primitives discuss making eight pounds of mashed potatoes

[freedumb2003b]

This is kinda funny, because I was just discussing this with my GF when we were at dinner last weekend...She's having everyone over her house for Tgiving, and she admitted she didn't know how to make good mashed potatoes, something I've been told I do very well, so I officially usurped this responsibility from her for this Tgiving.

Skins off--unless you're doing redskin potatoes, for every other kind I peel them.

Boil them until soft.

Add a stick of butter, REAL butter, not f%$@! unsalted, like my GF, the health nut, likes to use. This is assuming you are making 6 or 8 potatoes worth, of course.

Add a little WHOLE milk. Not f%$@!  1%, like my GF, the health nut, likes to use.  Anything other than whole milk makes them not creamy enough.

Mash with a potato masher, not a hand mixer.  Potatoes made with hand mixer are whipped potatoes--not mashed.  Mash them gently and twist the potato masher at the same time a little bit, so you are actually hand mixing them.

Be careful how much you mash them.  Too much mashing breaks down the starches and they become runny.  Too much milk and they are runny.  Runny mashed potatoes suck more than anything in the history of suckdom.  Better to add a little milk at a time until they are the right consistency.  

Add some salt, and some pepper.

They always come out amazing with this simple formula.  

sans "GF, the health nut"

[Chris_]

I made the mistake of using salted butter in a dish that clearly called for unsalted.

It did not turn out well.

[DefiantSix]

This reminds me of a joke I know which you'll appreciate, Gern...

Four people are riding in a car up I-95...A guy from Maine, one from Vermont, one from Massachusetts, and one from New Hampshire.  They were having a discussion as to who had more of what, when the guy from Maine says,  "Ya know what, ayuh?  We got too many of these here patatahs!  They need to go!" and out he chucks a 10-lb bag of potatoes.

The guy from Vermont goes, "Hey, you got the right idea!" and out he chucks a gallon of maple syrup.

The guy from New Hampshire doesn't say anything, but instead chucks out the guy from Massachusetts....

Gonna have to share this with a guy at work. He's from Massive-two-shits.

Thanks for the laugh, Sparky.

[Big Dog]

I don't know why anyone bothers to peel potatoes that are only going to be boiled and mashed.  It always seemed like a waste of time to me.

I like to make mashed potatoes skins-on.

Actually, I just hate to peel potatoes.