Mashed: Best Potatoes to Mash?
Subject: Best Potatoes to Mash?
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
From: Wazza McG (GOLDY at uq.net.au)
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2000 07:11:03 +1000
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Gidday All,
I was wondering what the best potato variety there is to mash nice and creamy/fluffy potatoes. My seven year old daughter really likes her mash and now that I am starting a vegetable garden, guess what we HAVE to plant. Er, did I mention that my daughter absolutely loves her mashed potatoes.
Also, are there any secrets out there to obtain the creamiest and fluffiest mashed potatoes.
If anyone can help me in this matter my daughter and I would greatly appreciate it.
Regards,
Wazza McG
From: Stan Horwitz (stan at typhoon.ocis.temple.edu)
Date: 15 Jan 2000 21:20:45 GMT
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For creamy fluffy mashed potatoes, use Idaho or Russett potatoes. After boiling the peeled potatoes, push them through a potato ricer or a hand cranked food mill into an empty pot. Any decent housewares store will sell potato ricers and food mills for well under $20. Put the potatoes in the pot on a low flame and through in a few tablespoons of butter along with some milk or cream. Mash up some more with a potato masher over low heat. Add more liquid and/or butter until you get the taste and consistency you prefer.
From: maryf(aka pud) (maryf at earthlink.net)
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 04:10:06 GMT
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I have to go yukon golds here. :-). Sorry Stan.
From: Robb Dabbs (rddg at 1st-uspride.net)
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 01:28:04 -0500
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> I have to go yukon golds here. :-). Sorry Stan.
I have found that Yukon Golds have an unnaturally sweet taste. Anybody know why?
From: Jill McQuown
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2000 15:51:57 -0600
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>I was wondering what the best potato variety there is to mash nice and
>creamy/fluffy potatoes. My seven year old daughter really likes her mashed
Idaho white potatoes if possible.
You already make mashed taters for your daughter, so you ought to know what you're making them from.
From: Jill McQuown
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2000 15:58:15 -0600
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I loved mashed potatoes as a child, but also boiled spuds. Peel white potatoes and cut into large (2 inch) pieces; boil in salted water until they are tender enough to mash with a fork. Drain potatoes and drizzle with butter, sprinkle with salt, pepper and parsley. Toss until well mixed and serve. Yum! Think I'll do this tonight. I'm blackening some fish and taters would go well with it. Hmmm, I might finish the potatoes off under the broiler to make the outsides crispy.
From: Ken (kbraun1 at rochester.rr.com)
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2000 17:32:30 -0500
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Idaho. Lots of butter and a dash of milk.
From: Peter Watson (watspro at onthe.net.au)
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2000 09:41:07 +1100
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Can't tell you whats best in the US of A... in Australia we have a huge number of varieties now and the one I like best here is called sebago... however, for a great taste, peal some cloves of garlic and put them in to boil with the potatoes and just mash them up with the taties, add some chopped parsley. The garlic taste is not strong so two or three cloves in which say 6 big taties is good. I also think that you have to add hot milk not cold and soft butter... plenty of salt and pepper. There is a great dish in Idia with mash... it has an egg added and then is wrapped around (sausage like) some melted onions that have been cooked with ginger, chilli and garlic... dipped in bessam flour and deep fried... served with a fresh tomato sauce... bloody gorgeous!!
From: Isabelle Boucher (absynthe at mindless.com)
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2000 22:50:37 GMT
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Weeeellll...
Everyone seems to prefer Idaho, but I really like Yukon Gold for mashing. I'm not sure how commonly available they are, but they're a wonderful buttery yellow colour and mash beautifully. If you toss a couple of garlic cloves in to boil with the spuds, and then mash with some sour cream, salt, pepper and butter, they're so tasty I could eat a whole bowlful for supper (and did on those long-ago days when I had braces and got monthly adjustments)
Izz.
From: arianej at pepper.eajenkins.earthlink.net (Ariane)
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2000 01:03:17 GMT
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Isabelle Boucher wrote:
>Everyone seems to prefer Idaho, but I really like Yukon Gold for mashing.
I like Yukon Gold, too. Mashed and mixed with a bit of milk, salt and pepper and roasted garlic, it's great! :)
From: Gary O. (tractrix at pacbell.net)
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2000 22:48:58 -0800
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Isabelle Boucher wrote:
>Everyone seems to prefer Idaho, but I really like Yukon Gold for mashing. I'm
I love Yukon Gold for their bold, buttery flavor, but I go for the more traditional flavor with mashed potatoes. Idaho or Russet does best for me. The Yukon is just a shade more toward the waxy spectrum, which doesn't do the fluffy mashed potatoes for me that the starchier baking potatoes do.
From: dream766 at webtv.net
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 05:14:10 -0500 (EST)
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I'd have to go with Yukon Gold. You need to be carefull not to mix the mashed potatoes too much once you put them threw the food mill or they may get gummy, but if prepared well by far one of the best.
From: jan (aintlifegrand at yahoo.com)
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2000 01:07:49 GMT
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My favorite is Yukon Gold. Don't know if they have them where you are.
From: aquari at aol.com (Libby)
Date: 16 Jan 2000 16:34:57 GMT
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My personal favorites for mashed are Russets. Boil in a bit of salted water after scrubbing and cutting up in about 2 inch pieces. I leave the skins on, but you can peel first if you want. Drain when easily pierced with a fork, add butter, salt, pepper and milk or half and half, and mash with a potato masher.
Lately I've been adding a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream and a bit ofhorseradish to them. Best mashed potatoes in the world.
From: Fudge (fudge at mv.igs.net)
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2000 09:38:28 -0500
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I have grown just about every variety of potato on my farm in Eastern Ontario. The two types I like best are Yukon Gold and Kennebec. The Kennebec variety makes the absolute best mashed potatoes. Peel, cut in small pieces and boil until tender. Add milk/cream, S&P, butter and a whole raw egg or two and beat until fluffy with a blender. The eggs are optional. One of the world's great potatoes is the New England heirloom type "Green Mountain. This potato was certified in the late 1800's and has been around ever since due to TASTE. It has little disease resistance especially blight tolerance and I discontinued it due to low yields.
Try growing potatoes organically. It can be done and the reward makes it all worth while. Never use a lot of fertilizer with potatoes. I only use a fall rye green manure turned in about 2 weeks before planting. Nothing like pulling fresh potatoes with silky skins out of the dirt on a warm summer morning. And guess what? They don't turn black when boiled like the supermarket variety .Good Luck and Bon Appetite.
Farmer John
From: (mardi at mardiweb.com) (Mardi Wetmore)
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2000 16:27:02 -0800
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My favorite is Yukon Gold's. They have a great texture and taste buttery so you don't need to load them up with fat and calories. I make mine "smashed" rather than mashed because I like some chunks left in the potatoes. I just cut them up into large cubes, boil in chicken broth (this adds more flavor), then smash them with a potato masher with some milk and/or non-fat sour cream added. Sometimes I throw 4-5 peeled cloves of garlic in and make garlic mashed potatoes.
From: Catherine (pecan at iafrica.com)
Date: 18 Jan 2000 19:35:16 +0200
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>Also, are there any secrets out there to obtain the creamiest and fluffiest
>mashed potatoes.
A (seemingly) closely guarded secret to fluffy potatoes is to add WARM milk to them instead of cold milk, which makes them 'tough'.
I also like to add a little bit of Colman's mustard to my mashed potatoes. Yummy.
From: arast at inficom.com (Alex Rast)
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2000 09:46:44 GMT
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>I was wondering what the best potato variety there is to mash nice and
>creamy/fluffy potatoes.
Well, there seem to be 2 main camps developing: Russet and Yukon Gold. I personally belong to the Yukon Gold camp. Russets are ideal for baking but rather too mealy IMHO for mashing. For ideal mashing you want a potato with at least some waxiness but not so much that they don't mash up well. The Yukon Gold is that potato, nicely embodied.
>Also, are there any secrets out there to obtain the creamiest and fluffiest
>mashed potatoes.
Don't overboil or they will become very mealy indeed. Go for just barely boiled through (soft center, but not falling-apart exterior.) Peel and quarter the mashed potatoes before boiling. Use of *whole* milk when mashing is mandatory. Just add while mashing until they start to cream up. Putting margarine in mashers should be a sacriledge! Use butter only. Salted seems to work best - if you try to add salt to the mashed potatoes along with unsalted butter the potatoes seem to absorb the salt too much (potatoes with unsalted butter, btw, will just taste REALLY bland.)
From: Christiane (cbilezikian at my-deja.com)
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2000 13:24:14 GMT
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Indeed, I prefer the Idaho spud as well. However, I have a bit of a twist to making mine and have to admit, everyone who has them asks for the recipe. They're addicting.
Boil up the potatoes in water, with a bit of salt. When soft, drain and leave in the pot. Add a raw egg, salt, butter and nutmeg. Beat with a blender, adding milk until you get the desired consistency. The nutmeg adds a taste that's excellent.
From: delemos at aol.com (Marc deLemos)
Date: 18 Jan 2000 05:36:39 GMT
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Christiane said:
> Beat with a
>blender, adding milk until you get the desired consistency.
Hmm..wouldn't that make them 'whipped' potatoes? Yes, I know, I'm just picking nits...my humble preference is hand-mashed...just enough to get the butter mixed in
From: Christiane (cbilezikian at my-deja.com)
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 16:24:05 GMT
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Marc deLemos wrote:
> > Beat with a
> >blender, adding milk until you get the desired consistency.
>
> Hmm..wouldn't that make them 'whipped' potatoes? Yes, I know, I'm just picking
> nits...my humble preference is hand-mashed...just enough to get the butter
> mixed in
picky, picky, picky. :)
From: delemos at aol.com (Marc deLemos)
Date: 18 Jan 2000 19:47:46 GMT
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Christiane writes re: hand mashing preference:
>picky, picky, picky. :)
Without a doubt :)...
From: Christiane (cbilezikian at my-deja.com)
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 13:30:38 GMT
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thank goodness I didn't say anything about putting ketchup on them!
From: willsandychap at webtv.net (Bill C.)
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 12:27:39 -0500 (EST)
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Ketchup on yukon gold mashed. What could be better.
From: delemos at aol.com (Marc deLemos)
Date: 20 Jan 2000 04:26:12 GMT
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willsandychap at webtv.net said:
>Ketchup on yukon gold mashed. What could be better.
Just about anything short of death, I reckon... :)
From: wolf (wolfalso at hotmail.com)
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 12:29:54 -0800
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I don't care what anyone says. Red potatoes are the best for anything! If you're going to mash them, just boil them a bit longer.
From: Jennifer Kho (kho at arts.ubc.ca)
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2000 12:49:31 -0800
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Hi Wazza:
The best variety to make mashed potatoes is Russet potatoes. Buy only those that are firm to the touch. The secret to light and fluffy mashed potatoes is to let the steam escape after it is cooked, about 15 minutes. Then started mashing in a downward direction, add some warm milk and butter, salt and pepper and you have the best mashed potatoes in this world.
Jen
From: Danny Owen (pdowen at ualr.edu)
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2000 18:53:25 -0600
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I like Yukon Gold. Quarter w/ skin on. Boil till done but semi-firm. Put in stand mixer w/ _butter_ and a little bit of heavy cream. I use the whisk attachment and put it on 6-8 for 10-15 min to let the potatoes get nice and fluffy and leave no lumps. Mmmmmmm. Also, putting in 2-3 cloves of roasted garlic per potato is quite good (the secret being well-roasted garlic).