Chef’s Creamiest Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
About 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes — peeled and cut into chunks, roughly the same size so they cook evenly
1 cup heavy cream
Half a stick of butter, maybe a little more — unsalted, and the good kind if you have it
2 garlic cloves (optional — see above)
Salt — for the water and for seasoning at the end, separately
White pepper or black pepper, your preference; I use white because it disappears into the color of the potatoes
A pinch of nutmeg, optional
How to make them
Cut the potatoes into even chunks — I aim for about an inch and a half, inch and three-quarters — and put them in a pot of cold salted water. Starting in cold water matters; it helps the potatoes cook evenly from the outside in instead of the outside getting done while the center is still hard. Bring it to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook until you can slide a fork through a chunk without any resistance at all. Fifteen minutes, maybe twenty. It depends on how big your pieces are.
Drain them and put them back in the hot pot. This is a step I skipped for years and shouldn’t have — letting them sit in the dry hot pot for a minute or two lets the steam escape, and drier potatoes absorb the cream and butter better. You want them thirsty.
While the potatoes are draining, warm the cream and butter together in a small saucepan over low heat. Add the garlic cloves if you’re using them. You’re not boiling anything, just warming — you want it hot enough that there’s no chill left. Adding cold dairy to hot potatoes makes the texture seize up and go grainy, and you don’t want that after all this work.
Mash the potatoes. A ricer gives you the smoothest result and I do own one and do use it when I’m feeling patient, which is probably half the time. A regular masher gives you a slightly more textured result that is also completely good and real and fine. What you don’t want is a mixer or a food processor — those overwork the starch and turn the potatoes gluey. Do it by hand.
Pour the warm cream mixture in gradually — not all at once — stirring as you go. You may not need all of it, or you may want a touch more. Go by feel. Season with salt and pepper and taste as you go.
That’s it. That’s genuinely the whole thing.
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