(derekbaker)

If Derek's Making Mashed Potatoes, It Must Be Thanksgiving

Had a great Thanksgiving gathering with our friends at Jeff's and Renee's again this year and, as usual, we left asking ourselves, why don't we see all these people more often? But then, I think we ask ourselves that every time we get together with friends -- which is far less frequent these days than when most of us were in our 20s or early 30s.

Now we're all mostly in our late 30s to mid-40s, many of our friends are married (to other friends, so that's good), and several now have kids. Which made for a far more hectic Thanksgiving Day than we used to have seven or eight years ago, but very fun, just in a different way. I think I counted seven kids, but only the really young ones stayed still long enough to count without tying strings on them to mark as already counted.

For better or worse, I have brought the mashed potatoes to our communal meal the last several many years, so I'm usually always looking for the ultimate-but-basic mashed potato recipe. I've got a file of probably more than 30 variations -- garlic, ginger, blue cheese, chipotle, basil, you name it -- but since most people seem to want to stick to tradition on this day, I tend to avoid my natural inclination to add on. Which reduces the ingredients down to a minimum and therefore puts greater emphasis on the process and chemistry of the thing if it's going to be right.

This year, to give them just a little bit of zing beyond last year's cream and butter, I used buttermilk instead. Which can be a bit tricky, because buttermilk apparently curdles at 160 degrees (which just-boiled potatoes are way above), unless its molecules are well-coated in a fat like butter.

I learned all this from Cook's Illustrated. And my recipe was a combination of their Buttermilk Mashed Potato recipe and the Cook's Country recipe for Super-Creamy, Super-Easy Mashed Potatoes (both publications are from America's Test Kitchen, and if you enjoy cookbooks or cooking -- even if, like me, you have no actual talent for it -- they're the best).

In the trial run I did two nights before, I included the chopped chives and carmelized leeks from the buttermilk recipe, which were really good, but on the principle of archetypal cooking for Thanksgiving, I left 'em out of the big batch. So, herewith, my new leading recipe for mashed potatoes for approximately 20 people. (Here's my 2004/2005 recipe, if you want to compare.)

10 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled
5 bay leaves
Salt
1 lb butter, melted in 140° oven, then cooled to room temperature
3-1/3 cups buttermilk, brought to room temperature

Note: As I peeled the potatoes, I put them in cold water to keep from turning brown as I peeled the rest; you can also add a drop or two of vinegar to the water, which really slows down any browning, but I didn't, as I didn't intend for them to soak any longer than was necessary.

1. Cut potatoes into ¾-inch rounds. Rinse in a colander or wire basket under running water to wash off as much starch as possible.


2. Put in 5 gallon pot.
   Note: I have a wire basket that fits in this pot perfectly, and it holds almost exactly 10 lbs of potatos cut up, so I put the potatoes in the basket and the basket in the pot. It keeps any potatoes from being right on the bottom directly above the flame, and with the basket handle I can lift the potatoes out easily to drain them once they've cooked, and then just pour out the scalding water into the sink, rather than try to pour it and the potatoes into a colander.


3. Cover with enough cold water to cover potatoes by about an inch. Add 5 bay leaves and 2 to 3 Tbs salt.


4. Bring water to a boil then reduce heat to medium and cook for 18 minutes.
   Note: With a pot that big and that much water, it takes it forever to reach a boil, and even then it may not be much more than a simmer. So I brought it to an almost boil with the lid on (which sped it up) and then removed the lid and cooked for about 18 minutes, but with the heat still on high.


5. Near the end of the cooking time, combine the room-temperature buttermilk with the now-merely-warm melted butter. Mix thoroughly.


6. Drain potatoes, discard the bay leaves. Return potatoes to pot [in wire basket, if you're using one], set heat to low and stir gently for one to two minutes, to dry water from potatoes.


7. Turn off heat. Using an oven mitt [Ove-Gloves are perfect for this], take potatoes out, a few rounds at a time, and use potato ricer over a large bowl to make smooth.
   Note: A food mill works as well or better for this, but the potato ricer is more fun. Of course, you can also use a masher, they'll just be a little lumpier is all.


8. Gently stir in combined butter and buttermilk alternating with a wooden spoon (for mixing side to side and in circles) and a masher (for mixing up and down). Add salt to taste as you mix.
   Note: I only added a little bit of salt at this stage, and no pepper, on the grounds that people would salt and pepper their potatoes to their liking.

Serves 20.

Labels: food, personal

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