The tricks of making the perfect mashed potato

Everyone at least once in his life cooked mashed potatoes. It would seem that could be easier? But some housewives it turns out tender and without lumps, and others - worse than from the station dining room. "Site" How to avoid the most common mistakes and still cook puree.





The main element in the preparation of mashed potatoes is, of course, the potato itself. All sources agree that the variety of potatoes should be chosen by the content of starch: varieties with a high content of starch are more crumbly, which allows you to achieve a smoother, silky consistency.





There is an easy way to find out how much starch is in potatoes. Cut it into two halves, rub them against each other, and then grab one half: if the potatoes stick together and do not fall, then there is a lot of starch in the tuber.

5 Mistakes on the Way to the Perfect Mashed Potato

1. Cut potatoes before cooking
   Potatoes for mashed potatoes before cooking are cleaned, but not cut. Otherwise, it boils faster but loses its taste. Cook potatoes should be in a large pan under the lid on a strong fire.
   
   
   
2. Throw potatoes in hot water, or do not drain water after cooking
   If you start cooking potatoes in hot water, it will boil unevenly: the outside will boil, and the inside will remain raw. It is better to fill the potatoes with cold water, add salt, then bring to a boil and reduce the fire. To puree turned out to be fragrant, you can add to the water with potatoes a little black pepper with peas, a couple of bay leaves, garlic, carrot, bulb. Potatoes are cooked enough when they can be cut with the blunt back of a kitchen knife. Do not leave boiled potatoes in water, be sure to drain them. You don't want mashed potatoes to taste like water.
   
   After draining the water, cover the pot with a napkin and put on the weakest fire so that the potatoes are slightly dried. It's about 2-3 minutes. Thus, when you add milk and butter to potatoes, it will absorb more of these tasty ingredients, which means that it will become even tastier.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Pour the butter
   Pour water, salt potatoes and add butter to it at room temperature. Real puree requires a very large amount of oil. For example, the French chef Joël Robuchon, whose recipe for mashed potatoes became famous all over the world, takes 250-300 grams of butter per 1 kilogram of potatoes It is difficult to give advice here, everyone must determine the maximum amount of butter for himself (the more it is - the puree is tastier, but accordingly more caloric, which is not suitable for everyone).
   
   The presence of quality oil makes the puree tender, helps to achieve a creamy consistency and gives a light creamy taste. The main feature of the “Stolovsk” mashed potatoes is wateriness, which indicates the absence of fat in it.
   
   In addition to traditional butter and milk (cream), you can add finely chopped greens, crushed garlic or fried onions to the puree. It is not necessary to enter an egg in puree, from this it will acquire a brighter color, but it will become tougher.
   
   
   
   
   
4. Use a blender.
   Do not use high-speed blenders and harvesters to whip potatoes, because they grind the potatoes too finely, and you will get a sticky cluster instead of mashed potatoes. Use a simple push, or better yet, a hand mill for grinding potatoes.
   
   
   
   The hand mill works on the principle of gratering. Making circular movements with a pen, you rub potatoes into an iron strainer, from which the potato emerges like the finest mince from a meat grinder. In the future, it is this texture of potatoes that makes it completely airy puree. By the way, with the mill perfectly turn out any vegetable and fruit purees, including children's.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Make the potatoes "wait"
   In whipped with butter potatoes, gradually pour hot milk, continuing to mix it. Ideally, the temperature of the milk should coincide with the temperature of the potato. Do not add cold milk - puree will change color to gray.
   
   
   
   Potatoes don’t like to wait long. Ideally, it should be served on the table immediately after whipping. And even more so, you can not leave it in the refrigerator overnight, after which its taste will be irretrievably spoiled.
   
   
   
   
   

Reduce calorie It will help to replace milk with potato broth. You can also replace some of the potatoes with another well-boiled vegetable with a neutral taste: for example, turnips, kohlrabi, parsnip or topinambour.

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