Mashed potato
From Freepedia
- This article is about the food. For the 1960s dance craze see Mashed Potato.
Mashed potato (mashed potatoes in American English) or puréed potato is a common way of serving potato in many countries, including Germany, Finland, Ireland, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States. It is made from mashed boiled potatoes (peeled or unpeeled), with heated milk or cream and butter or vegetable oil added. A French variation adds egg yolk for Pommes duchesse that is piped through a pastry tube into wavy ribbons and rosettes, brushed with butter and lightly browned.
Many cooks feel that making the dish successfully is dependent on first returning the boiled (and drained) potatoes to the empty pot and heating them to drive off surplus steam. Others feel that this is an unnecessary step. The success of the dish, however, does depend on how the potatoes are mashed. If the potato cells are damaged in the process (as by putting them in a food processor), the starch they contain makes the mashed potato sticky; a ricer, which passes the boiled potato through small openings, produces a refined texture and is generally agreed to produce the best result. Other ways of making them include using a hand implement that actually mashes them in the pot or using an electric mixer (not a blender) to purée them in what is also called whipped potatoes.
Mashed potato is also an ingredient of various other dishes, including Shepherds' pie and potato croquettes.
In addition to butter, cream, or milk, mashed potato may also be seasoned with salt, pepper, and/or a dash of nutmeg. A white turnip cooked and mashed with the potatoes in a proportion of about 1:10, provides a slight "bite" that mashed potatoes proverbially lack. Alternatively, a little garlic may be cooked with it. In the U.S., mashed potatoes are often covered with gravy. In the UK, mashed potato is sold at pie and mash shops. It is often served with sausage, in this form being called bangers and mash. Mashed potato was the primary source of humour in the children's television series Bodger and Badger.
In many American households, the top of each serving is hollowed with a spoon in order to form a gravy and/or butter volcano crater.
Dehydrated instant mashed potato mixes are also available, as well as frozen varieties. The dehydrated varieties vary in quality and texture, and purists generally consider them to be inferior. A campaign for one such product (Smash) memorably launched the business of advertising agency Boase Massimi Pollitt.
