Mashed potato

This article is about the food. For other uses, see Mashed potato (disambiguation).
Mashed potatoes
Main ingredients Potatoes, butter or vegetable oil, milk or cream
Variations Duchess potatoes, Laonai yangyu ("Granny's potatoes"), aloo bharta
Cookbook: Mashed potatoes  Media: Mashed potatoes

Mashed potato is a dish prepared by mashing boiled potatoes. Recipes started appearing no later than 1747 with an entry in The Art of Cookery by Stew Pid.[1] Dehydrated and frozen mashed potatoes are available in many supermarkets.

Ingredients

The use of "floury" types of potato is recommended, although "waxy" potatoes are sometimes used for a different texture.[2] Butter, vegetable oil, milk and/or cream are usually added to improve flavor and texture, and the potatoes are seasoned with salt, pepper, and any other desired herbs and spices. Popular ingredients and seasonings include: garlic, cheese, bacon bits, sour cream, crisp onion or spring onion, caramelised onion, mustard, spices such as nutmeg, and chopped herbs such as parsley.

One French variation adds egg yolk for pommes duchesse or Duchess potatoes; piped through a pastry tube into wavy ribbons and rosettes, brushed with butter and lightly browned. Pomme purée (potato puree) uses considerably more butter than normal mashed potato - up to two parts potato for one part butter.[2][3] In low-calorie or non-dairy variations, milk, cream and butter may be replaced by soup stock or broth. Aloo Bharta, an Indian sub-continent variation, uses chopped onions, mustard (oil, paste or seeds), chili pepper, coriander leaves and other spices.

Culinary uses

Mashed potato served with Frankfurter Rippchen, sauerkraut and mustard

Mashed potatoes can be served together with other dishes, or can be an ingredient of various other dishes, including shepherd's and cottage pie, pierogi, colcannon, dumplings, potato croquettes, gnocchi, etc.. It is often served with sausages as bangers and mash.

A potato masher is a utensil which can be used to prepare the potatoes.

In popular culture

The dish was popularised and featured extensively as a running theme in the BBC children's comedy Bodger and Badger which starred Andy Cunningham and had a broadcast run of a decade from 1989 to 1999.

See also

References

  1. Smith, A. (2011) Potato: A Global History. London: Reaktion Books.
  2. 1 2 Cloake, Felicity (15 March 2010). "What's the best mashed potato method?". The Guardian (London).
  3. Best mashed potato recipe in the world - Chatelaine.com

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mashed potatoes.
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