Creamy Mashed Potatoes

The Method for Creamy Mashed Potatoes

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1. Put the potatoes in a large pan, cover with cold water by 3 cm, and add the tablespoon of salt.

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2. Bring to a boil, then drop to a steady simmer and cook 18 to 22 minutes, until a knife slides in and out with no resistance at all.

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3. Drain thoroughly and return them to the dry pan over a low heat for 1 minute, shaking, to steam off the surface water.

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4. Pass them through a ricer or a mouli back into the warm pan. If you have neither, use a masher and accept a rustic texture — but never a processor.

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5. Warm the milk and cream together until steaming; cold dairy will chill the mash and force you to overwork it.

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6. Add the butter to the riced potato in three additions, folding with a spatula until each has disappeared before the next.

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7. Now add the hot milk and cream a splash at a time, folding, until it is as loose as you want it. You may not need all of it.

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8. Season with the salt, white pepper and nutmeg, fold once more, and serve at once with chives if using.

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What Can Go Wrong

1. Even chunks. A pan of mixed sizes gives you disintegrated small pieces and hard large ones.
2. Butter before milk, every time. This is the single technique that changes the result.
3. To hold it warm, set the pan over barely simmering water and cover the surface with cling film.

Swaps and Variations

• In a sauce, full-fat crème fraîche can usually take the place of the double cream; single cream is thinner and more likely to split if it boils, so keep it below a simmer.

What to Serve It With

Salisbury steak and onion gravy · Roast chicken · Sausages

Leftovers

Refrigerated for 3 days. Reheat in a covered dish at 160°C / 320°F with an extra splash of milk, stirring halfway.

The Numbers per Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. Sodium is not given, because the salt for the cooking water is in the ingredient list but most of it is poured away with the water, so no figure from the list would be honest. How the figures are worked out.