Cover the potatoes with water and season with 1 teaspoon of the salt. Boil the potatoes until they are fork tender. Drain the potatoes and return them to the saucepan. Add 1/2 cup of the butter, hot milk, sour cream, and salt to taste; mash thoroughly with a potato masher until very creamy.
The most ubiquitous variety, russets, will mash smoothly and readily absorb whatever delicious additions you incorporate, whether you go with the classic butter and cream combination or mix things up with sour cream or even roasted garlic and olive oil.
Baked potatoes always taste better at restaurants because chefs have learned how to produce a potato that's soft, fluffy, and flavorful on the inside while remaining delightfully crisp on the outside. But it's hard to replicate those results at home.
Restaurants prepare the potatoes ahead by boiling and mashing just the potato, then just before serving, it is mixed into boiling cream (or milk or even broth or a combination thereof) to reheat it and make it nice and creamy.
SEBAGO: A long to oval shaped all-rounder with white flesh and skin that's common in supermarkets and green grocers around Australia. This potato is great for boiling, mash, roasting, baking, chips and mash.
We're not talking about fresh potatoes out of the ground. According to a KFC manager on this Reddit Ask Me Anything thread, KFC's mashed potatoes come from powdered potatoes, a.k.a instant mashed potatoes.
When too much starch gets released, the potatoes become gummy, gluey, and unappetizing. Overworking the potatoes can happen in a couple ways: either by simply handling them too much, or by using a food processor, blender, or similar tool, which mixes the potatoes too aggressively.
Similar to a russet with a medium level of starch, white potatoes have a smoother, thinner and lighter skin. The term 'Chef Potato' was adoped to the product due to its large size profile and versatility. Extremely versatile and can be used for baking, boiling, frying, mashing, roasting or steaming.
Some people prefer to boil their potatoes whole, while others prefer to cut the vegetables into pieces before boiling. Smaller potatoes (like red gold) will cook faster whole — about 15-20 minutes in boiling water. Larger potatoes (like russet) take a little more time — about 20-30 minutes.
Doing so is a science thing – soaking cut potatoes removes excess potato starch. This means fluffy mashed potatoes (and not gluey!)
Use a Thickening Agent – Thickening agents such as corn starch or flour are super effective in, you guessed it, thickening recipes. I recommend corn starch when thickening mashed potatoes as it does very little to affect the taste of your side dish.
Here's how to do it: For every pound of potatoes in your mash, drizzle 1 tablespoon of melted butter over the dish and fold it gently into the potatoes. If the mash is still too gluey for your liking, repeat the process with another tablespoon of butter.
The Fail: Gluey Mashed Potatoes
Too much whipping (or mashing) will give you sticky — not fluffy — mashed potatoes. Make the best of it and turn them into cheesy mashed potato cups: Mix the potatoes with grated cheddar and an egg, then scoop the mixture into lightly greased muffin cups.
While Yukon Gold potatoes tend to be the best potato for mash, this variety isn't readily available in Australia. Aussie Taste recommend other yellow-fleshed potatoes, like Bintje, as a good alternative. These potatoes are small to medium sized and have a long oval shape.
When looking for a substitute for Yukon Golds, choose another waxy potato such as Red Bliss or another red potato. Baby or Fingerling potatoes are also good options. Try to stay away from starchy potatoes such as Russets for potato salad as they will not hold up.
They absorb liquids brilliantly, which is why they mash so well. But when you boil them in water, the liquid they are absorbing is just that, water, which can make for a less flavorful mash. By boiling the potatoes in salted milk, they are absorbing creaminess and seasoning, which makes them inherently more flavorful.
Fill a bowl with cool water, submerge the potatoes, then cover with plastic wrap. Store in the refrigerator overnight. When it's time to start working with the potatoes, drain them well in a colander and get cooking.