Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •3-quart heavy saucepan
• •1-quart saucepan for the milk
• •Sturdy 8-inch fine-mesh sieve or tamis
• •Wooden spoon and flexible bowl scraper
• •Shallow serving bowl

Instructions

1. 1

   Ready the finish

   Fill the serving bowl with the hottest tap water and leave it to warm. Set the sieve, scraper, wooden spoon, butter, and measured milk within reach. Once the potatoes are drained, there must be no idle interval; the home equivalent of a hot pass is simply a warm bowl and everyone already called to the table.

   Use a sturdy fine-mesh sieve or tamis. A delicate tea strainer will bend under the pressure, which is an excellent way to become cross before dinner.
2. 2

   Cook until just tender

   Put the quartered potatoes in a 3-quart saucepan, add the cold water and salt, and bring quickly to a boil. Lower the heat enough to maintain a lively, steady simmer and cook uncovered for 12 to 15 minutes. Test with a thin skewer: it should pass through the centre without resistance, while the pieces still hold their edges. Only just cooked means exactly that. If the edges begin to split and feather, drain at once; ça se rattrape, but those potatoes may need less milk. During the final 5 minutes, warm the milk in its own small pan until it reaches the edge of a boil, then cover it.

3. 3

   Drain and sieve hot

   Drain the potatoes immediately and shake the colander firmly for about 10 seconds, until no droplets fall. Wipe the cooking pan dry, set the sieve over it, and push the potatoes through in two or three small batches with a flexible scraper or wooden spoon. Scrape every ribbon of potato from the underside of the sieve into the pan. Work promptly, because a potato allowed to cool before sieving becomes heavy and reluctant.

4. 4

   Work in the butter

   Set the pan over the lowest heat. Add the butter and work the purée vigorously with a wooden spoon for 60 to 90 seconds, until every yellow streak disappears and the mixture looks cohesive and glossy. Vigorously means fast, not endlessly. If the butter remains streaky, the potatoes have cooled too far; keep the pan over the gentlest heat and continue just until it incorporates. If the purée begins pulling into sticky strings, stop beating and move directly to the milk. Ça se rattrape: boiling milk will loosen it, though no rescue can completely undo prolonged overworking.

5. 5

   Loosen with boiling milk

   Bring the milk to a full boil. Add it to the buttered purée little by little, about one-quarter at a time, beating each addition in before judging the next. Use as much as the potatoes accept, usually nearly all of it. The finished purée should fall from the spoon in a broad, supple ribbon and settle into a soft mound rather than stand stiffly. If it becomes too loose, hold it over the lowest heat and stir gently until broad folds return; never let it boil. If it remains tight, add the last spoonfuls of boiling milk. Heat only until evenly hot.

6. 6

   Serve without waiting

   Empty and dry the warmed serving bowl, spoon in the purée, and draw one broad sweep across the surface with the back of the spoon. Carry it directly to the table. Holding dulls the butter's gloss and turns the texture close and heavy, so this is not the moment to carve the roast or begin the sauce. They should already be ready. À table!

Chef Tips

• •The source asks for Dutch potatoes, a market description that is no longer useful to most home cooks. A dry, high-starch Russet is the honest home equivalent because it passes cleanly through the sieve and absorbs the prescribed butter and milk.
• •Butter first, boiling milk second. The order is not ceremony: butter coats the hot potato before the added liquid loosens it. C'est la même grammaire used throughout the classical purée family.
• •Use whole milk, not cream, and keep the full butter ratio. The source builds richness with three ounces of butter per pound of potatoes; cream or cheese would change the preparation rather than improve it.
• •Keep blenders and food processors away. Their blades rupture too many starch cells and turn the potatoes elastic. The sieve and wooden spoon ask more of your arm, but the texture pays you back.

Advance Preparation

• •Measure the milk, cut the butter, and arrange the sieve and spoon before the potatoes cook. Warm the serving bowl during the final few minutes. This preparation is the useful work to do ahead.
• •Do not make the finished purée in advance. Waiting is the one thing the source forbids because the texture closes as it stands. If a delay of no more than 5 minutes is unavoidable, cover the surface directly and set the bowl over barely hot water off the heat; do not boil or repeatedly beat it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 210g)