Okay for me, mashed potato is the ultimate comfort food. Love the mashed potato and, I want to show you how to make it, which pretty much going to be full proof. I am going to show you a few tricks here to avoid some of the common mistakes and pitfalls.
First of all, you use russet potato, Idaho russet potato has the perfect texture and starchiness to make this come out really nice. I got three of them, that is a half of stick of butter, unsalted, some salt, some white pepper in my case.
Now, you use black pepper if you want. You use red pepper if you want. I would like to use white pepper for mine, that is a half of cup of whole milk, and I want to figure out though this will do it and here maybe the most important thing, a wire masher.
But get that style, that is the best one. There are a lot of styles out there. That is no good, do not use that, do not use that one either, that is no good, and that, what the hell is that? Do not use that.
Maybe the most important tip I am going to show you here, most people cut there potato into chunks, all right. They cut that potato in like 8 pieces. Not a good idea, take each potato and simply cut it in half lengthwise. Take you time, get the perfect center of the potato, and then one cut down. That is going to give you a really even shape to cook.
It is going to cook way more evenly than if you try to cut those in quarters or eights, because the more cuts the more room for error, okay. And what happens if you have small pieces from the ends, for example, they will start to break up, and then you will have starchy water, and then it does not come up good.
So that is my recommended method for cutting the potato. Also, do not forget to salt the water, okay. That is two tablespoons of salt, seems like a lot, but the potato is going to start sucking that salt in, start to flavor.
Also, another mistake, do not cook this at a rolling boil, okay. So it is supposed to look like a washing machine. It is supposed to look like just a gentle simmer. So I want you to look at those bubbles.
See, they are just breaking the surface. Again, it is not just sitting in warm water, some people have it too low, but that is just about perfect, just nice gentle simmer. After about 20 to 25 minutes, I was pretty much tender with my potatoes.
Again, air in the side of a little slightly bit overcooked versus undercooked. Undercooked, you will never going to get rid of those lumps, okay. So I drain mine, I let them drain for a good minute, all right.
I dump them back in the pot. No matter how well you drain them though, you are still going to have a little bit of water that sneaks back in there. That is why you see I have my heat on high, and I am just cook enough for 30 seconds. I am just going to leave those potatoes in the pot.
Get your masher ready, and you are going to see, I am going to turn off the heat here in a second. That 30 seconds you are going to see the steam actually come wispping up from the bottom, is wispping a word? I do not know.
There you go, see the wisp of steam that would have been water at the bottom would have not been good. Now, here is a very important technique, take your masher. With straight down motion, two laps around the pot. Notice how I am keeping my masher against the edge of the pot, so I am not missing any spost.
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