[2 - 2] hello mashed potato lovers you guys have
[2 - 5] awesome suggestions for mix-ins
[5 - 6] I love the garlic powder the cream
[6 - 9] cheese people are talking about making
[9 - 12] dirty mashed potatoes which I had never
[12 - 14] heard of before or called that or
[14 - 15] they're just kind of mashed really
[15 - 17] lightly and skins are on they all sound
[17 - 20] really really good to me and so I just
[20 - 21] wanted to answer a few questions you had
[21 - 23] out there and the first one was about
[23 - 26] you have to use russet when you make
[26 - 28] mashed potatoes and some people were
[28 - 29] saying they're like Yukon Golds and I
[29 - 31] think maybe I wasn't totally clear in
[31 - 33] the video but I was basically saying if
[33 - 35] a potato crumbles the way that the Yukon
[35 - 38] Gold and the russet do then it's gonna
[38 - 40] be really nice for mashed potatoes
[40 - 41] meaning it's gonna absorb a lot of
[41 - 44] flavorful liquid so that's awesome so
[44 - 46] both of those are fantastic and we have
[46 - 49] recipes on Cook's Illustrated for using
[49 - 51] both russets and Yukon Golds I like them
[51 - 53] both a lot Yukon Golds won't absorb
[53 - 55] quite as much but they have a nice
[55 - 57] butteriness to themselves anyway so I
[57 - 59] think they're really nice they also have
[59 - 61] thinner skins than russets so for those
[61 - 63] of you who kind of like that
[63 - 66] that that kind of mashed dirty style I
[66 - 69] would I would tend to go for Yukon Golds
[69 - 71] over russets for that but obviously it's
[71 - 73] personal preference whatever you like
[73 - 75] you like and I think that's awesome
[75 - 78] next question up was kind of alternative
[78 - 79] cooking methods so someone mentioned
[79 - 81] that they see a lot of recipes where
[81 - 84] folks are roasting the potatoes whole in
[84 - 86] their jackets then peeling them and
[86 - 88] working with those and other people
[88 - 90] suggested steaming the slices as opposed
[90 - 93] to boiling them and so both of those
[93 - 96] methods work and we have a really old
[96 - 98] recipe that bakes the potato before
[98 - 100] doing it and we have a slightly newer
[100 - 102] recipe that uses Yukon Gold cubes and we
[102 - 104] actually steam them in a colander we
[105 - 106] rinse them halfway through that process
[106 - 108] to rinse off a bunch of the excess
[108 - 110] starch so that they're a lot lighter so
[110 - 112] both of those methods absolutely work I
[112 - 114] tend to go for the boiling method
[114 - 115] because you get a lot of nice seasoning
[115 - 117] on the potato obviously you can season
[117 - 119] after the fact because it's mashed but
[119 - 122] it you can season them it's really fast
[122 - 124] and and so I tend to go that way but
[124 - 126] both those other messes definitely work
[126 - 129] with some caveats so for the roasted
[129 - 131] ones it's gonna take longer than it
[131 - 133] would if you're boiling it
[133 - 135] and then after the fact you want to peel
[135 - 136] them while they're still hot then so
[136 - 138] that you know you can let them cool down
[138 - 139] before you peel them which would make it
[139 - 141] easier to peel but you want to work with
[141 - 142] potatoes when they're warm and you want
[142 - 144] to keep them warm all the way through
[144 - 146] serving time I start to start to cool
[146 - 149] down the retrograde they form kind of
[149 - 151] crystals that even if you keep them back
[151 - 153] up you'll never get mashed potatoes to
[153 - 155] quite the same point as when they're hot
[155 - 157] so you really do want to peel them hot
[157 - 158] that can be annoying for a lot of people
[158 - 160] they don't want to do that so a lot of
[160 - 162] times we go with cut potatoes that are
[162 - 164] boiled over whole ones that are either
[164 - 167] boiled or roasted that's the downside
[167 - 169] they're steaming again it totally works
[169 - 171] we have we have a nice method that does
[171 - 172] that if I can see it a little bit longer
[172 - 174] and you want to make sure that you have
[174 - 176] enough space in your in your pot so that
[176 - 178] everything is getting contacted by that
[178 - 179] steam you don't want it to be too
[179 - 181] densely packed or you're gonna kind of
[181 - 182] cook the stuff on the outside but the
[182 - 185] inside inside won't but we have a great
[185 - 186] recipe on Cook's Illustrated
[186 - 189] for a Yukon Gold potato that is steamed
[189 - 190] so I think it's called fluffy mashed
[191 - 193] potatoes so you can check that out sorry
[193 - 195] I got a question a very brief question
[195 - 199] from chief Greenhills asked cream milk
[199 - 202] what up and and I realized in the video
[202 - 205] we don't actually show or talk very much
[205 - 207] about the liquid that I am adding to it
[207 - 208] so I mentioned that you had the butter
[208 - 210] first which coats all those starch
[210 - 212] granules which is great it's gonna help
[212 - 213] prevent glue enos but then the liquid
[213 - 215] that I do add in and specifically in
[215 - 217] that recipe is a little bit of
[217 - 219] half-and-half milk if you want something
[219 - 221] that's a little bit leaner you can go
[221 - 222] cream if you're looking for something
[222 - 224] new be indulgent but half and half is a
[224 - 225] nice ton of sweet spot for mashed
[225 - 228] potatoes and add some obviously some
[228 - 229] moisture so that it thins out the
[229 - 231] potatoes you have some that flows a
[231 - 235] little bit nicer and they're richer the
[235 - 237] richer for having added that that half
[237 - 239] and half so that that's my go-to there
[239 - 241] and there is liquid in those so I also
[241 - 241] got another question that was very
[242 - 245] specific at 411 in the video which is
[245 - 246] where I'm talking about you don't need
[246 - 248] to boil potatoes all of these reactions
[248 - 249] happen at temperatures well below the
[249 - 251] boiling point someone was asking what
[251 - 253] temperature specifically and so we're
[253 - 256] looking for something around 190 degrees
[256 - 258] but it could be up to 200 degrees and
[258 - 261] even as low as about 185 the point is
[261 - 263] that if it's simmering you see little
[263 - 265] bubbles you're in good shape you don't
[265 - 266] need to clog your thermometer
[266 - 269] for that basically over 185 degrees so
[269 - 271] some pectin break down and start gelling
[271 - 274] will be happening so you know anywhere
[274 - 275] we have a little bit of bubbles but not
[275 - 277] violent bubbles you're in good shape and
[277 - 278] so the final question I wanted to get
[278 - 281] into was the purple blue kind of novelty
[281 - 283] potatoes that you see at the supermarket
[283 - 286] the question was whether those are good
[286 - 288] for mashing or not so you know those
[288 - 290] potatoes they can be a range of
[290 - 292] different different types and have
[292 - 293] different qualities to them but
[293 - 295] generally speaking they live in the
[295 - 298] lower starch higher moisture group so
[298 - 299] there are a lot more like a red bliss
[299 - 301] potatoes than they are a russet potato
[301 - 304] so can you match them absolutely you can
[304 - 306] mash you know red bliss potatoes people
[306 - 308] do it all the time is it going to give
[308 - 310] you that really fluffy mash that you can
[310 - 312] then get tons of rich rich ingredients
[312 - 315] into probably not so for a lot of times
[315 - 317] when we work with those kind of potatoes
[317 - 319] we like them simply boiled drizzled with
[319 - 321] some olive oil and salt or or even cut
[321 - 323] in half and and roast it the way you
[323 - 325] would with say fingerling potatoes so
[325 - 327] that'd be my recommendation there so
[327 - 329] anyway that's all I have time for today
[329 - 331] thank you guys so much for all of your
[331 - 333] awesome comments I can tell your baked
[333 - 336] potato fans and I hope your Thanksgiving
[336 - 339] tables are full of potatoes other stuff
[339 - 340] too but I hope you make tons of mashed
[340 - 343] potatoes and have a really great holiday
[343 - 344] and stay tuned for the next episode