Do you like potato dishes, but they don’t always turn out tasty? Let's figure out how to prepare mashed potatoes correctly and what ingredients you will need for this.
This is the simplest and fastest recipe without unnecessary additives. The dish prepared using it goes perfectly with meat and gravy.
Required Products:
- 0.2 liters of milk;
- about 50 grams of butter;
- kilogram of potatoes.
Cooking process:
- The potatoes must be peeled and if the tubers are too large, cut them into halves. You should not chop the root vegetables too much, otherwise the dish will not be as tasty.
- Place the slices in a saucepan, cover with water and immediately add a little salt. Keep on the fire for about 20 minutes after the boiling process has begun - the potatoes should become soft. You can check this by simply piercing it with a fork.
- After this, remove excess water and mash the contents of the pan with a masher. Then pour in the pre-melted butter along with the milk. This mixture must be hot. Mix everything thoroughly (you can even beat it a little with a mixer), season with spices to your taste.
Mashed potatoes in a slow cooker
Required Products:
- a glass of milk;
- a quarter stick of butter;
- spices to your taste;
- one and a half kilograms of potatoes.
Cooking process:
- We peel all the tubers, wash them thoroughly, turn them into medium-sized cubes and place them in a bowl.
- Now fill its contents with water so that the liquid covers the potatoes by about a centimeter. Immediately add some salt and add a little more bay leaf and garlic to taste.
- Turn on the device in “Soup” mode and set the operating time to 20 minutes.
- After cooking, drain the remaining water and mash the potatoes in any convenient way. This needs to be done in another container - the multicooker bowl is not intended for such manipulations.
- We heat the milk, but do not bring it to a boil, heat the butter and pour all these ingredients into the potatoes. Mix well until smooth.
Mashed potatoes with egg and milk
Required Products:
- 0.15 liters of milk;
- about a kilogram of potatoes;
- one egg;
- seasonings to your taste;
- a piece of butter weighing 30 grams.
Cooking process:
- Place the prepared potatoes in a saucepan, add water, add salt and other seasonings to your taste, and cook until soft.
- Remove the remaining liquid, keep for a couple of minutes on a warm stove to dry the potatoes, combine with oil and turn into a homogeneous mass using a masher or mixer.
- Pour in warm milk, while continuing to stir or beat, and then beat in the egg.
Please note that the potatoes should have cooled down a little by this time, and it is better to remove the egg from the refrigerator in advance. Cold egg whites dipped into very hot potato mixture may curdle.
Festive option in the oven
Required Products:
- a quarter stick of butter;
- kilogram of potatoes;
- spices to your taste;
- three spoons of sour cream.
Cooking process:
- First, boil the potatoes in the usual way until tender, not forgetting to add salt to the water.
- Knead it to a homogeneous consistency, combine with butter and sour cream.
- We transfer everything into a baking dish and keep it in the oven for literally 15 minutes at 190 degrees, until the dish forms a beautiful golden crust.
How to make delicious puree without milk
Mashed potatoes are usually prepared with milk, but what to do if you suddenly don’t have it on hand? Don’t be upset, because you can make an equally tasty dish without it.
Required Products:
- about a kilogram of potatoes;
- butter – 100 grams;
- spices to taste.
Cooking process:
- We clean the tubers, wash them well, chop them into cubes of approximately the same size and place them in a saucepan.
- Fill it with water so that the liquid slightly covers the potato cubes. Add salt and other spices, you can also add a bay leaf.
- Cook the root vegetables after boiling for about 20 minutes - the potatoes should become soft.
- We drain the water, but not all of it. Since we are preparing without milk, it is necessary to leave a little liquid, otherwise the puree will be dry.
- We spread the oil and knead everything.
When you are planning to prepare mashed potatoes, take a responsible approach to choosing the root vegetables themselves. Some varieties cook very poorly and the puree from them does not turn out tender.
Recipe with cheese
Required Products:
- 0.15 kg of hard cheese;
- kilogram of potatoes;
- seasonings to your taste;
- half a glass of milk or cream.
Cooking process:
- We clean the tubers, cut them, add water and cook for 20 minutes on the stove, not forgetting to add the selected spices.
- Drain the remaining liquid, knead in any convenient way, combine with hot milk and cheese, grated on a coarse grater. Stir the puree until smooth.
With milk and butter
Required Products:
- one and a half kilograms of potatoes;
- seasonings to taste;
- 100 grams of butter;
- about a glass of milk.
Cooking process:
- Prepare the potatoes for boiling: peel, rinse and cut into medium-sized pieces.
- We send the resulting pieces to a suitable container, completely cover them with water (even with a little extra), add salt and other seasonings to your taste.
- Cook for about 25 minutes until the tubers become soft. Then remove excess liquid.
- Heat the milk well and mix with the butter until it melts. Pour this mixture into the already prepared potatoes. Stir until smooth and serve.
Mashed potatoes with fried onions
This puree will not only be an excellent side dish, but it can also be used as a filling for various baked goods.
Required Products:
- two onions;
- any spices;
- about a kilogram of potatoes;
- milk - about a glass.
It is permissible to fry onions in either vegetable or butter.
Cooking process:
- As always, first prepare the potatoes and place them in a pot of water (the liquid should completely cover the contents). Cook until soft and then discard the remaining broth.
- While the cooking process is in progress, chop the onion into cubes and fry in oil until beautifully colored.
- Mix the already prepared and softened potatoes with preheated milk and onions, mix well so that there are no lumps left in the dish.
Required Products:
- a glass of milk;
- spices as desired;
- approximately 100 grams of butter;
- one and a half kilograms of potatoes.
Cooking process:
- Peel the skins of the potatoes and rinse thoroughly to remove dirt. We cut the tubers that are too large into pieces, which we place in a cooking container and fill with water. At this stage, you can add salt and add a bay leaf.
- Keep the potatoes on the stove until they are soft, then remove the remaining liquid.
- Warm the milk well, but do not bring it to a boil, pour it into a container and, using a mixer, beat the mass so that it becomes lighter, airier and completely free of lumps.
All that's left to do is add the oil. It can be put in pieces or pre-melted.
Mix our most delicate puree and serve with any meat and salad.
Mashed potatoes are a dish that never loses its relevance. It goes perfectly with any meat and vegetables, and becomes even tastier if you add gravy or sauce to it.
Only very novice cooks cannot cook mashed potatoes. But do you know all the nuances and all the cooking options? Very often in recipes on the Internet they write that the fluffiness and airiness of mashed potatoes depends on the type of potato. Or rather, from the starch content in it. This is absolutely true. But in everyday life, when buying potatoes at the market or in a store, how often do you have the opportunity to choose the right variety? And where is the guarantee that he will turn out to be so? Today I will not only offer you several options for mashed potatoes to choose from, but I will also tell you some secrets that will make any potato make very tasty, fluffy mashed potatoes.
But still a little about the varieties. There is a question online about why the puree turns out viscous and stringy. I used to think that you could get something like this if you pounded it not with a traditional masher, but with an immersion blender. Until I encountered this problem myself, having bought Egyptian potatoes in a store. Indeed, it turned out to be some kind of viscous mass, a very unusual consistency, similar to glue. Since then I have avoided buying this variety (or country of origin).
How to make mashed potatoes with milk
Let's start with the classic and most popular option with milk. We will cook it traditionally, in a saucepan, and we will use one trick that will make the dish fluffy and beautiful.
Ingredients for 2-3 servings:
- potatoes - 2 large tubers;
- butter – 60-70g;
- milk – 0.5 cups (125ml);
- salt - to taste.
How to cook delicious
By the way, it’s best to warm it up in the same way. You can add a little warm milk and heat over low heat, stirring constantly. Even the thickest puree will become fluffy and light when heated this way.
How to cook puree in a slow cooker
For those who are interested in the method of preparing mashed potatoes using a slow cooker, I suggest you familiarize yourself with how this is done. But you need to understand that in a bowl we will only boil the vegetable until tender, and then use our hands as usual. In this option, an egg will be added to the mixture.
Ingredients for 4-6 servings:
- potatoes – 1kg;
- milk – 1 glass (250ml);
- egg – 1 piece;
- butter – 50g;
- salt - to taste.
Cooking process
Egg is not a required ingredient. Then why is it needed? It is added only to improve the color of the dish, with it the mass has a pleasant yellow color, and, perhaps, for satiety. In my opinion, it does not impart tenderness and softness.
Mashed potatoes with water
As a rule, this recipe is needed by those who fast and during fasting do not consume any products of animal origin, not only meat, but even milk. For them - a recipe on water.
Ingredients for 4 servings:
- potatoes – 4-5 tubers;
- salt.
How to do it
That's all the difference.
Creamy mashed potatoes
But cream makes its taste richer and its consistency creamy and light. In addition, during cooking we will add onions to the pan. This may scare some people. Don't be afraid, the finished dish will not smell like onions. If they hadn’t told you about onions, you wouldn’t have understood anything, and you would have absolutely considered puree to be the most delicious.
Ingredients for 6-8 servings:
- potatoes – 1.5 kg;
- cream 10% - approximately 3/4 cup (200ml);
- butter – 60g;
- egg – 1 piece;
- onion – 1 head;
- salt.
How to do
Delicious puree with cream is ready!
For those who prepare a side dish quite often and who have a desire to diversify it in some way, I would like to offer additional ingredients for taste and aroma.
Puree with potatoes and parsnips
Parsnips are a plant whose root looks like a large white carrot. It is also called “white root”. The vegetable is very healthy and low-calorie. It gives the puree a special aroma and a slightly sweet taste.
- potatoes – 0.5 kg;
- parsnip – 250g;
- cream 10% - 50ml;
- butter – 40g;
- nutmeg - a pinch;
- salt;
- ground black pepper.
How to cook
If you want to increase the amount of parsnips, you will need to increase the amount of butter to keep the puree tender or add additional sour cream.
Is it possible to blend puree with a blender?
You can whip it, but the consistency of the dish, pureed using a blender or food processor, becomes viscous, which is not for everyone.
What to do if you over-salt your mashed potatoes?
If it is only slightly oversalted, you can correct the situation by adding: 1) a little more milk and butter; 2) raw egg (hot). If there is too much salting, then you will have to boil the potatoes again, but in fresh water, crush them and mix them with salted potatoes.
How to thicken puree?
If you accidentally poured milk, water or cream and ended up with a dish that is too thin, and you don’t want to additionally cook the potatoes to add to it, put it in a deep frying pan with a thick bottom, put it on a very low heat and, stirring constantly, thicken him this way. Remember that as it cools (especially in the refrigerator), it will thicken naturally.
How long does puree last in the refrigerator?
No more than 3 days. If the shelf life has exceeded three days, but still within reason, you can prepare some dish from it that requires additional heat treatment - casserole, flatbreads, pies, pancakes, etc.
What to serve mashed potatoes with?
In fact, in most cases it is a side dish, not the main dish. If you prepare it as the main thing, then you can serve it with any sauce to your taste: with cheese, sour cream, mushrooms. It’s good to serve salted or pickled cucumbers with mashed potatoes. In general, there is enough room for imagination here. The main thing is delicious, beautiful mashed potatoes.
To make the puree smooth and airy, choose starchy varieties. These are round potatoes with light brown skin and light flesh. Starchy potatoes become very soft when cooked, which ensures the delicate consistency of the puree.
But it is better not to use potatoes with red skin. It does not boil so much, and the puree may end up with lumps.
What to put in mashed potatoes, except potatoes
Classic mashed potatoes would not be complete without cream. If you want the dish to have a sophisticated aroma, add a few sprigs of thyme, rosemary or other herbs to the liquid and heat over low heat.
Skillet.lifehacker.com
Another product that makes mashed potatoes tasty and airy is butter. Do not feel sorry for it and do not skimp when purchasing: the oil should be high in fat content. As an alternative, you can take refined sunflower or olive oil. However, the taste of the puree in this case will be slightly different.
skillet.lifehacker.com Both milk and butter should be at room temperature. If they are cold, the potatoes will cool faster and the mashed potatoes will have to be stirred longer. This means that it may turn out sticky.
Some people add a few tablespoons of sour cream, mayonnaise, natural yogurt or grated cheese to mashed potatoes. You can also add a raw egg, fried onions or mushrooms for flavor.
If you want to give the mashed potatoes an unusual color, boil the potatoes along with beets, carrots or pumpkin.
Fresh herbs will add a special aroma to the finished puree. It can be stirred with the rest of the ingredients or sprinkled on the dish.
How to make mashed potatoes
Peel the tubers and cut them into equal large cubes. This way the potatoes will cook more evenly.
Place the cubes in a saucepan and fill with cold water so that it covers them by about 1 cm. Salt and put on fire.
By the way, people are still arguing about when to salt the puree. Alone Perfect Mashed Potatoes, Mashed Potatoes with Buttermilk, Black Pepper and Green Onion chefs salt at the beginning, others Emeril Lagasse's Garlic Mashed Potatoes- at the end, third Mashed Potatoes, Kind Of Robuchon-Style- after the water boils. Famous professionals also have divided opinions about what kind of water to put potatoes in: cold Perfect Mashed Potatoes or already boiling How to make mashed potatoes.
One thing is certain: the potatoes must be completely cooked. It is easier to check the degree of readiness with a knife. It should pierce the potato cube easily.
pluckytree/Flickr.com When the potatoes are ready, drain the liquid from the pan, drain the cubes in a colander and dry them slightly. To do this, you need to put them back into the hot pan and leave for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally. This will evaporate excess liquid from the potatoes, which is not needed at all in the puree.
Remember: the colder the potatoes, the more difficult it is to mash them.
The puree should not be mixed in a blender: because of this, it can become viscous, sticky and, of course, tasteless. It is better to make the puree by hand using a masher with holes. This won't take much effort because the starchy potatoes become very soft after boiling.
To prepare mashed potatoes from harder varieties, you can use a potato press. It will help get rid of lumps.
LexnGer/Flickr.com Then you need to add the remaining ingredients to the puree and mix well. Do not waste time and effort on this if you want the puree to be airy. At the end, you can season the puree with spices to taste and mix everything again.
Bonus: 4 unusual mashed potato recipes
Stacy Spensley / flickr.com Ingredients
- 400 g potatoes;
- 400 g cauliflower;
- 1 tablespoon butter;
- ½ cup cream;
- ¼ cup grated cheese;
- salt - to taste;
- a few sprigs of green onions.
Preparation
Let the potatoes cook. 10 minutes after the water boils, add the cauliflower florets and cook until tender.
Add butter, cream, cheese, salt to the mashed vegetables and mix well until smooth.
Before serving, sprinkle the puree with chopped green onions.
Ernesto Andrade / flickr.com Ingredients
- 1 kg of potatoes;
- 1 onion;
- 1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil;
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar;
- a few teaspoons of salt;
- ½ teaspoon sugar;
- 2 cups unsalted coconut milk;
- 1 tablespoon dried garlic.
Preparation
Boil the potatoes. Place the chopped onion in a frying pan with oil, add vinegar, a teaspoon of salt and sugar and cook for a few minutes. The onion should soften and turn golden brown.
Add garlic and fried onions to crushed potatoes. Mix well until smooth.
3. Baked potato and celery puree - Jamie Oliver's recipe
jamieoliver.com Ingredients
- 4 potatoes;
- sea salt - to taste;
- 300 g celery root;
- 1 head of garlic;
- 4 tablespoons olive oil;
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme;
- spices - to taste.
Preparation
Wash the potatoes and sprinkle with salt. Pierce the peel with a fork and place the tubers on a baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes in an oven preheated to 190°C.
Chop the celery root into large pieces. Place it and the garlic cloves on baking paper, sprinkle with salt, pepper, pour two tablespoons of olive oil and mix with your hands. Wrap the paper to make a package.
Half an hour after you start cooking the potatoes, place the bundle on a baking sheet and bake for another 20–30 minutes. The potatoes and celery root should be completely baked.
Peel the potatoes, squeeze out the pulp of the baked garlic and mix these ingredients with the celery. Add thyme leaves, olive oil and mix well. Season the puree with spices.
finedininglovers.com Ingredients
- 800 g potatoes;
- 500 g pumpkin;
- a little ghee;
- 1 clove of garlic;
- salt - to taste;
- 125 ml milk;
- 100 ml cream;
- 2 tablespoons butter;
- ground black pepper - to taste;
- a little nutmeg;
Preparation
Peel and cut the potatoes into cubes and boil for 25-30 minutes. Heat ghee in a frying pan and fry chopped garlic in it.
Drain the liquid from the pan, dry the vegetables and add milk, cream and butter to them. Mix well, season with salt, pepper, garlic and nutmeg and stir again.
It's hard to think of a more classic side dish than mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes are a desirable dish not only on the holiday table, but also on ordinary weekdays. You can serve mashed potatoes with a variety of dishes: roast chicken, roast turkey, stew, or as the main ingredient in shepherd's pie. Mashed potatoes can be fluffy and creamy or denser with a rich, rich flavor. In any case, mashed potatoes are not a monotonous side dish. After reading this article, you will learn how to make delicious mashed potatoes.
Ingredients
- 4 or 5 medium sized potatoes
- 1/2 - 1 cup milk or chicken broth (depending on what kind of puree you want to make)
- 2 or 3 tablespoons butter
- Salt and pepper to taste
Steps
Making country puree
-
Wash the potatoes. Wash each potato thoroughly with cold water. Carefully inspect each potato to ensure there is no dirt left anywhere. If you wash the potatoes in a bowl of water, do it thoroughly before cutting the potatoes.
- You can use a small brush specifically designed for scrubbing potatoes. You will be able to remove all the dirt.
-
You can cook the potatoes with their skins on, or you can peel the skins before cutting the potatoes into pieces. Quarter the potatoes or cut them into cubes.
- If you decide to boil the potatoes with their skins on, keep in mind that this will affect the texture of the mashed potatoes. Therefore, it is better to use Yukon Gold, as this potato variety has thin skin than Russet potatoes.
-
Prepare the potatoes. Place the prepared potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. The potatoes should be covered by several centimeters of water. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 to 20 minutes. Check the potatoes for doneness with a fork. The potatoes should be soft when pierced with a fork.
Prepare additional ingredients. While the potatoes are cooking, heat the chicken stock or milk and remove the butter from the refrigerator.
- Use chicken broth if you want a richly flavored puree. Thanks to milk, you can make potatoes with a creamy taste.
- If you heat the milk or broth, your puree will stay hot longer. In addition, potatoes absorb warm liquids better.
-
Drain and prepare potatoes. Use a colander to drain the potatoes. Place the pan back on the stove. Add room temperature butter and mash the potatoes.
- It is better to pound potatoes using a regular potato masher. However, do not overdo it, otherwise you will end up with a puree that is not the consistency expected in this recipe. Small pieces and peel should remain intact.
-
Add milk or broth. Do it gradually. Stir gently and add a little more liquid if your potatoes seem dry. Continue adding liquid gradually until the mashed potatoes reach the desired consistency.
- Do not add all the milk or broth at once. You may end up adding too much liquid and you end up with potato soup instead of puree. Add liquid depending on the type of potato and its starchy level.
-
Add spices and serve. Add salt, pepper and/or more oil to taste. Serve the puree warm.
- Additionally, you can add chopped onions or peppers to your dish.
Making Creamy, Smooth Mashed Potatoes
-
Choose potatoes. When choosing potatoes, consider what you will be cooking with them. Different varieties of potatoes intended for boiling, frying, and baking have different properties, as well as taste and texture.
- A common potato variety with high levels of starch is Russet. Nothing can beat it for baking and making light and fluffy mashed potatoes.
- Use low-starch potatoes, such as red potatoes. These potatoes are sometimes called waxy potatoes; they retain their shape better than other varieties.
- Yukon Gold potatoes can be used to prepare various dishes. You can fry, boil, bake this type of potato. If you decide to mash this potato variety, you will end up with a delicious, creamy dish.
-
Wash the potatoes. Wash each potato thoroughly with cold water. Carefully inspect each potato to ensure there is no dirt left anywhere. If you wash the potatoes in a bowl of water, do so thoroughly before you cut the potatoes.
Prepare the potatoes for boiling. Peel the potatoes before cutting them into pieces. Quarter the potatoes or cut them into cubes. The larger the pieces, the longer the potatoes will cook.
Choose potatoes. When choosing potatoes, think about what you will cook with them. Different varieties of potatoes intended for boiling, frying, and baking have different properties, as well as taste and texture.
Who doesn't love it?! Now it’s even difficult to imagine our kitchen without potatoes. Sometimes potatoes are even called “second bread”. And there are so many different options for preparing potatoes - fried, boiled, baked. Potatoes are used for pies and pies, zraz and casseroles, even for making dough! And, of course, everyone’s favorite mashed potatoes, which are prepared both for the festive table and for a simple family dinner.
But just a couple of centuries ago, our ancestors had no idea about the existence of this vegetable. It is not known for certain who first brought potatoes to Russia and taught us to eat them. It is believed that this was the inquisitive Tsar Peter I, the author of a large number of innovations in Russia, many of which were introduced by force. There is a belief that, having learned about this vegetable in Europe, he sent potatoes as a gift to Count Sheremetev. Having bitten into the unsightly-looking fruit, even fearing to incur the royal wrath on his own head, the count could not hide his disgust. They tried potatoes raw, sometimes even instead of root vegetables they ate green seeds that form on the plant itself. Our ancestors' first encounter with potatoes was not very pleasant. Another confirmation of how important it is to cook correctly and tasty! 
But in the 18th century, potatoes were “tasted.” Most likely, they just learned how to cook. At first it was a delicacy among the nobility, and then potatoes spread so much throughout Russia that they became a common food for ordinary people. And now there is no more popularly loved “Russian” vegetable than potatoes.
I had one friend, the sweetest person at heart. Spending time with her was always a pleasure. From my point of view, she had only one drawback - she did not know how to cook. Do you know what could be worse than a wife who knows how to cook but doesn’t like to do it? Only the wife who doesn’t know how, but loves to cook. It was always with some inner horror that I tried my friend’s dishes. If there is a talent for being a bad cook, she clearly had it.
One day there was . Seeing this, I sighed with relief, because it’s simply impossible to cook poorly! Fried potatoes can be undercooked, overcooked, oversalted, and baked potatoes can be overdry. But what could be simpler? Even if you over-salt the potatoes during cooking, you can correct this by adding milk, but you can only digest the potatoes for mashed potatoes by completely forgetting about them! How wrong I was... it can even be ruined.
But if you use a few simple tips, you can prepare a delicious dish. So:
Selecting and preparing potatoes
Not all potatoes can be mashed. There are varieties of potatoes that no matter how long you cook, they still will not become soft enough. Such boiled and crushed potatoes will still contain pieces, and the puree will never be sufficiently homogeneous. 
By the way, such varieties are not suitable for mashed potatoes, but they are ideal for and where it is important that the potatoes do not lose their structure.
It is important to wash and clean the potatoes well, not only from the peel and eyes, but also from all darkened areas found under the skin. All these places are like bruises on the body, there is nothing good there. Yes and color puree may be spoiled. When peeling potatoes, do not store already peeled ones in the open air - the potatoes will begin to darken.
Peeled potatoes can be cut into arbitrary pieces. The main thing is that they are not too big and not too small, and what is very important - approximately the same in size. Pieces that are too large will cause the surface and core to cook unevenly. Too small ones will release nutrients into the water. Pieces of different sizes require different cooking times, and in one pan the small ones will boil, while the large ones will still be raw.
Cooking potatoes
There should not be too much water, just enough to cover the surface of the potatoes. After bringing to a boil, you need to remove the foam. Yes, like when preparing meat broth. There is nothing good or healthy in this foam, quite the contrary, and it can spoil the taste and appearance of the puree. 
You need to add salt not immediately after boiling water, as many housewives do, but 7-10 minutes after boiling. Salt water increases cooking time and causes tough potatoes. To determine how much salt you need, just try the water by first stirring it after adding salt. The water should be pleasantly salty; if the water tastes too salty, it will turn out too salty. puree. Another mistake, in my opinion, is to salt the potatoes directly during cooking. puree from boiled potatoes. The salt will not have time to combine with the potatoes, and you will end up with a “biting” salt.
The water should not boil violently, as the surface of the potatoes will boil faster than the middle, which will affect the uniformity, and you should not cook the potatoes over very low heat - it will take forever, and crumbling will never appear. The taste will be irreparably spoiled.
When a knife or fork enters the potatoes easily and effortlessly, they are ready. Drain the water in which you cooked. And we do puree immediately before the potatoes have cooled down. If you need puree, say, for, then it’s still better to cook it and then leave it to cool. Because if the potatoes cool down, they will lose their crispness.
Preparing puree
Immediately after cooking, drain the water. The potatoes should be crushed very quickly to a puree. The water in which potatoes have been boiled is often used to add it back to the mashed potatoes, making them softer and juicier. But it is better to use heated milk for this purpose. Never add cold milk to potatoes, as well as cold butter. The temperature difference will not have the best effect on the taste and structure.
Mash the potatoes using a regular potato masher. It is better not to use a blender or mixer: in this case puree will turn into a homogeneous sticky semi-liquid mass. Nowadays, a press through which boiled potatoes are pressed to obtain mashed potatoes is becoming widespread. This press is an ideal tool with which you can obtain a homogeneous puree without lumps, without the danger of “over-grinding” and getting a sticky structure.
Let's diversify the taste
Don't forget that different varieties of potatoes have different tastes. And accordingly, different varieties of potatoes will taste different. puree. If you first keep the potatoes in the freezer and then cook them puree, then it will turn out sweetish; under the influence of temperature, the starch structure is destroyed. “Frozen” potatoes are not stored for a long time, so if you use this trick, 
then only directly with the amount of potatoes that will be used immediately.
Additional ingredients are added to the chopped potatoes. This can be boiling milk (or cream) or butter. Sour cream can be added instead of milk and butter. Mashed potatoes with the addition of soft cream cheese, such as Philadelphia, will be very airy and with a pleasant cheese flavor. Chopped herbs, dill, parsley, and onions will add pleasant spring freshness. Olive oil and garlic will add a unique piquancy. Fried bacon - "meaty taste." Turmeric not only gives puree a pleasant yellow tint, but also very useful.
In addition to turmeric, you can use other products to add color. For example, chopped green peas will make the puree green, carrot juice - orange, tomato juice - red, and boiled beets - burgundy. And by adding sweet potato puree (yams), you can not only decorate the puree, but also add a sweet taste. Among other spices, it is good to use red and black pepper, nutmeg, saffron, in a word, everything is up to your taste and choice.
Cook with pleasure!
How to properly prepare mashed potatoes updated: November 4, 2016 by: admin
