Mashed Potatoes

[harpua79]

2 pounds of potatoes (try Yukon Gold) 1 cup of milk 6 tablespoons of butter salt and pepper to taste
Peel and quarter the potatoes, then add to a large pot and cover with water. Add some salt and bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Drain the potatoes and mash. Blend in butter and milk. Salt and pepper to taste.
You can also add to taste cream cheese and/or sour cream.

[Nuggs]

1 lb. small red potatoes 1/2 cup sour cream 1/2 cup cream, milk may be used 4 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup green onions, chopped salt and pepper to taste
Scrub potatoes and cut into one inch cubes. Leave the skin on! Cook in salted, boiling water until tender. Remove and drain well. Mash potatoes just slightly, add remaining ingredients and stir.
Note: you may adjust the sour cream, cream and butter to your taste.

[420wspone]

careful not to overbeat them. To prevent this, don`t beat them constantly while adding ingredients. Stop the mixer instead. Heavier mixers work better than hand-held ones, except for one-person servings. Hand-mixers just don`t have the power to do a larger batch fast enough for the potatoes to stay hot and fluffy. Forget measuring. Taste them for flavor and texture; that`s the only way to really know when you have them right. And practice a lot.
The trick about putting the pot back on the turned-off burner helps prevent them from getting rubbery--you want the potatoes *hot* when they go into the mixer bowl, and dry. You want to work fast while mixing, too, because letting them cool too much also causes them to turn rubbery.
Best when made with butter and half&half - light cream - rather than margarine and milk. However, the latter is better for your cholesterol, of course! (But remember, mashed potatoes really aren`t a low-cholesterol dish anyway. Not if you want really good ones. <g>) And never use new red potatoes or any waxy kind of potatoes to make mashed.
Mashed Potatoes
Approx. 4 servings
4 medium to large Russet potatoes salt & pepper at least 1/4 cup butter or margarine half&half or milk - begin with a couple tablespoons
In large pot, bring about 3-4 cups water to a boil, enough to cover potatoes. Add 4-5 dashes salt. When water is boiling, peel potatoes and slice thickly, approx. 1/2" thick. Add to pot and boil for 20 minutes or until fork-tender - *not* until they start to break apart.
Turn burner off and drain potatoes. Put pot back on burner to let excess steam evaporate. (Or on the very lowest flame if you have a gas stove.) Keep an eye on them so they don`t scorch from residual heat, although some potato will stick to the pan. Give them a stir a couple times with a large spoon to get the most moisture out from all sides. They`ll start breaking up; that`s ok. This pretty much only takes long enough for you to put the butter, half&half and S&P in the bowl; less than a minute, just until steam stops rising from the pot.
Start with about 1/4 cup butter or margarine in the mixer bowl, a couple tablespoons of half&half or milk, and several dashes of salt and pepper. Add hot potatoes to bowl. Using regular beater attachment, beat on low speed until they`re pretty broken up --15 or 20 seconds, maybe.
Now is when you begin doing it by `feel` and taste. More half&half makes them creamier and fluffier, up to a certain point. Too much makes them gloppy. Additional butter does a little for texture, but is more for flavor. After the beginning point, I usually add more half&half, in proportion, than butter.
So, stop the mixer. Drop in a pat of butter, a drizzle of half&half. After each addition, beat the potatoes *briefly* on medium-high speed - I use #5 or #6 on my Kitchen-Aid - short bursts, about 10 seconds long at the most. Just long enough to beat the additions in. Stop in between and taste-test for flavor and texture. Add butter, half&half, and salt and pepper as needed, until they taste the way you like them. Towards the end you`ll only be adding half&half, to get them as light as you want. Once you stop adding anything, you might have to beat them steadily for some seconds more to get most of the lumps out.
All of this should take no more than about 3 minutes, tops, with a good mixer - and that isn`t continuous beating. You run the mixer the whole time, they`ll be like glue. If you have *no* tiny lumps of potato left at all, you`ve probably beaten them too much. Perfectly smooth usually means rubber. Your goal is to be good enough to get them reasonably smooth in as little time as possible.
Basically, keep practicing, and you`ll get `em down. ) Then you can try doing things like using unpeeled potatoes, or adding chives, chopped green onions, bacon bits, sour cream or cream cheese for part of the butter, roasted garlic cloves... Although personally, I think there`s nothing better than just the basics. (Ok, basic with real gravy.) And they reheat just fine in the microwave, although nothing`s quite as good as freshly-mashed.

[Atrex]

I guess my definition of "really good mashed potatoes" will be this potato puree recipe:
1 cup Canola oil, 6 big garlic cloves, peeled, heel removed, and blanched 4 branches rosemary 3 24-ounces Russet potatoes 3 sticks sweet butter, save the wrappers 1/2 cup Half-and-Half Sea salt and white pepper
Heat oven to 225:. Warm the oil with a branch of rosemary on top of the stove. Add the blanched garlic to the warm oil and heat over low heat for one minute. Cover and put on the middle rack in your oven. Confit for 1 hour. Meanwhile, put three branches of rosemary and your potatoes in a medium pot and cover to three times the potatoes` depth. Salt the water until it tastes like the ocean. (Make sure the pot is big enough that the potatoes do not touch.) Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about forty-five minutes-until the center of the potatoes are at 180. Do not overcook, or the starch cells will burst, the texture of the purie will become gummy and the true taste of your potatoes will be lost. Heat the half-and-half to a very low simmer and season it well with salt and pepper. When the potatoes are cooked, empty the pot into your sink.
Peel the potatoes while they`re hot, discarding a half-inch off the ends-it will be overcooked. Put the peeled potatoes into a food mill over a 4.5-quart pot over a low heat. Drain the garlic confit, saving the oil for later uses. Add the garlic to the food mill. Pass the potatoes and garlic through the food mill into the cleaned pot. Season the potatoes and taste again. With a wooden spoon, stir the potatoes a little to dry them. Slowly add in 1/2 cup of the half-and-half while stirring. With a wooden spoon, stir in half the cold butter, cube by cube, as quickly as possible. We do this quickly to keep the butter whole. If not, the hot potatoes will separate the butter into whey and oil, which will make your purie feel greasy. Pour in another 1/2 cup of hot half-and-half after half of the butter is stirred in. Add the rest of the butter. When all the butter is stirred in, slowly stir in the remaining half-and-half until you have a purie consistency. Now taste for salt and pepper. Warm a thick 4.5-quart pot in a pan of hot water. Put a fine strainer or chinois over the pot and pass the purie through it with a soupspoon. Press the butter wrappers over the top of the purie to cover, and put the pot in a bain-marie until ready to serve. The purie has a four hour life span because the butter will start to separate and the potato cells will break down and make the puree gummy and produce a cheesy taste. I sometimes finish the purie with crhme franche, finely chopped chives, or chopped thyme. A Votre Santi

[peabody718]

This is how I make mashed potatoes
Mashed Potatoes
5 or 6 baking potatoes 1/2 cup (1 stick) of real butter. salt and pepper to taste cream
Take 5 or 6 baking potatoes and boil with skins on till tender. Drain and let dry in hot pan. When dry, peel and cut into pieces. Place in bowl with 1 stick of real butter. Allow heat from potatoes to melt butter. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mash lightly with a potatoe masher, then beat with and electric mixer. While beating, add just enough cream to moisten. Continue beating about 2 or 3 minutes.