Mashed potatoes are one of the most popular, beloved and universal side dishes. And at first glance, it is easy to prepare. But no.
The grey, watery mass bears only a distant resemblance to real puree, which should be white, fluffy and tender.
To prepare it, you need to know some subtleties.
9 Rules for Perfect Puree
1. Fluffiness, tenderness and softness largely depend on the amount of starch. The more starch in the potato, the better. Cut the potato and rub the halves together. Something like a weak foam will appear on the halves, which will stick the halves together. If there is little starch, the halves will not stick together.
2. Don't use too young potatoes for mashing. They haven't had time to accumulate enough starch yet.
3. Potatoes with white, dense tubers produce a denser and tastier puree, while those with yellow, “watery” tubers produce a runny and less fluffy puree.
4. The most delicious mashed potatoes are those baked in the oven, since some of the substances responsible for taste, among other things, “go” into the water during cooking. By the way, it is better to bake all vegetables in the oven. Those who have ever made a salad from baked vegetables know how much tastier it is.
5. If you do boil potatoes, do it right away, not after soaking them in water. Also, the tubers should be thrown into boiling water. This way, the starch on top will quickly coagulate, which will prevent nutrients from being washed out of the tubers.
Note: Soaking and boiling can reduce the nitrate content of vegetables, but these techniques also reduce the amount of starch and other nutrients.
6. The mashed potatoes will taste better if you salt the mashed potatoes themselves during the mashing process, rather than the potatoes themselves during cooking.
7. The mass turns grey when cold milk is poured into the potatoes. It must first be brought to a boil.
8. The mass will be dense and heavy if you beat it with a blender. That is why many people recommend doing it with a regular masher. This option is preferable to a blender, but it is very difficult to beat a fluffy mass with a masher. Especially if there is a lot of it. It is much more convenient to mash the potatoes well with a masher and then beat them with a mixer.
9. Add milk gradually, in 2-3 steps. First, mash the potatoes, then add a third of the milk, then start beating with a mixer, add more milk, etc. A new portion of milk should be added when the potatoes have completely absorbed the previous one.
If you want your puree to acquire an unusual taste or aroma, you can experiment by adding different spices and aromatic herbs to the potatoes during cooking.
