Mashed Potatoes
Mashed potatoes while delicious the rest of the year are certainly synonymous with Thanksgiving. There’s the turkey sure…but personally I really look forward to the side dishes. Mashed potatoes is on the top of the list.
The Potatoes
My personal favorite potato for mashed potatoes are Yukon Gold Potatoes. The Yukon Gold’s mash easily without becoming a paste and they end up being a delightful yellow color. I think they also have more flavor then many of the other options. Sometimes I have trouble finding the Yukon Gold’s in the store so Russets are my backup potatoes. I do find that I need more butter and milk with the Russets because they tend to be drier and more flaky.
The Safety Precautions
If you watch our video below you’ll notice I’m using a glove while peeling the potatoes. The potato peeling and I are sworn enemies and it always wins the war. I’ve had far to many potato peelings turned into blood baths. I fear the potato peeler and so I got these handy gloves that have saved me many times. I also find that I can peel the potatoes much faster because I’m not watching out for my digits.
The Technique
Mash, whip or rice? I’ve done it all the ways. With the Yukon Gold’s I like to mash. You are left with a few chunks but I’m okay with that with the texture of these potatoes. For Russets, I use the potato ricer because I don’t think the lumps are quite as tasty since they can be a bit mealy with Russets. Whipping the potatoes with a hand mixer is a dangerous task. Just a tad too long and you can turn your potatoes into a paste. I do this occasionally but the simple mash is my favorite technique.
The Add-Ins
So many options for things to add in. Cheese? Heavy cream? Garlic? This time I’m just making your classic mashed potatoes with just whole milk and butter.
The Seasoning
My favorite trick with seasoning is to use white pepper. I think the taste of white pepper compliments the potatoes better and it also leaves them yellow/white without little black dots throughout.
The Reheat
I always make my potatoes the morning of Thanksgiving because peeling a potato as your guests are arriving is not ideal. I’ve successfully reheated them by putting them on the stove in a large pot with some water and slowly warming them up over low heat – lots of stirring required. I’ve also done well putting them straight from the stove (after mashing) into the crock pot on warm. You can keep them like this for a few hours. The only downside is that eventually you’re going to get crusty burned bits on the sides if you don’t stir it at all so do keep an eye on it.
The Feast!
This recipe can easily be scaled up depending on how many guests you have. My general rule of thumb is that you need about 1/2 pound of potatoes per person so this will serve 10-12. I’ve made up to 15 lbs of potatoes at once when we had about 30 people over for a feast. That was a lot of peeling!
Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 5 lbs Yukon gold potatoes
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1 stick butter
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
Instructions
- Peel and dice potatoes into 1 inch cubes
- Place in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until fork tender (about 20-30 minutes)
- Drain the water. Mash with a potato masher until roughly mashed. Add in the butter and milk. Continue mashing until your desired consistency.
- Season with salt and pepper.
Video
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