Sides · All year
Mashed Potatoes
Russets, drained until the steam slows, then butter and warm milk. A masher, not a fast mixer.
40 minutes · Serves 6 · About 6 cups
“You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.”
Ingredients
- 3 lb russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1 tbsp fine salt, for the water, plus more for the potatoes
- 6 tbsp butter
- ¾ cup milk, warmed
Method
- 1
Cover the potatoes with cold water and the tablespoon of salt. Bring them to a simmer and cook until a knife meets no resistance, about 15 minutes. Do not let them fall apart into the water.
- 2
Drain them in a colander and let them steam 2 minutes. Wet potatoes make a gluey mash.
- 3
Return them to the pot. Add the butter. Mash until most of the lumps are gone and the butter is melted. Pour in the warm milk a little at a time and mash again. Stop while they still have a little texture.
- 4
Salt them until they taste like potatoes, not like plain starch. Keep them covered over the lowest heat, or in a 200°F oven, if supper is not ready.
From the kitchen
- A stand mixer on high turns mashed potatoes into paste. If you use a mixer, use the lowest speed and stop early.
- Cold milk cools the potatoes and makes them stiff. Warm it.
My note
Kept on this device, beside the recipe, for the next time you cook it.
Alongside this
Sides
Skillet Green Beans and Potatoes
One pan, garden beans or market beans, and supper that does not ask you to perform.
40 minutes
Sides
From-Scratch Baked Beans
Dried navy beans, soaked, simmered until they soften, then baked with salt pork, honey, and tomato.
Overnight soak, then about 5 hours
Sides
Scalloped Potatoes and Ham
Thin potatoes in a butter-and-milk sauce, with ham. No canned soup.
1 hour 30 minutes