6 days ago
Chefs explain why restaurant mashed potato always tastes better than homemade
Chefs have divulged why mashed potato at a restaurant always tastes better than when made at home.
Many agree the answer is lashings of salt and butter, but some chefs insist there is far more to the art of a velvety mash.
Inspired by a popular Reddit thread calling on professionals to reveal their secrets, chefs have now spilled on how to master a mash that's both creamy and indulgent.
The post began: 'I'm still figuring out how to cook, but one thing that always confuses me is mashed potatoes at restaurants.
'They're so creamy, smooth and buttery without tasting too heavy. I don't know what they're doing differently, but mine never turn out like that... it still feels like something's missing.
'Just wondering what makes restaurant mashed potatoes hit different?'
A fine dining cook who claimed to have worked under Michelin star chefs for many years immediately jumped in to share the method he's been using for years.
He said: '[We use] either a tamis with a plastic bench scraper or a China cap with a ladle used to push it through.'
A tamis - pronounced 'tammy' - is a drum-shaped sieve with fine mesh attached. A China cap is a cone-shaped strainer with perforated metal on the inside.
He continued: 'When we'd make Pomme Puree [velvety mash] we would do about 16 cups of peeled Yukon gold potatoes soaked (in water to prevent oxidization) and cut up to an even size.
'Bring them to boil in a pot with just enough salted (and I mean pretty flavorful) water to cover the surface. Less water = better texture mash.
'Once it was boiling I'd reduce it to a simmer until a cake tester came out clean but not where the potatoes got over cooked/mealy. You don't want that either.'
The chef then advises immediately draining the water, 'tamising or ricing' the potatoes into a large bowl and adding simmered heavy cream to the desired texture. Follow that with about 500g of cubed-up good quality cold butter.
He said: 'The cold butter helps mount and emulsify the potatoes so that they have an incredibly smooth texture.
'After emulsification we'd sometimes add some garlic thyme brown butter we'd prepped earlier and quickly stir it in so it would stay emulsified. Salt and season to taste.
'Most places I've worked have done this or similar.'
Multiple users agreed with this chef's approach, while others weighed in with their own tips - mostly involving excessive amounts of butter and cream.
One confessed: 'So much butter and cream. Way more than you would imagine. Like some of the fancier and more luxurious places are doing their mashed potatoes 50 per cent butter by weight.'
Another agreed: 'I'm a chef. It's what everyone else said. A s*** load of butter, salt, white pepper and cream. Like an amount you've never considered because most normal people can't comprehend it.'
One more admitted: 'So much more butter. Like a comical amount.'
Others offered a little more substance with specific tips they've always sworn by.
One chef said: 'Bake the potatoes in the oven in their skin, scoop out flesh, put through potato ricer, add hot milk flavored with bay leaf, add lots of butter and salt.'
A second suggested: 'Another tip to level up your mash is to steep garlic and herbs in the cream, then strain them out before you add it. It's awesome.'
A third added: 'Use a potato ricer, better butter and higher fat dairy. Make sure you're using the right potato. Mix them to amalgamate and no more.
Don't overwork them, they'll get pasty. Rest them, they're often made towards start of shift and reheated as needed... and I don't know why sitting for an hour-plus helps, but it makes a difference.'
