[0 - 0] - Hi, I'm Frank Proto.
[0 - 3] I'm a professional chef and a culinary instructor
[3 - 4] and today I'm gonna show you the best way to
[4 - 7] make mashed potatoes Frank style.
[8 - 11] We're talking light, fluffy, a little bit lumpy
[11 - 13] creamy and buttery mashed potatoes,
[13 - 16] not the sticky stuff that your Aunt Mallory makes.
[16 - 18] This is how to make mashed potatoes 101.
[18 - 19] Good mashed potatoes
[19 - 21] doesn't take a ton of ingredients.
[21 - 23] It doesn't even take a ton of effort.
[23 - 26] Put good ingredients in you get a good end product.
[26 - 29] Who's ready to make mashed potatoes? Anyone?
[31 - 33] When it comes to mashed potatoes
[33 - 34] not all potatoes are created equal.
[34 - 36] What I like to do is mix it up.
[36 - 38] I use two different types of potatoes.
[38 - 42] A russet that is starchy, very fluffy
[42 - 45] and a Yukon that is dense and waxy.
[45 - 46] I like the combination of both of these
[46 - 48] 'cause you're getting the best of both worlds.
[48 - 50] Let's talk about peeling potatoes, and one
[50 - 54] of my biggest chef peeves is how people peel potatoes.
[54 - 58] They sit there and they go like this, right?
[58 - 59] No, that's not how this was designed to work.
[59 - 61] What I try and do is this.
[61 - 64] I take the top off, I take the bottom off.
[64 - 69] Once I get the top and bottom off, long slim cuts, right?
[69 - 72] You don't need to sit there for an hour and peel potatoes.
[72 - 73] This little device
[73 - 76] on the potato peeler is actually there to take out any eyes,
[76 - 77] that's there to pop them out.
[77 - 79] One of the reasons I remove the eyes is
[79 - 81] because sometimes it's a rotten piece of potato.
[81 - 82] Second of all, aesthetics.
[82 - 84] My mashed potatoes should not have black spots
[84 - 86] in them unless you put black pepper in.
[86 - 87] If there's anything left on the potato
[87 - 89] I peel down a little
[89 - 93] but you definitely just want to do nice, long slim cuts.
[93 - 95] This goes in water, now we'll wash it and rinse it off.
[95 - 98] It should only take 10 seconds to peel any potato.
[98 - 100] Anything more than that, and you're just wasting time.
[100 - 102] Stop being a chatty Cathy.
[102 - 104] After I peel my potatoes, I put them in cold water.
[104 - 105] There's a couple of reasons for this.
[105 - 107] First of all, potatoes oxidize
[107 - 109] and go gray and brown really quickly
[109 - 111] so this is gonna slow down oxidation.
[111 - 112] The second reason is
[112 - 114] that you can see that there's some floaters on there,
[114 - 116] that's just some of the dirt and the extra peels.
[116 - 118] What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna dump this water out
[118 - 120] put some fresh cold water over it
[120 - 122] just to make sure that there's no debris in my potatoes.
[122 - 124] From here, we can take these potatoes
[124 - 125] and make our mashed potatoes.
[125 - 128] But if you want to get ahead, peel them the night before
[128 - 130] leave them in the water, leave them in the fridge
[130 - 131] and they'll be good for the next day.
[131 - 133] It's time to cut the potatoes.
[133 - 135] A lot of times people will cut their potatoes really small
[135 - 137] and I don't like doing that
[137 - 140] because then our potatoes soak up a lot of liquid.
[140 - 143] I like to cut them large, they take a little more time
[143 - 145] but in the end, our potatoes are gonna soak
[145 - 147] up more cream and butter rather than water
[147 - 149] and the end result will be something a little more creamier
[149 - 151] with a lot more potato flavor.
[151 - 153] Did that make sense?
[156 - 158] All right it's time to cook our potatoes.
[158 - 159] I have a pot,
[159 - 162] I'm gonna put the potatoes and the water in.
[162 - 163] We're starting out with cold water
[163 - 165] so that our potatoes cook more evenly.
[165 - 166] We're gonna start on high heat
[166 - 168] and then we're gonna lower it to a simmer.
[168 - 171] If these potatoes boil the whole time
[171 - 173] what's gonna happen is they're gonna break up,
[173 - 174] knock into each other
[174 - 176] and basically what we're gonna have is a pot full
[176 - 178] of starchy water and not potatoes.
[178 - 180] I'm also gonna season the water.
[180 - 184] potatoes are porous and will absorb some of that salt.
[184 - 187] So I like to season throughout my cooking process.
[187 - 189] So I'm gonna let this come to a boil
[189 - 191] and then we will lower it down to a simmer.
[191 - 193] We want light bubbling, not a raging storm.
[193 - 195] See how they're bubbling nice and happily here.
[195 - 197] We're gonna leave 'em on there until they are tender.
[197 - 200] Potatoes have been simmering for about 15 minutes
[200 - 201] and this is how I tell they're done.
[201 - 203] I get a paring knife, I'll take the paring knife
[203 - 205] stick it into the potato.
[205 - 208] They'll either break or they'll slip off really easy.
[208 - 210] If the knife grabs onto them and they stay on the knife
[210 - 211] they need to go a little longer.
[211 - 214] Before I drain them I want to get my butter
[214 - 215] and my cream going.
[215 - 217] I want hot butter and hot cream.
[217 - 218] I don't want the butter and cream
[218 - 221] to cool down my potatoes when I mash them.
[221 - 222] Let's get that on the flame.
[224 - 226] Let's get them on the right flame.
[227 - 229] So let's drain the potatoes into a colander,
[229 - 230] I have one in the sink.
[230 - 233] Put them back into the pot for a moment or two.
[233 - 235] You see that there's steam coming off of them.
[235 - 238] This is excess water that we don't want in our potatoes.
[238 - 239] Water doesn't have flavor.
[239 - 242] Cream and butter have flavor.
[242 - 243] When it comes to your cream and butter,
[243 - 245] get the best you can afford.
[245 - 246] You're not eating mashed potatoes every day
[246 - 248] so you want it to be delicious.
[251 - 252] It's time to mash.
[252 - 254] My potatoes are hot just out of the pot.
[254 - 255] My cream and butter are hot, right?
[255 - 256] Everything should be hot
[256 - 258] because we wanna serve these pretty much right away.
[258 - 260] I might get a lot of hate for this, but my weapon
[260 - 263] of choice is the old school granny mashed potato masher.
[263 - 266] You can use other equipment for this.
[266 - 269] There's a food mill, a potato ricer, but for the most part
[269 - 271] those take up a lot of space in the kitchen,
[271 - 273] they're hard to clean, they're cumbersome.
[273 - 275] Pureed potatoes are the ones that you put
[275 - 276] through the ricer and the food mill
[276 - 279] so there's absolutely smooth and no lumps at all.
[279 - 281] This is mashed potatoes, not potato puree.
[281 - 284] So mashed potatoes for me have lumps.
[284 - 285] First thing I'm gonna do is add a little bit
[285 - 286] of salt and pepper.
[286 - 288] This might not be the total amount that I need
[288 - 291] but I like to add my salt now, 'cause when I put the liquid
[291 - 293] over it, it kind of starts to dissolve the salt.
[293 - 297] Put about half the cream and butter and start to mash.
[297 - 298] When it comes to seasoning
[298 - 301] and liquid in our mashed potatoes, it's easier to add more
[301 - 304] and really hard to take any of that away.
[304 - 306] Our butter and cream is hot, our potatoes are hot.
[306 - 307] See, I added about half.
[307 - 309] I'm gonna add just a little more
[309 - 312] and then I'm gonna get in there and really start to mash.
[312 - 315] It is possible to over mash these, but by the time you got
[315 - 317] to that point, your arm would probably fall off.
[317 - 319] So for the most part, when it comes
[319 - 322] to this old school mashing method, you can't over mash.
[322 - 323] I think I need a little more cream and butter,
[323 - 325] I think I'm gonna use it all.
[325 - 326] Yeah, there we go.
[326 - 328] For my seasonings with these mashed potatoes
[328 - 330] I'm using salt and pepper and that's all that I need.
[330 - 332] I want to taste potatoes.
[333 - 335] We need just a little more salt.
[335 - 336] I am seasoning
[336 - 338] to the point where it's seasoned but not salty.
[338 - 341] I season as I go and then I taste.
[341 - 343] Couple of mistakes people make is they just dump a lot
[343 - 345] of salt in and they don't taste their food.
[345 - 347] You have to taste your food while you're seasoning.
[347 - 348] My mashed potatoes done.
[348 - 349] I like the texture,
[349 - 351] there's some lumpiness there, there's some creaminess
[351 - 353] and I'm basically going on site.
[353 - 356] That to me is a really nice mashed potato.
[356 - 357] Look at that.
[357 - 360] They hold onto the masher and plop off.
[361 - 363] It's time to plate our mashed potatoes
[363 - 366] and I'm going to give some nice big scoops here.
[366 - 368] You want a big pile of these, right?
[368 - 369] Go for the visual side of it.
[369 - 371] Don't be skimpy.
[371 - 374] And what's necessary here is a volcano.
[374 - 375] Nothing better than gravy
[375 - 378] or more softened butter in your volcano.
[378 - 379] And here it is
[379 - 383] my version of creamy, buttery mashed potatoes.
[384 - 385] When you serve this up
[385 - 388] make sure you break that volcano so you get a little bit
[388 - 390] of that visual ooze of the butter.
[390 - 393] Look at that, put it on your plate, and then dig in.
[393 - 395] Get a nice little hunk with some of that melty butter.
[399 - 400] There's not many times
[400 - 401] in life where simple ingredients
[401 - 403] make something so delicious.
[403 - 406] Butter, cream, salt, pepper, and potatoes.
[406 - 407] How do you beat that?
[407 - 409] I dare you to find someone that doesn't think
[409 - 411] this is delicious, I dare you.