We are making the creamiest, most delicious mashed potatoes with very few ingredients, and they come
out perfect every single time. And they're going to be a showstopper on your Thanksgiving table.
Today I'm going to show you the easiest method for mashed potatoes,
and I'll give you a few tricks along the way to ensure that your mashed potatoes are the best
thing on the table. If you know me, if we know each other personally, you know I am a spud,
okay, I am I'm certain that I am part potato on the inside, because I love potatoes. We
have not made mashed potatoes here on Laura in the Kitchen in years and this recipe,
you're going to look at it and go 'why do you even make a video on it because it's so basic?', but
we did say we were going to make all of the basics and all of the traditional foods for Thanksgiving,
and you simply cannot have Thanksgiving dinner without the best mashed potatoes. Let's start off
with the potatoes in question, my favorite kind of potatoes to use for mashed potatoes are russets.
Why do I like russets? Because they're fluffy, because they're not as buttery,
they're not as - and, which I like, I am much more a fan of a texture of the potato rather
than the flavor of the potato. I'm going to enrich these anyway so I'm not really
concerned about getting the extra, sort of buttery flavor from the potato because what
matters to me more is that the texture is light and it's fluffy and it's creamy and
it's delicious and I feel like the russet is the best potato for the job, but you do.
I've got a big pot of water I just turned it on, it's not boiling yet and you don't
want it to be boiling. Now the next thing you want to make sure is you don't cut your
potatoes too small, the smaller the potato the more introduction of water to the potato which
means the more watery your mashed potato, the more watery your mashed potato will be,
and the more bland because more water introduces more blend water. Does that make sense? So I
just cut them in half when they're about medium size. And if they're really big,
like say this guy right here, I may just do that one in thirds because the important
thing is that they're all the same size so that they cook at the same speed.
Now the third important thing here is you need to make sure you are heavily salting
your water before, you know, before these get done because otherwise I put a little bit too
much water in there, let me get a cup, hold on, I added too much water to that pot. Look at me,
it's like I wasn't thinking that I was going to add pounds of potatoes in there.
You want make sure that you're adding plenty of salt here because this is your
only chance to flavor the actual inside of the potato in a really
beautifully balanced way and you're not just salting the outside, you know what I mean?
It just makes such a big difference. So a good handful of salt, bring that to a boil,
reduce it down to a simmer and let that cook until the potatoes are very tender.
You want these to be really tender, not somewhat tender, they should fall apart,
essentially. Then we drain and then we move on to the next step.
Potatoes are done, but before we talk about them let's make our cream mixture. Now listen,
potatoes, mashed potatoes, I should say, you're going to add milk, whole milk,
and heavy cream to a saucepan, with some butter.
Mashed potatoes is one of those things, that in my humble opinion, needs all the fat,
okay? It is as rich and delicious and creamy as it is because it's got all of those fats,
okay, look at what your potatoes look like. This is what your potatoes should look like. Okay,
I've let them cook until very soft and tender, drain them,
then I put them back into the hot pot so that they could sit for a few minutes and
then that residual heat from the pot would pretty much like absorb any excess water.
Now there are different kinds of mashed potato people out in the world there are the super super,
super creamy, and for that I would suggest you use a potato ricer if you if you want
them really thick, like sort of fluffy and creamy, then there are the very lumpy people
who basically just take a masher and they go over it once or twice and that's it.
And then there's the people like me that are somewhat in the middle. I feel like whatever
mashed potato consistency you like is what you should go for. I don't necessarily feel like
you need to please the aesthetically beautiful pictures you see on the internet of the super
smooth mashed potatoes, if that's just not what you like, okay. So I go about halfway
between the two, now you shouldn't have to, not that I'm saying you won't, but I'm saying you
should have to re-season your potatoes if you added enough of salt into the boiling water.
I tasted mine and they don't need any additional salt, they are on their own borderline salty,
but when you add the heavy cream and that butter mixture with a little cream cheese,
yes I said cream cheese, don't run away, it all balances itself like it all balances each other
really well and it just becomes this like incredible emotion of goodness. You will
need lots of salt and pepper, you're going to need to warm up your cream because you never
want to add cold milk to hot potatoes because you'll turn them into glue.
I add a little bit of the thyme along with my cream cheese, which may not look like a lot,
but trust me you just need a couple of ounces for this amount with some black pepper,
and I start with a little bit at a time and then I will add more. You see how dry that looks,
nobody wants a dry mashed potato, you're going to add some more if you like a little tang you
can add a nice spoon or two of sour cream as well and that would make it absolutely glorious
and luscious, but you don't have to, I'm just going to keep giving this a mix until all of the
cream and milk and butter is incorporated and I'll show you the final consistency.
I want you to see how glorious that looks, it is just creamy and delicious I know a ton of people
will whip theirs with a like a standing mixer, I just don't do that because here's the thing,
done wrong, or whipped for too long, they turn into absolute glue and that is like a
fear of mine, because it's just not the vibe. It is just not the vibe.
I like them a little lumpy. If you want them super smooth, like I said,
go ahead and use a potato ricer, won't hurt my feelings, it's all about how you like it.
Little dab of butter, imagine that pulled up with tons of gravy, bit more black pepper,
my mother would tell you it's a white food so you should use white pepper,
but she's not here I'm 37, I make my own rules and I pay my own bills. So I use black pepper,
so I like it anyway. Look at that, the butter is starting to melt, it is perfection, it is just
my kind of heaven, look at that beautiful, luscious, tastes incredible. Incredible.
The best mashed potatoes you'll eat. The best mashed potatoes anybody on your table will eat,
it will rival any restaurant, not that any restaurant could possibly make a better
mashed potato, let's be for real, meant to be on your Thanksgiving table, or any holiday table,
Go to Laurainthekitchen.com for the written recipe,
hope you enjoyed spending time with me and I will see you in the next one.
Bye-bye!