairly high in fat.
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Seb
A tad smooth for my taste but an interesting video (as ever) - thanks Adam. Here, in the UK, Maris Piper potatoes make excellent mashed. I also leave skins on, though not to everyone's taste. I never add garlic; I prefer the potato / salt / black pepper /milk / butter taste without any other herbs whatsoever - though I adore garlic elsewhere. Cheers.
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A tad smooth for my taste but an interesting video (as ever) - thanks Adam. Here, in the UK, Maris Piper potatoes make excellent mashed. I also leave skins on, though not to everyone's taste. I never add garlic; I prefer the potato / salt / black pepper /milk / butter taste without any other herbs whatsoever - though I adore garlic elsewhere. Cheers.
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Liddy
Smooth and silky is about as opposite as you can get from the way I like my mashed potatoes. Red potatoes skins on. Cut into chunks. Big chunks. Boil. Drain without getting fanatical about it. Add chunks of butter, salt, (I'll have to try the garlic, mash with a metal masher just enough to break the skins. Stir with a fork. Eat with a spoon.
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Smooth and silky is about as opposite as you can get from the way I like my mashed potatoes. Red potatoes skins on. Cut into chunks. Big chunks. Boil. Drain without getting fanatical about it. Add chunks of butter, salt, (I'll have to try the garlic, mash with a metal masher just enough to break the skins. Stir with a fork. Eat with a spoon.
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Kitty
You should have gone full Irish and added kale (or cabbage) to make Colcannon. Also delicious is Veg, which is basically mashed root vegetables, whatever you have on hand, potatoes, parsnips, turnips, and sweet potatoes/yams. Always find it funny when health conscious people talk about veg and they mean dark greens instead of white carbs.
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You should have gone full Irish and added kale (or cabbage) to make Colcannon. Also delicious is Veg, which is basically mashed root vegetables, whatever you have on hand, potatoes, parsnips, turnips, and sweet potatoes/yams. Always find it funny when health conscious people talk about veg and they mean dark greens instead of white carbs.
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Quinton
Salting the water before removes the effects of mucilage-reinforcing calcium/magnesium--accelerating softening. The sodium cations displace the better calcium/magnesium. Adding acid to the water will slow the disolution of hemicelluloses--slowing softening. Retrogradation is awesome stuff and its effects are everywhere.
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Salting the water before removes the effects of mucilage-reinforcing calcium/magnesium--accelerating softening. The sodium cations displace the better calcium/magnesium. Adding acid to the water will slow the disolution of hemicelluloses--slowing softening. Retrogradation is awesome stuff and its effects are everywhere.
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Nessuno
I wonder if this effect is what led to the use of the traditional home cook method that I learned of where you always add your potatoes to the water before you start heating the water. I would imagine you get at least some of this result as it takes so long for the pot to come to a full boil.
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I wonder if this effect is what led to the use of the traditional home cook method that I learned of where you always add your potatoes to the water before you start heating the water. I would imagine you get at least some of this result as it takes so long for the pot to come to a full boil.
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robinou57
I know a recipe that start about the same as yours, but with bigger pieces and before they are cooked all the way through, remove from the water and Fry the potatoes into duck fat (or whatever kind of fat) and then mash. It comes out so tasty ans texture is completely different
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I know a recipe that start about the same as yours, but with bigger pieces and before they are cooked all the way through, remove from the water and Fry the potatoes into duck fat (or whatever kind of fat) and then mash. It comes out so tasty ans texture is completely different
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Road
looks like a cool recipe, but when the hour+ process is considered the non-elaborate way for a side dish. yea i dont think i'll be trying it. especially in a world where bob evans premade mash exists. still a fun video just to watch, and i enjoy the guess and check nature as always
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looks like a cool recipe, but when the hour+ process is considered the non-elaborate way for a side dish. yea i dont think i'll be trying it. especially in a world where bob evans premade mash exists. still a fun video just to watch, and i enjoy the guess and check nature as always
reply
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