Place the potatoes in a large pot of water and cover with cold water. Add a generous pinch of salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Milk not cream! While many restaurants use cream in their Paris Mash, I adopt Guillaume Brahimi’s method of using milk instead because sometimes, the flavour of the cream can overwhelm. I prefer the pure unadulterated flavour of just potato and butter; It is a tool suitable for both flat and sloping areas, with a variable digging depth, perfect for all types of soil. What are the main types of potato diggers?

Always drain the potatoes thoroughly - Once the potatoes are drained, leave them in the sieve or colander for several minutes to really steam dry.This recipe tastes exactly like the stuff they serve at restaurants. And there's one specific step which makes it restaurant style - how the potatoes are mashed. You are left with a velvety smooth texture and loads of flavour from the garlic. Though the recipe looks fairly simple, there are a few technicalities that you should pay attention to. Use The Right Potatoes It’s made with alotof butter, and many chefs use cream as well. Sometimes as much as 40% butter and cream to 60% potato! 😱😱😱

Starting the potatoes in cold water makes sure that the potatoes are par cooked through evenly. Season twice By pushing the mash through the sieve along with the butter, rather than adding the fat afterwards, the fat molecules can cling to the potatoes' proteins and stop them overdeveloping. We love it when chefs get all science-y. Insanely easy and creamy garlic mashed potatoes infused with garlic butter - We've included tips on what kind of potatoes to use, how to boil them, and other small steps to make the best mashed potatoes you've ever tasted!Dry out potato over low heat– once the potato is mashed, stir it over low heat to steam out any residual water which will intensify the potato flavour and start the process of making it really creamy; Waterlogged potatoes mean gluey mashed potatoes. To avoid this, make sure you drain your potatoes really well. I like to use a giant slotted spoon to scoop the potatoes out of the water. It’s a lot easier than lifting a heavy pot of hot water. Start potatoes in cold water It’s certainly not an everyday mash, so save it for special occasions to serve alongside grand centrepieces! Interestingly, it seems this could be a relatively recent development in aligot’s long history; David, writing in 1960, makes no reference to it, and Strang simply describes the dish as “creamy”. That said, given tomme fraiche is naturally rather stringy when melted, I’d recommend also sneaking in a bit of mozzarella, as McGlynn and Gizzi Erskine’s Slow suggest, to give your aligot a little spring in its step.

Put your potatoes in cold, heavily salted water and bring it up to the boil (rather than adding them to already-boiling water). This will stop the potatoes overcooking on the outside and cook them more evenly. If you salt them during boiling, you do not need to season them at the end. Starch is important both for absorbing all that melted cheese and for giving the dish its characteristic elasticity. According to The Cook’s Illustrated Science of Good Cooking, “as it turns out, there is something different about the starch in potatoes that makes it possible to form the super stretch of aligot. Unlike the starch from other plants, the molecules in potato starch contain a small number of negative electrical charges. When combined with cheese proteins, parts of which contain positive electrical charges, an electrical bond between the two is created [and] the combination becomes very springy and stretchy.” In the video, Poppy talks us through her entire 'best mash' process. The chef says that the best mash is made with a starchy potato, such as Maris Pipers and Russets. These are peeled and sliced, rather than chopped, to make sure all of the pieces take exactly the same length of time to cook. She pops them into a pot of cold, salted water and brings the whole lot to a simmer until the potatoes are cooked. This machine is designed to make the harvesting of tubers and other crops easy and above all fast, as the machine only needs to pass once over the area to be worked for complete harvesting.All you need is potatoes, salt, butter and milk OR cream (for a more luxurious finish).You don’t need to fuss with extra ingredients if you use the right technique for cooking! Heat up your cream or milk prior to adding it to your sieved mash so that it will combine more easily. For this recipe, we have peeled the potatoes. The potatoes should be cut into approximately 1.5 inch pieces. If they are too big, they won't cook through. And if they are too small, they’ll cook too fast and start breaking down in the water while boiling. However, I’ve discovered through online comments that, unbeknownst to us professionals, there are people up and down the country who like their mash lumpy. This under-represented section of the population actively chooses to resist fully mashing their spuds, preferring to give them more of a casual crush instead. I make it a lot, I eat it a lot and itmakes an appearance at everything from midweek meals to holiday gatherings!