An Easy Recipe

There are many ways to prepare mashed potatoes and these are one of the most popular ways to prepare mashed potatoes. Normally potatoes are too hard to mash as they need to be cooked first. Usually potatoes are baked or boiled until they are soft enough to mash with a ricer, mixer, potato masher or fork. There are also instant mashed potatoes available made from dehydrated potatoes, just add hot water.

When making mashed potatoes the best types of potatoes to use are floury potatoes. However if you want a different texture of mashed potatoes you can also use waxy potatoes. Many times vegetable oil, butter, cream or milk is added to create smooth mashed potatoes.

Many people may also use different types of seasonings, such as rosemary, pesto, salt, garlic, bacon bits, cheese, mustard, onion, spices, wasabi, parsley and turnips. There is a French version of mashed potatoes that uses egg yolks in the mashed potatoes and then the potatoes are piped into rosettes and ribbons using a pastry tube.

There are also low calorie and low fat ways to prepare mashed potatoes. Instead of using butter or cream you can add broth or soup stock. It is important when making mashed potatoes not to overcook them as the starch grains can burst and turn into something with a glue like consistency. Generally cooking smaller slices of potato are much better than larger pieces.

It is best to mash the potatoes before you add butter or other ingredients. The butter and other liquids can be lubricating which breaks up the starch grains. This is particularly a problem when using a mixer to mash the potatoes. You should first mash the potatoes and then add the other ingredients and mix to incorporate.

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.

If you want to prevent the boiling potatoes from boiling over you can pour some oil on the top edge of the water or add a tablespoon of butter. It is recommended that you add warm milk instead of cold milk as this produces a very fluffy texture to the potatoes. For fluffy potatoes you can also add a small amount of baking soda to the milk or butter before you mash the potatoes. It is recommended that you cover the freshly mashed potatoes with a dish towel instead of a cover as the towel absorbs any moisture and keeps the potatoes fluffy and dry. You can also prepare your mashed potatoes ahead of time and keep them warm in a crock pot.

Ben likes his potatoes mashed. So if you want to find some delicious mashed potatoes recipes visit his website that is full of different recipes. He specially recommends his cheddar and onion mashed potatoes recipe.