Whether it’s an emotional thanksgiving dinner or a lazy afternoon brunch, mashed potatoes is just the right dish for you. The reason behind this is that mashed potatoes is not just a celebratory dish but also a humble dish. With minimal ingredients and a simple recipe, mashed potatoes are easy to prepare at home at any time.
Mashed potatoes are a dish with an interesting history and amazing popularity. Hannah Glasse is believed to be the inventor of mashed potatoes. She included the recipe of this dish in her cookbook, ‘The Art of Cookery’, which was published in the mid-18th century. You don’t need to search for that book to learn ‘how to make mashed potatoes’, as we have explained the recipe in this blog post.
You must have eaten mashed potatoes many times in your life at different places. At times, you might have consumed mashed potatoes at other people’s homes. You might have even consumed this dish at restaurants. Needless to say, you must have noticed that the ingredients are not always the same.
There are various recipes for mashed potatoes available on the Internet. In some households and food joints, mashed potatoes are prepared using authentic recipes. Others experiment with different ingredients to create a unique recipe. Thus, ingredients might vary from one recipe to another. Depending on the ingredients, the preparation method might also vary from one recipe to another.
We will see how to make mashed potatoes using the simple recipe mentioned here. You will also learn a bit about the history or backstory of this famous dish. We have even covered some information on the cultural significance of mashed potatoes.
Mashed Potatoes: Ingredients, Recipe, and Nutritional Information
Table of Contents
While thinking about holidays, the first picture that comes to the minds of most people is a table full of delicious food. A holiday is incomplete without scrumptious dishes, tasty beverages, and appetizing desserts. The list of foods prepared on holiday is incomplete mashed potatoes.
But no one said that you could not enjoy this dish other days. It’s easy and quick to cook mashed potatoes, and so, you can prepare this dish whenever you want. The name might suggest that the dish contains potatoes that are boiled and mashed. However, it contains other ingredients as well.
Let’s see how to make mashed potatoes and what goes inside the dish.
Ingredients
- 1 Pound Potatoes (6 to 7 Medium-Sized Potatoes)
- 2 to 3 Cups of Water
- 1 Cup Milk
- 2 Tablespoons Butter (Salted or Unsalted)
- ½ Teaspoon Finely Chopped Garlic (2 to 3 Cloves of Garlic)
- Salt to Taste
- Black Pepper to Taste
- 2 Teaspoons Fresh Mixed Herbs or ½ Teaspoon Dried Mixed Herbs (Optional)
- Cream or Cheese (Optional)
Preparation Method
- Take potatoes and rinse them in water properly with the help of a colander.
- Drain the water and peel the potatoes. Chop the potatoes into small cubes.
- Take a large pot and fill it with water. Add potatoes and garlic to the water.
- Keep the pot on a lower to medium flame until they become soft but not mushy.
- Transfer the potatoes into a colander to drain the water.
- Take a pan and put it on a low flame. Put milk and butter in the pan.
- Turn off the flame when the butter melts.
- Add potatoes to the pan and keep the pan on the countertop.
- Mash the potatoes using a potato masher or a hand mixer.
- Keep mashing until the potatoes become creamy and smooth.
- Add salt and black pepper to the mashed potatoes for seasoning.
Learning how to make mashed potatoes is incomplete without understanding the use and effects of optional ingredients. As you must have read in the list of ingredients, some items are optional to use. You can add fresh or dried mixed herbs when adding salt and black pepper to make your mashed potatoes more flavorful and aromatic.
Similarly, if you want to make your mashed potatoes richer in taste and texture, you can add cream or cheese. If you want to use cream, you should add it to the pan when adding milk and butter. If you want to use cheese, you should sprinkle it on the potatoes once they are mashed properly.
Each serving of mashed potatoes prepared this way has around 250 to 260 calories. Different nutrients that you can get from this dish are protein, vitamin A, vitamin B6, iron, sodium, magnesium, calcium, potassium, and carbohydrates.
Mashed Potatoes: Suggestions for Storage, Freezing, and Serving
You should know about some important points related to how to make mashed potatoes. One of these points is that potatoes take around 15 to 20 minutes to get boiled. If you are a vegan, you can use almond milk or coconut milk instead of cow’s milk. You can store mashed potatoes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for three to four days.
Before eating mashed potatoes stored in a refrigerator, you can reheat them on a stove, in an oven, or in a microwave oven. You can even freeze mashed potatoes for up to one month. Before consuming frozen mashed potatoes, you need to thaw them.
Mashed potatoes are generally served as a side dish. Several main dishes are served with mashed potatoes. Some of the main dishes that go with mashed potatoes perfectly are roast turkey, beef wellington, baked chicken, fish cakes, salmon patties, garlic mushrooms, and mac and cheese. You can also serve soups, stews, and salads with mashed potatoes.
Mashed Potatoes: Origin, Backstory, and Cultural Significance
Now that you have learned how to make mashed potatoes, it’s time to see how they became such a popular and loved food. Mashed potatoes is a staple dish in Ireland, and people of the country love to devour this dish. This dish is a must for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. Traditional Irish mashed potatoes are known as ‘Colcannon’.
However, people of other countries and cultures also eat mashed potatoes on both regular and special days. Some of these countries include the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Scotland, China, France, and Germany.
Once, the French government banned the use of potatoes as a food source for humans believing that the potatoes caused leprosy. Later, a French military pharmacist Antoine-Augustin Parmentier discovered that potatoes were a great food source. He made this discovery when he was forced to eat potatoes or starve to death while being imprisoned by Prussian soldiers. He also concluded that potatoes were not causing leprosy.
The pharmacist began experimenting with different dishes made with potatoes. Mashed potatoes were one of these dishes. After getting released from prison, Antoine-Augustin Parmentier made efforts to convince the French government to remove the ban on potatoes. The ban was lifted in the year 1772. As a result, farmers in Europe began to grow potatoes in their fields.
Final Thoughts
We hope you would have liked reading this blog post on how to make mashed potatoes. Give your friends, family, and guests a treat of piping hot and fluffy mashed potatoes next time they visit you.
