Saturday, February 27, 2010

Perfect Mashed Potato Quest Continues [Bryan]


My unrelenting quest for the perfect mashed potatoes continues. I was watching Cooks County TV on PBS today and it rocked my mashed potato world. Apparently, one should not boil the potatoes in water and then drain off the water. You lose flavor that way. They suggested cooking the garlic in sugar and butter (making a caramelized garlic). Then, in the same pot, you add the potatoes and just the right amount of water and half-and-half. When the potatoes are soft, you then add large amounts of butter and more half-and-half and simply mash the potatoes with that and the liquid that remains. No draining.

So, the keys seem to be a lot of butter and cream (already knew that), but also caramelized garlic and the no-drain method. They also said a lot of garlic (12 cloves!) is necessary to overcome the regular blandness of potatoes.

I'm going to try it and keep you posted.

4 comments:

Becky said...

Sounds powerful! I've made a soup with 10 cloves of garlic before. Yum, but the aftermath is a bit antisocial! ;)

Becky said...

We followed your instructions omiting 10 of the cloves of garlic- they were delicious!

Bryan and Ellie said...

Excellent, Becky. I'm going to try them this Sunday.

chappo said...

Bryan, I do have a very tasty garlic and spinach mash potatoes recipe if you want it.