[bright upbeat music]
- Hi guys.
Today, I'm making mashed potatoes
which is actually my favorite
Thanksgiving side dish.
I'm gonna show you
my super-straightforward
creamy mashed potatoes.
We're gonna be using Yukon potatoes.
You can use russets, but I like Yukons.
They're low-starch but I
like the flavor better.
We're gonna cover them up with cold water.
So the reason why we're starting
them off with cold water
and bringing it up to a boil
is because you want the
potatoes to cook evenly
rather than adding them to boiling water.
We're gonna throw in
a good amount of salt.
You want the water kind of
to taste like the ocean.
I'm just gonna use all of this over here.
It'll absorb.
No need to stir.
We have one-and-a-half cups whole milk
and we have half a cup heavy cream.
You can use just two cups whole milk
but I like the extra bit of fat
that you get from the heavy cream.
You're also gonna use two
sticks of unsalted butter.
I'm using three sprigs of rosemary.
You can use kind of any hearty herb
like sage or bay leaf, or even thyme.
And then I'm using a head of garlic.
We're just gonna slice
that in half crosswise.
We just wanna expose the cloves.
And we're gonna combine
all of these in a saucepan.
We're gonna bring this to a simmer.
You don't want this to boil.
You just want it to be warmed
through to gently extract.
I'm gonna do medium, medium-high heat.
It should probably take about five minutes
to bring to a simmer.
You're gonna see some bubbles
but you don't want a rapid boil.
So we're gonna check our potatoes.
I'm gonna poke in the center
and there should really be no resistance.
I give it a little bit of a quick rinse,
not to kind of cool them down
but more to just to get
rid of any extra starch
and add these back into the pan.
The residual heat from the pot
will kind of dry the potatoes up,
which is actually a good thing
because you don't want super-wet potatoes
or any excess liquid to be
in your mashed potatoes.
We're gonna turn off the heat.
Some of the rosemary
leaves might've separated
so it's just easier to
kind of strain them.
It also removes any kind of
skin that may have formed
from the surface.
So first off, I leave them whole, skin on.
The real essential tool
you need is a ricer
just because I want super-creamy
smooth mashed potatoes
and this does a pretty damn good job
of preventing any of
the skin from falling.
Okay.
We have four pounds of potatoes
and then I'm going to add
two sticks unsalted butter
at room temperature.
You want it at room temperature
just so it really easily melts.
I'm gonna add a [bleep] ton of salt.
Usually, I'll add about four teaspoons.
So you're just gonna mix
and see how this butter's
already immediately melting?
Now we're gonna add our warm liquid
so I'm doing about a half a cup
and you don't wanna overwork it.
You just kinda wanna be super-gentle.
This has two cups liquids
and it might seem like a lot
but it'll absorb all that liquid.
For God's sake, they have
two sticks of butter.
If I'm gonna do it and I'm gonna eat it,
I want it to be all the way.
I want butter, I want whole
milk, a touch of cream,
some aromatics like I mentioned,
a good amount of salt.
And now we have about half a cup left.
We'll add that.
These are pretty damn creamy.
You're at a good stopping point
when you can make really nice ribbons
with your potato.
You could make this a day ahead.
I think the easiest way is to
reheat them over medium heat.
You could loosen them up with
a little bit of warm milk.
I'm gonna take the back of the spoon
and just kind of make a little swoosh.
These are my favorite
side dish of Thanksgiving,
They are ultra-creamy mashed potatoes
and I will be making them this year
and I hope you guys do too.
[light upbeat music]
