Mashed Potatoes – Preparing And Serving

Mashed potatoes, also known as smashed potatoes, are just one of the many ways in which you can prepare and serve potatoes. Mashed potatoes can be made by boiling potatoes, baking potato and then mashing the soft potatoes with a fork, ricer or potato masher. Mashed potatoes can also be made from frozen or dehydrated mashed potatoes. Just add water and heat.

The type of potatoes you use is also very important and to create the fluffiest and creamiest potatoes you need to use very floury potatoes. Sometimes waxy potatoes are also used if you desire a different texture for your mashed potatoes. You can also add butter, vegetable oil, milk or cream to create even smoother mashed potatoes.

You can also add seasonings to your mashed potatoes for a different flavor. Some of the more popular seasonings include turnips, parsley, wasabi, spices, onion, mustard, cheese, bacon bits, garlic, salt, pesto and rosemary. The French have their own version of mashed potatoes in which they are mixed with egg yolks, pipette into ribbons and rosettes and then baked until they are brown.

If you are watching your weight and counting calories then you can still enjoy a low fat, low calorie version of mashed potatoes by substituting soup stock or broth instead of cream and butter. It is also important that you don’t overcook the potatoes you are going to mash as potatoes that are overcooked tend to create mashed potatoes that have the consistency of glue.

To easily incorporate any seasonings to your mashed potatoes you should first mash the potatoes and then mix in the other ingredients. This helps keep the starch molecules intake as broken starch molecules produce a gluey consistency. This is particularly of importance when using a mixer to make mashed potatoes. You also can ensure that the added ingredients are distributed evenly throughout the mashed potatoes.

Mashed potatoes tend to be used as a side dish but they are also an important part of other main dishes such as potatoes croquettes, Cornish pasties, gnocchi, pirogues, colcannon, shepherd’s pie, dumplings and cottage pie. Many time gravy is served alongside mashed potatoes and many countries have this style of bangers and mash and pie and mash.

Sometime the boiling potatoes will over boil and create a mess. To ensure that this doesn’t happen you can put some oil or a bit of butter in the water as this forms a layer on the top that won’t boil over. If you are going to add milk or cream to the potatoes then you should add warm milk as this creates very fluffy mashed potatoes. A small amount of baking soda can also be added to the milk or cream for even more fluffiness.

After you have prepared your mashed potatoes you should not use a bowl or container lid but cover them with a dish towel. This will keep the potatoes soft and fluffy as the towel will absorb any moisture. Mashed potatoes can be prepared ahead of time and kept warm in a heating tray or crock pot.

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