Whenever it comes to the holiday dinner table, or frankly any gathering, there’s one dish that is a must-have no matter what entree you’re supporting or how big of a crowd you’re serving. Mashed potatoes. You can bet we’ll always have room on our plate for these creamy, delicious mounds of tender potatoes, milk, and butter. Even during weeknight dinners, mashed potatoes reign as an easy and versatile side dish.
While we can all agree on the importance of mashed potatoes, the world cannot seem to come to a consensus on how to make the best mashed potatoes. Do you heat your milk before adding it? Melt your butter first? Only use a certain kind of potato?
If you responded passionately to one or more of those questions, you’re not alone. Most of us have a go-to recipe that we stick with, out of habit or nostalgia. However, what if we push boundaries and pit mashed potato against mashed potato? What recipe would come out on top?
We gathered a group of 12 TABLE Magazine friends to taste test four famous chef’s mashed potato recipes and one from our own Editor-in-Chief, Keith Recker. After sampling each recipe, our guests marked down their rating from one to three, one being the worst and three being the best. We also asked them to mark down if they thought the recipe was an everyday recipe or a holiday one as well as any additional comments. Our consensus? Well you’ll just have to read ahead to find out.
Taste Testing Five Celebrity Chef’s Mashed Potato Recipes
Julia Child’s Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Who doesn’t love a little garlic with their potatoes? Julia Child’s Garlic Mashed Potatoes start off with cooking 30 cloves of garlic in butter. You add flour and eventually hot milk to turn that into a smooth and flavorful béchamel sauce. Then, you rice the potatoes and whip in her flavorful sauce along with a handful of finely chopped parsley. Its velvety texture, thanks to the béchamel sauce, invites you in but it’s that hefty garlic flavor that leaves you coming back for more. Our group decided this was one of their favorites of the recipes due to its ability to please just about everyone. It’s a safe bet but still takes you outside your comfort zone.
Martha Stewart’s Classic American Mashed Potatoes
If you’re looking for a recipe that leans more towards the traditional and the familiar, Martha Stewart is the chef for you. Her Classic American Mashed Potatoes are as simple as it gets with five ingredients including Yukon Gold potatoes, nutmeg, salt and pepper, butter, and heavy cream or whole milk. While there’s not a lot of flavor going on here, these are sure to be among the creamiest potatoes you’ll ever try. These middle of the road potatoes are great when you want your main dish to stand out and be the star. But, if you’re looking for something to take your potatoes to the next level, then you might want to keep searching. To quote one of our tasters, “I think she discovered this recipe when she was in jail.”
Anthony Bourdain’s Buttery Robuchon-Style Mashed Potatoes
Before we get into the specifics of Anthony Bourdain’s butter-rich recipe, we should note you need to serve these potatoes as soon as you make them. If the butter sits too long, it becomes a bit of a congealed mess. However, when these mashed potatoes come fresh out of the pot, they’re one of the most delicious recipes we have ever had. So you might be wondering, just how much butter goes into these mashed potatoes? Six sticks of unsalted butter. That’s right, there are six sticks of butter in this vibrant golden recipe.
While this might sound like too much, we promise it’s not. When it first comes out the potatoes absorb the butter so well that you don’t have that pooling on top that you normally get when mixing in melted butter. This is one of those recipes that left us asking, “Why does butter have to be so good?”
José Andrés’ Manchego Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Manchego cheese is lovely, flavorful cheese with a nutty sweetness and a hint of salt. This also makes an excellent cheese to melt into mashed potatoes since it cuts through all the other ingredients. For José Andrés’ Manchego Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, you’ll also use olive oil instead of butter and plenty of roasted garlic to form a flavor that’s unlike any other mashed potatoes you’ve had. These potatoes actually split our group into a discussion about what mashed potatoes should be and what is too outside the box. Some of our tasters loved the sharp manchego taste and the light indulgence of olive oil. But, other tasters thought the manchego took over the flavor a bit too much, resulting in mashed potatoes you would prefer a smaller serving of.
Keith Recker’s Cheddar Green Chile Mashed Potatoes
While our Editor-in-Chief is not a famous chef, we do have to say he makes some mean mashed potatoes. Recently, Recker explored the possibilities of what can be added to mashed potatoes. Looking for a bit of a kick, he prioritized green chile and then took the recipe from there. His Cheddar Green Chile Mashed Potatoes add a savory bite to your usual cheddar mashed potatoes. They’re the most flavorful on our list due to the perfect combination of green chile heat and rich cheddar cheese. He notes that he came up with the recipe while trying to find a way to elevate his usual roasted chicken. Our group immediately dug into these piles of cheese-drenched potatoes that are truly a holiday specialty. It’s one of those recipes that you keep on hand for when you really want to impress your guests. Try the recipe for yourself here.
A Note on Reheating Mashed Potatoes
If we learned one important thing from this taste test it’s that mashed potatoes are not meant to be reheated, period. Unless you decide to press your leftovers into pancakes that you fry in oil, reheating flattens textures and flavors. When you reheat mashed potatoes, something weird happens with the consistency. The whole thing starts to break down and fall apart, separating butter from potato and creating a grainy texture. In order to get the best mashed potatoes possible, we recommend making them right before your dinner. This way they’re still warm and utterly fluffy, allowing the ingredients to meld rather than separate.
So, What is the Best Mashed Potato Recipe?
We know it sounds cheesy but it’s true: The best mashed potato recipe is the one you enjoy with the people you love. We found that while sitting around a large table together as our own little family, no matter what mashed potatoes we were tasting, we were satisfied. So, feel free to stick to the classic recipe you know and love. Or, try something new that brings a bit of adventure to your dining table. Either way, you’re eating mashed potatoes, and that’s one of the best ways to live.
Story by Kylie Thomas
Photos Courtesy of Keith Recker
