How to make Perfect Mashed Potatoes-Pommes Puree.

How to make Perfect Mashed Potatoes. One of life’s guilty pleasures has to be a bowl of hot mashed potato. And it is one of the most versatile products that we can use to create a great plate of food. They can be used to form a foundation for the presentation, provide a contrasting texture on the plate, and become ‘a vehicle of flavour’. That is, they become a method of adding a complimentary flavour to a plate. Such as horseradish mash with beef, or saffron mash with fish. In a similar way, they can absorb flavour on a plate such as the gravy of a stew or braise.

Understanding Perfect Mashed Potatoes.

Best of all they are simple to make. All you need for Perfect mashed Potato is the right potatoes and the right technique. This comes down to an understanding of the potatoes themselves and how to control the cooking.

The Potatoes.

Potato varieties can be broken down according to their starch content. The easiest way to think of this is.

• Waxy.
• Floury
• All purpose

For a good mash we need a potato  that is not waxy but won’t fall apart in the pan and produce a wet sloppy mash.

Good varieties for mash are.

Vivaldi.

Rich, creamy and sweet, these potatoes taste like they’ve already been buttered. Perfect for mash, Vivaldi also make great jacket potatoes and are particularly good at absorbing flavours when dressed in sauces or oils.

Desiree.

Red-skinned potatoes with a fairly waxy texture that work well as an all-rounder. Their creamy yellow flesh makes a good mash.

Marabel.

One of the best potatoes for mashing thanks to its incredibly creamy texture and rich, sweet flavour.

Great all purpose potatoes, that make good mash-

Red Roosters.

One of the most versatile varieties around, suitable for most uses. Mostly oval shaped making them ideal for my recommendation on cutting the potato.

Maris Piper.

The most widely grown potatoes in the UK as they’re great roasted, mashed, boiled, chipped, or baked, despite being dry and floury.

King Edwards.

King Edward potatoes are renowned for its light fluffy texture, making a great mash. Again, mostly oval shaped.

Waxy potatoes.

Waxy potatoes are totally unsuitable for mashing. So, ones to avoid are Charlottes, Rattes, Jersey Royals, and Desiree.

These varieties don’t break down, and when you start to work the potato, it will be become sticky and waxy, more like wallpaper paste.

How to make Perfect Mashed Potatoes.

You will need.

• Suitable saucepan and lid.
• Heatproof spatula
• Potato peeler
• Chopping board and cook’s knife
• Food mill, flat sieve, or potato ricer.

Enough for four people.

• 600g               mid floury potatoes, I’ve used Red Roosters
• 60g                 unsalted butter
• 4tbsp              double cream
•                        Sea salt

The two crucial factors.

We need to cook the potatoes evenly without have ether uncooked potato or the potatoes dissolving into the cooking water. To achieve this, we need to control both the distance the heat needs to travel in the potato and the speed of cooking.

Size really does matter.

Choosing even sized and shaped potatoes makes this a breeze. Don’t worry if that’s not possible just keep the following in mind when cutting the potatoes for the pot. The heat will penetrate the potato by the shortest route. If you have simply cut lumps of potato the heat will have further to travel, and the potato may become waterlogged, or the corners will break off into the water.

 Once you have chosen your potatoes, it’s time to get to work. Wash and peel them using a peeler, a knife is far to wasteful. Cut the potatoes in half longways, not across the width as you would do for roasting. This will give you a larger piece that you might be used to but look closely at it and you will see the potato is much thinner cut this way.

Some people advocate cutting the potato into cubes to cook quickly. But I think that produces to many vulnerable corners to fall off during cooking.

Perfect Mashed Potatoes need careful cooking.

Cover the potatoes with cold water and two generous pinches of salt and bring to the simmer. I prefer to do this with the lid off so I can keep and eye on the pan.

The important thing is not to rapidly boil the potatoes. It’s a common idea that turning up the heat on food will make it cook quicker. Well, NO. It will make the food cook blacker as it burns, or in our case as make potato soup, instead of mash.

We need the heat to cook the potato through, but a simmer is plenty of heat to do that. The difference between boiling and simmering is only 3-4˚c. But boiling the pan will throw the potatoes against each other and the sides of the pan. That will simply break off the soft, cooked corners, which will dissolve into the cooking water.

Pop a lid on the pan by all means but keep a close eye on how fast the water is moving.

Drying the cooked potato.

Check if the potatoes are cooked with the tip of a knife and if ready drain off the water. The best way of doing this is with the lid but take great care not to burn yourself with the hot water or steam. If that’s not possible use a colander. But check that the potato has not blocked up all the holes and is still sitting in hot water.

Return the potatoes to the pan and place the pan back over a very low heat and let any remaining moisture evaporate away for a couple of minutes.

Time for the mashing.

My favourite tool for mashing the cooked potatoes is a moulin. This tool has been around for decades and guarantees lump free purees. On the flip side its also great for soups, leaving just a little texture in the finished soup.

Some chefs favour a drum sieve. This is a flat sieve where a wire mesh is pulled taught over a rigid frame. Again, a very useful tool, but been large a bit awkward to store at home. Small amounts of potato can be pressed through a standard kitchen sieve. But its shape is not ideal and you risk overworking the potato. Our third option is a Potato Ricer, for most people this may be ideal. Its only downside is that it can only perform the one function of mashing potatoes.

If you are planning to serve the mashed potato to guests, I would recommend doing all the work up to this stage in advance. Cover the prepared potato and it will be fine kept at room temperature for an hour or two.

Finishing Perfect Mashed Potatoes.

When you are ready to serve take a pan suitable to reheat the mash without the mix been too deep. Up to 50mm is ideal, place the pan on the heat and add the butter. My preference is to use both butter and double cream. Some people prefer to use only butter, but whatever you choose, Don’t use Milk. Milk will make the mash very wet and grainy.

As the butter begins to melt add the potato. Don’t drop it all in at once, add it to the pan in two or three batches. As the first batch comes together, then add the next.

When all the potato are in the pan, add a drop of the cream. As you mix it in you will see the potato form a smoother, more coherent mass. Add more cream until you are happy with the consistency. You may not need all the cream; you may need a little more. It all depends on the type of potato used, time of year and how well the cooking has been carried out.

You can also add any flavourings you want to use, here is a few ideas to get you going.

Crispy bacon and leek mash

Mustard mash

Horseradish mash

Roast Garlic mash

Cheese mash

Spring onion mash – Champ

Pesto mash

Caramelised onion mash

Truffle oil mash

Enjoy life!

John.