How to Make the Best Mashed Potatoes | Experiment

What is the secret to making a creamy mashed potatoes without the butter and bacon grease?

Abstract

Mashed potatoes is simple to make, yet so irresistible. This is a dish that completes the Thanksgiving dinner. It is a children, adult, and even baby favorite. Its flavor is rich and creamy with just a slight hint of salty. There are many ways to make the best mashed potatoes dish, but what is the one secret to get that creamy and rich flavor?

The answer is butter and bacon fats, but are these extra fats necessary? A baked potato are creamy on its own without the addition of butter, so why do mashed potatoes recipes called for that extra stick of butter? The answer lies in the technique of cooking the potatoes. In this review, mashed potatoes is prepared using two different techniques, boiling and steaming. The results show that we have all been making mashed potatoes wrong. It turned out that steamed potatoes result in a creamier mash potatoes.

Introduction (References: 1 & 2)

Mashed potatoes is a dish made cooked potatoes that has been mashed until the texture is smooth and creamy. This dish is often served as a side starch dish, but can be eaten as a main dish if one chooses to.

There are many different ways to prepare mashed potatoes. The most common way is to boil the diced up potatoes and mash it using mashing tools such as ricer, fork, and pestle. In the modern technological world, tools such as stand mixer and food processor can also be used to mashed potatoes. Butter, cream, bacon, onion, salt, pepper, and other spices are added to enhance the flavor of this dish.

The origination of mashed potatoes dish is unclear, but is estimated to had originated around the mid-late 1700s. According the Wikipedia, the first documentation of mashed potatoes recipe can be found in The Art of Cookery by Hannah Glasse, published around the 1740s.

Hypothesis

I predict that the steamed potatoes will result in a creamier mashed potatoes because of the excess starch that is not loss during the steaming process. When boiling potatoes, the starch from the potatoes gets washed away in the boiling water.

Method

First, mashing tools matter a lot. Food52 has an article about this, so make sure to check out this article to pick out the right proper tools for this step. I like my mashed potatoes to be super creamy and smooth, so I mashed my potatoes with the ricer.

For this experiment, two Russet potatoes of the similar size were prepared using two different methods: the boiling and steaming methods.

To stay consistent, both potatoes were diced into 1" cubes.

The first potato was cooked using the boiling method. The potato cubes were placed into a pot with enough water to fully submerged them. The pot of water was then brought to a boil for ~17 minutes until the potato cubes are fully tender and translucent.

The second potato was cooked using the steaming method. The diced potato cubes were steamed, using the steamed mode on the rice cooker, for ~ 25 minutes until it is translucent and fall apart when poke with a knife.

Once both potatoes were cooked, both were mashed using the ricer. The mashed potatoes then underwent another round of mashing through the ricer, so a total of two times of mashing.

Results

Steamed potato cubes right after steaming.

Steamed potato cubes turned out darker in color than the boiled potato cubes.

Steamed potatoes that had been mashed

The consistency of the steamed potato cubes were sticky and soft, similar to mochi skin. The flavor is super rich and creamy.

Boiled potato cubes right after boiling and draining.

Boiled potato cubes were dried and fall apart.

Boiled potato cubes after mashing.

When mashed, the mashed potatoes separated out into tiny spec of crystal looking pieces.

In addition, there was a bunch of water left pooling on top of the ricer during the mashing process.

Left = steamed mashed potatoes. Right = boiled mashed potatoes.

The boiled potato cubes are whiter in color than the steamed potato cubes.

Conclusion

Overall, steamed potato made a creamier and richer mashed potatoes. After discovery this, I don’t think I will ever go back to boiling potatoes for mashed potatoes. It is way healthier as I can skipped the addition of extra fats. Give this technique a try using your favorite mashed potatoes recipe and don’t forget to leave me a comment.

And of course, I can’t end this blog without a simple mashed potatoes recipe:

Steamed mashed potatoes = my new favorite :)

Plain/Basic mashed potatoes recipe

Original recipe is from allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 lbs of potatoes (prefer the Russet potatoes)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Toppings of your choice (green onions, bacon bits, cheese, etc…)
• ½ cup of milk, optional

Directions

1. Peel, clean, and dice 1 lbs of potatoes.
2. Place them into a ricer cooker basket and set it to steam for 25 minutes. To steam the potatoes without a ricer, fill a steamer pot with water. Bring the steamer pot to a boil. Add the potato cubes and steam until the potatoes are soft and translucent. To test, poke the potato cubes with a fork and if the fork break up the potato cubes easily then it is cook.
3. Mash the cooked potato cubes using a ricer or your favorite mashing tool. Mash it until the potato cubes turned into creamy mashed potatoes. There should be no chunks left.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Add in the milk slowly if the consistency is too rich.
6. Add in your favorite toppings and mix well. Serve!