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thanksgiving cooking cheat sheet and table settings 6
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Garlic & Herb Mashed Potatoes

The marriage between buttery and creamy with herbs and potato skin chunks make this one a hit.
Prep Time1 hr
Cook Time2 hrs
Total Time3 hrs
Course: Side Dish
Servings: 12

Equipment

  • Stock Pot
  • Strainer
  • Potato Masher

Ingredients

  • 5 lb Russet Potatoes
  • 1 head garlic, cloves in tact, separated and peeled
  • 1 head garlic, chopped
  • 1 1/2 sticks salted butter
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 4 tbsp kosher salt
  • 6 sprigs fresh thyme leaves removed from the stem
  • 2 sprigs  fresh rosemary leaves removed from stem and finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp fresh parsley finely chopped
  • white pepper to taste
  • chopped chives to taste
  • smoked salt, garlic salt, or truffle salt to taste

Instructions

  • Bring a large stock pot of water to a medium boil and add the potatoes and garlic. Boil until you can pierce a paring knife through the potato with absolutely no resistance, but the potato won't fall apart. This will typically be about 30 minutes.
  • While potatoes are cooking, saute the chopped garlic in a saute pan on low heat with butter and a splash of cream. Don't let the garlic get any darker than golden...don't brown them, we just want to get the flavors to be released.
  • Drain the potatoes and rinse with water to get any extra debris off.
  • If you want to remove the skins, you'll do it in this step. You can easily remove them with a scrubby or thermal gloves. If you want to add texture to the potatoes, keep the skins. If you want them creamier, remove the skins...it's a personal preference
  • Rice the potatoes with the garlic into a bowl. If you don't have a ricer, you can skip this step and mash them when they're back in the pot.
  • Put the potatoes and garlic back into the stock pot and add the butter. If you hadn't already riced the potatoes, start mashing with the potato masher until every potato is opened.
  • Add the rest of the ingredients and stir together. Mix and mash the potatoes until it's the texture you like. I like chunkier. If they are too thick and chunky for your liking, add chicken stock 1/4 cup at a time.
  • Add salt and white pepper to taste.
  • Add cold butter cubes to the top and sprinkle with special salt (smoked, garlic, or truffle are the best) and bake it in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes to build a crust on top. Sprinkle with chopped chives and serve.

Notes

The combination of Russet and Yukon Gold make it extra creamy. Yukon Gold potatoes are very rich and provide a really smooth texture. The russet make them more subtle.
For a large recipe like this one, a large stock pot with a combined strainer make it really easy. You can boil the potatoes in the strainer portion so you don't spill hot water everywhere in the straining step. This is the one I have.
Important!
When boiling potatoes, you want to keep ALL the moisture in the potato, which means not sacrificing any integrity to the potato skin. Contrary to what you may have learned in the past with potatoes, do NOT do the following:
  • Pierce the potato with a fork. Although it helps the potatoes boil faster, it allows moisture to escape the potato and will dry it out.
  • Add salt to the pot. This is great for other vegetables, but salt will also compromise the integrity of the potato.
  • Peel the potatoes. Even if you plan on not keeping the skin, it's much easier to peel them afterward because the skin just falls off with a scrubby or thermal gloves.
  • Scrub the skins too much. Again, this compromises the integrity of the skin. Honestly, you don't have to even rinse them. The dirt will fall off in the boiling process and you can run some water over them when you strain them.