Mashed potatoes... I don't get it

[mechtilde]

To avoid lumps, use floury potatoes which don't hold together as the waxy potatoes do. Make sure they are properly cooked (but don't let them disintegrate!) to be absolutely sure, use a potato ricer.

[Sharnita]

I use a hand mixer with milk and butter.

[Outdoor Girl]

A good hand blender will make quick work of mashed potatoes and get rid of most of the lumps.

We never had instant mashed potatoes growing up but we did used the boxed mixes for scalloped potatoes.  I made them from scratch a while ago and my family prefers the boxed kind.   

[Hmmmmm]

Back in the 70's early 80's, my mom would keep the powdered kind on hand for us to make with dinner if she wasn't around.  My favorite food when I was feeling ill was to make up a packet of them thicker than normal, mix in a ton of sour cream, butter, sharp cheddar cheese and bacon bits and bake in the oven. 

I still keep a box around for using as a thickner in some soups or to coat fish before baking.  I've also used them in place of bread crumbs when cooking for those avoiding gluten.

[RebeccainGA]

DP won't eat the potato flakes - but loves the boxed 'scalloped potatoes' mixes. I grew up on boxed mashed potatoes, and won't eat them as an adult - if I don't want to make them, I buy the plastic tubs at the grocery store (the garlic Country Crock ones are the best).

[amylouky]

I much prefer real mashed potatoes.. I don't peel them, and I add salt, pepper, garlic powder, milk, sour cream, and a bit of ranch dressing before blending them with a hand mixer.
BUT.. I do use potato flakes when I don't have the 45 minutes it takes to make "real" ones, as in, late getting home from work and the kids need to eat. I also keep them on hand for if I accidentally add too much milk to the real ones, just to thicken them up. I don't like liquidy mashed potatoes.

[emwithme]

The best thing I ever bought for mashing potatoes was my potato ricer.

My disabilities make me tire very easily but I can make enough mashed potato to cover a four-person cottage pie in five minutes; it's just squeeze the potatoes, add a little milk, some butter and freshly ground black pepper, maybe some mustard powder, and give it all a stir with a big spoon. 

However, we do have some instant mash powder in the house, for those occasions when I'm not well enough to handle knives or haven't got the energy to make proper potatoes, and DH isn't around.  It's not the same but sometimes you just have to make sacrifices. 

[Luci45]

I made 20 lbs of mashed potatoes for our pre-Thanksgiving extended family meal last Sunday. Instead of a potatoe ricer, I used the food mill I use when canning.

The worst restaurant  I ever ate in had instant iced tea, frozen meatballs, and instant mashed potatoes. It is loudly proclaimed because it has a sod roof and goats graze on it. Blech!

[Margo]

I'm finding this an interesting discussion as it would never occur to me to think of mashed potato as something which was difficult or particularly time consuming to make. I guess if you are cooking for a large number of people the actual mashing could take a while, if you don't have any cooks-minions or a food mixer.

I like to mash mine with a bit of celeriac, to add to the flavour. floury potatoes are best if you want to avoid lumps.

I've had the instant kind, but only as part of school lunches (and hated them - they always seem incredibly salty and tasteless to me!) Have they improved any in the last 25 years?

[jmarvellous]

I never realized until I was an adult why some potatoes tasted 'off' -- it was because they were powdered. We never had them at home, and I wasn't even aware they existed. I bought those Country Crock ones in a tub when I got my wisdom teeth out, and no thank you very much!

I love mashed potatoes with about a 1:1 potato to garlic clove ratio. Olive oil or soy margarine, plain soy milk and lots of salt and pepper, and they are as good as vegan food gets. (I've gotten in the habit of making them vegan for the restricted eaters in my family, but a bit of sour cream is great if your family's not quite that restrained.)  I don't mind lumps and like some soft bits of skin.

Alas, my chief regret about spending the rest of my life with my boyfriend is that he does not like mashed potatoes. 

[Outdoor Girl]

With my Mom gone, I'm the chief cook for our family holiday dinners.  I get to just holler from the kitchen, 'I need a masher!' and someone shows up, usually one of my nephews.   

I don't make them just for myself because they don't freeze well and when I cook, I cook a lot and freeze the leftovers in my own 'TV' dinners to take for lunch at work.

[mechtilde]

There is one way to use frozen mash- put them in the oven so they get a lovely browned top and call them duchesse potatoes!

[exitzero]

My mother was the world's worst cook. Seriously.

I had no idea that potatoes came any other way but in a box. The results were, runny, water, flavorless puddles of white glue.

I also didn't know that there were vegetables besides canned peas, corn and string beans. I can remember the first time I had broccoli. It was like the heavens opened up and deposited food of the angels on my palate.

I also had no idea that lasagna wasn't supposed to crunch until I got to college.

[Redneck Gravy]

For a meal for guests I start with real potatoes, peel them, boil them, add milk & butter and use a hand mixer to mash them - never lumpy.

For just me I use boxed potato flakes made with chicken broth mixed with butter and half & half and a tad of cheese - I can't really tell the difference in small quantities. 

I prefer real but then again, I will eat almost anything set in front of me without complaint.

[Outdoor Girl]

My mother was the world's worst cook. Seriously.

I had no idea that potatoes came any other way but in a box. The results were, runny, water, flavorless puddles of white glue.

I also didn't know that there were vegetables besides canned peas, corn and string beans. I can remember the first time I had broccoli. It was like the heavens opened up and deposited food of the angels on my palate.

I also had no idea that lasagna wasn't supposed to crunch until I got to college.

Wow.  You poor child.

My Mom wasn't a gourmet cook by any means but she exposed us to a lot of different foods, including a wide range of vegetables.  They were often just steamed with a little butter, salt and pepper.  When I got to university, I was much more able to eat a wide variety of things in the cafeteria than were my dorm mates.