Mashed Potato Add-ins
 

I grew up with basic, bland food. Watching my mother, I learned to mash potatoes with the addition of milk and margarine.

Over time, I’ve experimented with roasted garlic, butter, various seasonings like smoked paprika, parsley or thyme. I always add some form of non dairy milk as well for texture.

I was watching a favorite vlogger on YouTube, Atomic Shrimp, and he added butter, sage, chives and a raw egg. I’d never seen a raw egg used before.

what goes in your mashed potatoes?

Butter, salt, pepper, real bacon bits. Sour cream to top.

Try making;

Bubble and squeak
colcannon

Both mashed potato based dishes. Both delicious.

A raw egg?? :eek:
Other than butter and milk (or buttermilk) I will sometimes add cream cheese and or chives. Actually lots of cheeses work---parm, boursin spread, sharp cheddar. Bacon works too. Or caramelized onions.

I made mashed potatoes last night (with grilled salmon and spinach sautéed with garlic).

I tried the egg, but it still needed moistening (or more than one egg). I also added butter, almond milk, sage and prodigious amounts of Asiago cheese. It was delicious but the cheese was not Whole 30 compliant and technically I should be starting over. However, I decided on day 1 that this would be a “dirty thirty”. Unfortunately I feel quite bloated this morning and it may be due to the cheese.

The egg goes in raw, but the heat of the potatoes cooks it. Not much riskier than a runny fried or scrambled egg. IMO anyway.

But what does the egg add to it? Flavor? Texture?
I am not afraid of raw eggs but I can't imagine the heat of the potatoes cooks the white enough so it isn't gloopy.

I never sensed it’s presence. Atomic Shrimp made mash for one and used a single egg. I made mash for three (probably could have served five) and only added one egg. So, I probably needed another 2-4 eggs to achieve the same outcome. I will try again and be a little more faithful to his video and let you know. I’m guessing it adds richness and texture and moisture and protein. Maybe it’s hallucinogenic. I won’t know until I do it properly. Oh, and it’s beaten egg.

I’ve made my own version many times. Generally mashed potatoes and green cabbage cooked in the fat of the bacon I add to it. I’ve had bubble and squeak at the company caf in a UK plant. I didn’t notice any seasoning, but maybe there was some.

No add-ins here, please. And no lumps in the potatoes! For me, mashed potatoes are simply an excuse to eat gravy.

Whole egg is kind of strange, but I could see adding egg yolks to give it a glossiness.

I don't make mash often, but I don't mind making something like colcannon. A few years ago there was a chef here who convinced everyone (for a while) that Irish stodge was the new haute cuisine and everyone in Sydney was making colcannon or variations of it.

Boiling the potatoes in chicken stock also adds a bit of depth.

Joël Robuchon demonstrates his most famous dish:


English translation is in the comments on YouTube.

Nothing. I’ve only made mashed potatoes once this way. Patricia Wells, who I think was the food critic at the International Herald Tribune back in the 80s and 90s wrote a number of food books as well. For one of them she went in the kitchen of Joel Robuchon in Paris and worked with him to write a cookbook of some of his recipes. One of them was his mashed potatoes. It started with nearly as much butter as potatoes and maybe a bit of heavy cream. That was mixed in a large blender with a heavy arm to mostly mix it up. Then the potato/butter mix was pushed through a fine screen with a wooden mallet, multiple times to make them very, very, smooth. I thought my arms were going to fall off from pushing a thick mix of potatoes and butter through that screen. But they were divine. You can approximate them without the screen. The large amount of butter is critical. I’ve also had them in his restaurants which lets someone else do the work.

Oops. I posted when I read the first post and didn’t scroll to the end. But yes, the Joel Robuchon version. Wonderful.

I've never done the egg thing, but I would suspect the yolk would add a richness to it. The egg white probably not add much to it. That said, you can't do it too hot else the egg will cook and scramble... haven't seen the video, but I'd probably fold the egg (yolk) into the mash...

I generally do butter (or a little bit of bacon fat if I have it on hand) and maybe some green onion/chives. I occasionally add shredded cheese for a change of pace. Goat cheese isn't too bad either. When I was younger, I would sometimes mix in some spoonfuls of my mom's pork bone soup into it along with some of the meat...actually small strips of any meat is always a nice addition. Real bacon cut up works as well.

My uncle adds a hard-boiled egg when he makes mashed potatoes. I don't think adds much to the dish.

In addition to garlic and white pepper, we add chicken or beef stock to make it a bit more smooth while also adding a bit of saltiness.

Yep, did you see the massive amount of butter he used? He had a better screen to strain it through than I did so I had to hold both the screen amd mallet I was using to push the mix through.

Whole grain mustard

On the rare occasions that I make mashed potatoes I usually just add salt, pepper, herbes de Provence, and a little cream. And then I put a pat of butter on to serve. :)

The mustard idea above sounds good too. Almost a potato-salad ingredient.

Butter, cream and kosher salt goes in mine. Then mashed using a hand masher. Never in a blender. I prefer a couple of lumps in my mashed potatoes.

I don't bother peeling the skins... I just chop the potatoes up, remove any spoiled parts and toss them into the water. I like the texture of the skins.

Robuchon was named chef of the century by the Gault Miller restaurant guide. I found his recipe online and it was about 2 pounds of potatoes and one pound of butter.

I also like the skins. My grandma used to tell me "that's where all the vitamins are!" and part of me still believes her...

I like it both ways actually, but they are noticeably different dishes dishes I think.

I have used Yukon Golds recently and the skins are so thin you almost don’t notice. I usually make my mash with red potatoes and peel them. Which I won’t do if they’re going into potato salad.

Statin manufacturers voted him #1 as well ;)

From a flavor standpoint, you could add just about anything in. Mashed potato is good vessel for a lot of flavors. Personally, I'm a huge fan of brandade (cod and olive oil added usually) scooped on a nice crostini. But for a more typical mashed potato side: butter, milk (or sometimes sour cream - makes it thicker but good flavor), and S&P are enough. Maybe some grated parm or a soft cheese.

The egg is odd to me because I think of it as a binding agent. I would mix a beaten egg with leftover mashed potatoes and cheese to make mashed potato cakes or into a ball, covered in bread crumbs, and fried. The egg holds it together. Not sure I want that in regular mashed, but based on this thread maybe it works out.

And I 100% agree with the poster who mentioned it's just a good reason to eat gravy!

If Robuchon’s recipe isn’t quite rich enough, why not try pommes aligot

https://amp.theguardian.com/food/202...elicity-cloake

For me the ne plus ultra of potato decadence is tartiflette. But you can't buy reblochon in the US since it's a raw milk cheese. You can use raclette instead but it's not quite the same.

There used to be a French Market in my town. One of the street food vendors sold tartiflette - it was divine and when I knew it was in town I would make the effort to buy a container of it.

Reading this as someone that doesn't mind mashed potatoes, I still remain convinced that if the mashed potatoes now have a health profile worse than a fatty steak, I'd rather eat french fries.

A bit of cream and butter and some salt y pepper - fine with me. All the other stuff, just put them over a basket of fries instead.

Neighbour asked me today if I wanted some of those instant mash potatoes (don't judge) packs... I took a few packs... planning on making an improvised sheppards pie tonight with one of them (ground pork, some frozen corn/carrots/peas, brown gravy... not likely to bother broiling it, but we'll see).

Now to see what else I can do with them...

I tend to agree. Although I'd take wedges or fat crinkle cut chips over french fries.

The only judgment for this is "wise". The instant mashed, while not something you'd serve at a homemade holiday meal, are actually very good and have a lot of uses. Shepherd's pie is a great example, especially for either a nice smooth or piped surface. You can use the flakes to thicken a soup or sauce, and they make good breading for fish (and probably other things). We always have a few packs on hand.

Thanks! I never thought about using them as breading. The shepherd's pie was interesting as I didn't bother crusting it, but it wasn't supposed to be a feast, more "let's clear out the freezer of some stuff since we have this"... Getting better at rotating foods before they get freezer burn.

Next project... might try to make something like gnocchi (never done it before, going to hide any evidence of failure)... then we'll see. Unfortunately I don't know how they were stored previously (looks like they likely just sat in the box they came in) but I'd keep some on hand in case of a power failure... we've had quite a few brownouts as of late and while I don't expect any blackouts to last long, having a variety of "instant" things I can whip up when hungry always helps. Ramen can only take you so far. :)

You are trying to make gnocchi or want to cook already made and packaged gnocchi? If the later, the instructions should be on the package...usually just drop into boiling salted water for a few minutes.

Making gnocchi from the instant mashed potatoes. Then I can dress it up a bit... Only realized this afternoon that I have a whack of green onions that I should start using (been chopping them up and tossing them into my freezer only to forget them... So want to add that and see what else I can toss in...

That's an interesting idea. I assume they'd be cooked first? They seem too thin for gnocchi when cooked, but maybe once you add flour or whatever it works out. Let us know how it goes. If it works, you could really get creative, as the flavored instant potatoes are good -- I can imagine the garlic or parmesan would make tasty gnocchi.

He could cut the liquid in half when making the potatoes. Plus if he refrigerates the mashed potatoes before forming into gnocchi they will firm up.

Was going to try it this weekend, but due to a work issue, it'll have to wait... from the videos I've looked at, semi-cooked. You dump one cup of flakes, one cup of very hot water, work it together, then toss in a cup-ish of flour and an egg for binding.... work into a dough and portion it out. Relatively simple enough. I was thinking the green onions only because I have copious amount of them, but I might try your suggestions or mix in some savoury asian sauces I have sitting in my fridge (one of my bad habits is picking up a bottle/jar of sauce to try it and then forgetting to use it up).... or I do have some goat cheese that might work in well with this stuff..

All good tips. If work doesn't kill me first, then I'll try this weekend, if not, it'll have to wait til next weekend... slow moving disaster in progress. :)

You are going to put the green onions or asian sauces on the gnocchi?? :eek:

I might just leave everything out except maybe some butter... Less for me to screw up. Trying to architect a security solution for a client that wants it yesterday is not conducive to relaxing and cooking.