Baked potato with steak
Mashed with most other cuts of meat

Paul Prudhommes mashed potatoes at K-Pauls Louisiana Kitchen in NO are pretty special too!

Not really. You can't make up roasted potatoes or rice a day or two in advance, they will shrivel up, but you can make up mashed potatoes in a big vat, add cream and serve them as fresh for a day or two and get away with it. Hence, they are cheaper to serve and less labour intensive.

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You can do that with any potato dish in one way or another. What you are basically saying is that crappy mashed potatoes aren't as good as good roast or baked potatoes. That isn't a very reasonable or useful comparison.

Potatoes fried/roasted in some fashion here. In France, aligot.

Mashed! with lots of butter, pepper and a touch of garlic :)

So what? As GF said, your beef seems to be against bad mashed potatoes. Have you ever had *good* mashed potatoes?

And I still don't agree that mashed potatoes are less labor intensive than serving wild rice. Certainly the prep to get that big vat of mashed requires quite a bit of effort.

I made mashed potatoes according to Robuchons recipe once. As I recall it was whipping potatoes, butter and heavy cream until fluffy. Then pushing the potatoes through a sieve with a wooden mallet; twice. Think about pushing mashed potatoes through a screen door with a wooden mallet. I only made them once because I thought my arms were going to explode from the effort.

Its really kind of silly to be having a comparison of good mashed potatoes to two day old lumpy (specifically noted in one of the above posts) ones. Again, the real message is that bad mashed potatoes arent good or perhaps dont eat at restaurants that serve two day old food, both of which are more or less "dog bites man".

Indeed. And further, one of the marks of a great chef, at least in my view, is taking something simple, something we know, something comfortable, and making it transcendent and surprisingly delicious. SamCat may not be appreciating what that requires...

Indeed, and in addition to the mashed potatoes; having had roast chicken, broiled fish or a poached pear at Michelin three star restaurants, among other examples, I do.

Indeed. They say the true test of a chef is his or her roast chicken. I think it's an excellent test. ;)

‘Labor intensiveness’ is the barometer by which you’re going? In that case, a nicely grilled, medium rare steak must be bottom of barrel crap. After all, not much other than toasting bread is as easy as that. Certainly less labor intensive than mashed potatoes.

In other words, you’re not making much sense.

Neither. Frites + bearnaise sauce.

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Balthazar serves a very nice version of this. It's on their late night menu as well I think.

Hash browns with melted cheddar......^

Usually opt for grilled veggie alternative. If not, baked -- mashed potatoes at lots of places tend to have way too much cream for me; not a fan.

If those were the only two options then mashed. But I usually make my own and this is what I put in it.

3 cheeses
sour cream
butter
chives
bacon bits
heavy cream
potatoes with skin
salt/pepper

YUM, though it seems like a heart attack is waiting to happen.

Sorry, but I have no idea what "TP" stands for in this case.

baked potatoes. duh :D
but I like fries too.

If a restaurant serves it right, I like a baked potato. However, most restaurants serve the potato too cold.

I love mashed potato (my own version is made with natural yoghurt, butter and chives), but I do love the way US restaurants do baked potatoes. So in the UK, chips or mash are fine, but in the US then baked :)

Do they even do baked in restaurants in the UK? Bangers and bake? :D

You will find most pubs that offer food in the UK have baked potatoes on the menu, usually with a savoury topping such as cheese, beans, chilli etc. You don't see them on menus so much in restaurants, baked spuds are seen more as a snack or a light lunch.

I prefer mashed potatoes when I'm at home...my mother in law taught my wife how to make these KILLER mashed potatoes...cream cheese, sour cream, and butter, etc...YUMMY!
At a restaurant, I usually go baked.

Either.. does not matter to me.

Garlic mashed with blue cheese

or

Baked potato rubbed with bacon fat and sea salt. Topped with butter and Kraft BBQ sauce

Baked. Fresh from the garden. Skin flaky, inside steaming. Greek Yoghurt instead of sour cream. Chives, or garlic chives also from the garden.

Wrap the spuds in corn husks (or foil if not corn season,) and bury them in the coals - fireplace or grill. A little burned on the outside is OK.

I had my birthday dinner at a different Roy's and requested the poblano mashed potatoes instead of the regular ones. So ono! ^^^

That sounds heavenly

Peasant food? Really?

^

as for Mashed spuds haven't most restaurants got lazy and now refer to them as crushed?

Fork a potato and rub the potato with a slice of uncooked bacon to lightly coat it with the bacon fat. Sprinkle a little sea salt. Wrap in foil and toss in a 400 degree oven for around 45 minutes.

Slightly mash up the baked potato and add butter (I prefer Alta Dena creamy butter) and drizzle lightly with Kraft BBQ sauce (not too much).

When finished, make an appt with a cardiologist.

+1

Actually, one thing that really irritates me is the use of the wrong potato for mashing, baking or roasting. For example, someone suggested roasting the little red potatoes. I find that they don't roast nearly as well as russet potatoes which develop a nice crust on the outside, and a fluffy inside.

I also find that red potatoes make a very gluey, unpleasant mashed potato.

The small red new potatoes are best used for salads or just boiled enough so that they are tender.

At Home:

Summer-baker

Winter-mashed

In a Steakhouse:

Au Gratin or hashbrown

More and more referred to as "smashed."

Actually I enjoy eating the skin along with the flesh whenever I have baked potato.

IIRC, in the school cafeteria, they always called them "whipped." Even way back then, I'm pretty sure they came out of a box. Ick.

For red potoatos...

Cut them up into cubes and toss into a glass pan.

Coat lightly with olive oil. Add garlic, bacon, rosemary, parmesan cheese, and butter.

Cook at 400 for about 30 minutes or until tender.

:)

Mashed are the best of the original two (mashed v. baked ), but if fries are an option I will always choose them!!

I love the shoestring fries at Ruth's Chris.

The other night I made Ore Ida frozen mashed potatoes ( you have to add milk and butter) and I would defy anyone to tell that they weren't fresh.

Bobette