Mashed potato-it's so simple!

a reply to: Thecakeisalie

Try with sour cream, and some fresh chopped chives.

Also, I mash the potatoes almost dry, for ages, to get a really fine mash and then add a lot of milk, whipping it up so they are mega smooth.

You can also add just a tiny touch of molasses, but not so much that you can taste the molasses on its own.

... or, you can use a little peanut oil and sweet chilli for serving with Thai dishes.

... or, you can use curry, mixed in to the potato, and use the mash as a rice replacement in curry dishes. You can add-in some natural yogurt if it's paired with a hot sauce.

a reply to: Thecakeisalie

The OP is right though. TV chefs will take an otherwise "simple" dish and make it next to impossible with some rare ingredient like "Unobtainium" all while telling you how their way is the easiest and ONLY way to do it.

Oh, and then there's that Iridium doped Boron Laser cutting tool to cut the potatoes, and the enriched Plutonium 947 fired (61) burner stove, and the liquid Nitrogen cooled refrigerator (which measures temps in degrees Kelvin) to keep the butter, made from a cross between the rare Tibetan mountain Snipe crossed with extinct Mastodon milk, cool.

Else you're a HACK!

a reply to: Thecakeisalie

MMMMMM mashed potatoes. My favorite and my sons.

I put milk, butter, fresh garlic and fresh grated Parmesan in my smashed taters. I mash by hand. I like a little lumps in my smashed taters.

The bacon got me thinking. I wonder what would happen if you did the following. Say you are cooking a nice beef roast (like a prime rib or even a pork roast) with a nice layer of fat on top that gets all crispy, lightly browned from the oven. There will be grease renderings in the bottom of the pan and maybe even some "crackings" (little bits of meat and or fat that are crispy golden brown - super flavorful). Maybe even shave off the crisp layer and either cook more in bottom of pan or set aside - broil top of meat to get new layer of crispy for serving the meat (so you get 2x the crisppies!!)

Now take the rendered/liquid fat and use that instead of butter. We eat french fries cooked in lard (pork fat) and tallow (beef fat) and they taste awesome! I love roasted potatoes cooked with the roasts that have been soaking in the fat/juice layer at the bottom - they have SO much more flavor. Mmmmmm!!!

You could even add the cracklins to the potatoes which would be like the bacon but even more tastey!


I wonder if anyone has ever tried to make a "mash" with french fries (cooked in tallow and or lard or course, not veggie or palm oil..) Cook the fries completely through then get the outside just a little crisp and then mash w/ S&P so you have little bits of crisp or even crunchy potato mixed in with the mash. Now IDK if it would be a 1:1 or direct replacement for traditional mashed potatoes but it might have some place where it would be really good.

I know there are times I get french fries at restaurants (I think I used to get some at Dennies like this some times) that seem to have the potato missing on the inside but the outer part is very crisp and crunchy, but they are almost hollow. I've always wondered how that happens and I really like them and I think those would be good to add to a normal french fry mash b/c the have all that crispy area.

What do you guys think?

originally posted by: NarcolepticBuddha
a reply to: Thecakeisalie

Add a small can of sweet corn niblets and you're good

Aw, man, why not buy a few ears of corn in summer, cut off the corn and freeze it!? It is SOOOO much better than any canned corn I've ever found by FAR. it's super easy and you can cook the corn first or not before cutting it off. There are some places in the US were the corn seems to be much better than others, like many order of magnitude better. IDK if it has to do with the type, how it is grown, climate or soil, but I'm lucky where I live as it has some of the best in the country.

a reply to: Thecakeisalie


Use a ricer or food mill for restaurant-quality mashed potatoes.

a reply to: Thecakeisalie

Potatoes. Milk. Butter, MAYO or SOUR CREAM then done.

Bumping for Christmas!!!

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

You should write food porn novels.