What's your secret for awesome mashed potatos?

I like them with cream cheese mixed in them. I have never made mashed potatoes but that is what my sister adds and they are fantastic.

Put ‘em in an 8×12 glass pan… and spread cheddar cheese all over the top. Put in oven ‘til melted. Share and enjoy!

@john: Deeeeee-licious. Add a little sour cream to the mix, place in a baking dish, a few pats of butter on the top, bake until the top has a little brown to it. It is like a heart attack on a spoon, but so very delicious.

I put butter, sour cream, cream cheese sometimes and lots of salt and pepper. If you like them lumpy use a masher, if not then use a hand blender. Milk is good as well. I wish I could eat them cause I make them all the time.

Use a potato ricer. Then butter, half and half, Morton’s Nature’s Seasoning to taste.

Throw some wasabi in them taters.

leave the skins on(red is great), put some minced garlic and a little fresh dill. Some cracked pepper and goat cheese. Smash them but don’t over do it. Chunky is good.

My dad puts cream in when he make mashed potatoes. Very smooth.

Alfreda hit my personal mashing preference, the ricer is quick and really fluffs those potatoes up.
My personal secret is sweet corn by the way, I always mixed the 2 when I could as a kid. Chives too, gotta have chives.

My tip is from Emeril. After you drain the potatos, return them to the pan for a short time. The residual heat will suck the extra moisture from the potatos, resulting in a less runny start.

Use a whisk or something similar for really smooth texure, plus some salt, pepper, a tablespoon of butter and a slosh of full cream milk. Even some herbs such as basil or dill makes a great tasting mash.

Adding a little cheese on the top then grilling is also always good.

Just a dab of cream cheese.

Skins, definitely.

I do “lumpy” potatoes… meaning, a handfull of deep “mash” motions and then leave the rest as is, skin on.

1) Boil Potatoes in Chicken Broth, this includes water with “chicken flavored cubes”. Takes care of the salt content, plus gives the potatoes a nice color.
2) In a pan, take maybe half a stick of butter and two big spoon fulls of minced garlic. In a small pot, melt the two together on low heat.
3) When you go do the light “mashing”, add the butter/garlic combo to the potatoes.

…they’re good enough right there. However, at Thanksgiving I add the “omg” effect.

4) Place the mashed potatoes (w/ garlic sauce) into a pan. Glass or ceramic, no difference. Cover with shredded cheese, cheddar works best, and add “Real Bacon Bits”. They sell actual cooked bacon in glass bottles, diced: I’m not talking about the little red “pebbles” they call “Bac-o-bits”.
5) Cover with aluminum foil, place in the oven at 325 for about 10–15 minutes.
6) Do not remove the foil until you are ready to serve. There are magical things happening in that pan… let them go as long as they like.

my other half does them in a pressure cooker. They taste like the insides of baked potatoes. It also seems to break them down to a better texture.

My boyfriend makes the Cook’s Illustrated Mashed Potatoes and Carrots. They end up tasting tangy and cheesy instead of carrot-y, but without cheese! Since I’ve been trying to lose weight, they were good. (Actually, they were good either way, but I thought he was sabotaging my weight loss until I found out it was carrots, not cheese.)

I use a hand mixer to mash and add sour cream. Add garlic to the water while cooking.

Chicken broth instead of butter to reduce calories. it still tastes great!

I boil mine, all cubed to roughly the same size and started in cold water. While they are getting happy I melt butter in a small pan with buttermilk. After spuds are done I drain and return to pan to dry, then I add in a couple of cups of shredded white cheddar cheese, mash that up well, then stir in the butter/buttermilk mix along with some salt and white pepper(to avoid black specks.). I make these just like this to gobble down as a side, or even better on top of my Shepards Pie. My wife always asks how I get them so soft and fluffy. I think it’s the love I mix in. ;)

empress;
Can he give us the recipe?

stevenb, you may want to rethink cubing your potatoes, the smaller the pieces, the more vitamins and minerals they lose to the water. The rest of your recipe sounds great, I should get some white pepper I think.

No-one uses a beer bottle? That’s my second choice for mashing device.

Carrots are the bomb, I forgot all about them!

Judi: I googled it and here are two versions:
http://kitchen-parade-veggieventure.blogspot.com/2005/04/day-28-mashed-potatoes-carrots.html

http://www.bordersstores.com/features/feature.jsp?file=mashedpotatoes

I know the second is not what we used because I’m on a diet, so he promised to cut back on butter and cream in what we eat. The first looks right. I’m going to google around a bit more to make sure. (He is unavailable to respond, though he often does, as he is home being sick. But I’ll ask him tomorrow.)

More Google shows that there are so many versions of the CI recipe out there, I’m just going to have to ask. (All with varying amounts of butter.)

@Hoosier. I should have said cut up. I quarter them mostly, unless they are huge, them I probably cut them into eighths or so. It makes for more even cooking if they are all close to the same size. No overcooked ones, and no under cooked ones. Sorry for the misspeakedness.;p I was in a hurry.

add some whipping cream, garlic if you like, leave the skins on and a little lumpy – perfect!