How do you make smashed potatoes?

[flounder]

Title says

 

[jkath]

I boil a half dozen or so red potatoes till they're done (you can tell by sticking a fork in them). Drain water, use a potato masher and add a small splash of milk, about 3-4 Tbsp of butter, a bit of salt & pepper. Mash till done. (You can always add more milk)

You can also add minced sauteed garlic for another taste.

 

[Michael in FtW]

I boil my potatoes, drain, then use a hand potato masher to "smash" them. You could also just crush them in your hand if you want - and can handle the heat. Add butter, milk, sauteed onion or garlic - your choice. Similar to "mashed" potatoes but coarser somewhat chunky - not but chunke like potato salad but not as smooth and creamy as mashed ... another name might be, "rustic mashed potatoes".

 

[Maverick2272]

Boil them and mash them, then add in butter, milk, garlic, and a little sour cream. Move it to the blender and whip it up. Add in some chopped chive, more for effect.

 

[bryankimjade]

my recipe for garlic smashed potatoes

In large pot of water, boil red potatoes with the skin left on until fork tender. I also generouly salt the water. Then I throw in about a handful of peeled garlic cloves depending on your taste and the amount of potatoes. Drain, add milk and butter and mash potatos and garlic with a potato masher. I like mine to be a little bitey and not like whipped.

 

[kitchenelf]

They key to smashed is don't overdo it with the potato "masher"!! There is usually not quite as much milk/cream in them either - they are more dry IMHO and usually have some Parmesan cheese thrown in there along with some garlic too (of course butter, salt/pepper). You can lightly use the masher to just smash them (not pushing all the way down to the bottom of the bowl) and then finish mixing with a large wooden spoon or something similar.

 

[Maverick2272]

Let it whip.. whip it right... yea yea...

Hmmm, so technically mine are 'whipped' potatoes then?

Well, let it whip.....

 

[kitchenelf]

Hmmm, so technically mine are 'whipped' potatoes then?

Well, let it whip.....

I think that pretty much sums it up!

 

[TATTRAT]

I assume we all had a mama, just make 'em like she did, lumps and all.

I think the culinary PC term is "rustic style" mashed pommes de tera, lol.

 

[jkath]

Hmmm, so technically mine are 'whipped' potatoes then?

Well, let it whip.....

whip it good.

 

[Maverick2272]

It's not just a trip...

Making 'whipped' potatoes will never be the same again..

 

[Mel!]

Not sure if this is what u mean but this is what I do.
Wrap the raw potatoes in a dish towel. Bash them with a rolling pin until they are cracked but try not to beat them to a pulp.
Then what I do is put them in an oven dish with wine, herbs oil, salt and whatever else u want and bake in the oven. When the potatoes are cracked(smashed) they absorb the flavours nicely.

Mel

 

[pacanis]

That's what came to my mind, too, JKath, when I was reading Maverick's post. And wasn't their nickname the "spud" boys? Fitting.

I prefer mashed, but I tried RR's garlic smashed potatoes a couple times. Cream cheese and sour cream plus finely chopped raw garlic. She said the garlic would cook in the hot smashed potatoes. She lied.

 

[Caine]

I peel two or three russets, depending on size, then dice them about 1 inch cubed. Then I boil them in water until fork tender, drain off all the water, and put them back on the burner to make sure all the water is gone. I toss in about a quarter stick of butter, then attack the cooked potatoes with one of those curved wire mashers, not the round plate with the holes in it kind. Once the potatoes are smashed up real good, I add the milk and stir them up with the masher until the milk is thoroughly incorporated and the potaotes are the desired consistency.

 

[Barbara L]

Not sure if this is what u mean but this is what I do.
Wrap the raw potatoes in a dish towel. Bash them with a rolling pin until they are cracked but try not to beat them to a pulp.
Then what I do is put them in an oven dish with wine, herbs oil, salt and whatever else u want and bake in the oven. When the potatoes are cracked(smashed) they absorb the flavours nicely.

Mel

When I think of Smashed Potatoes, I think of what they serve at some of the restaurants I go to--like the ones jkath described. This, however, is an interesting idea and I will have to try it sometime!

Barbara

 

[Uncle Bob]

Boil/Bake...Run them through what I call a ricer. Milk and butter. It's done!

 

[auntdot]

When I grew up M&D would add margerine and milk to boiled taters and tear into them with the hand mixer.

That is how I leaarned to make mashed taters. And they were always the same.

Now I know there are so many ways to make them.

To me smashed means crushing the spuds until they still have some texture, OK lumps. How many and how big is always the decision.

We do it with a manual potato masher we inherited from a grandmom. It has a red wooden hamdle and metal mashers. And is probably eighty years old. But it works fine.

Then comes the question of what one wants to add to the dish. Butter and milk or cream or sour cream or even cream cheese, yipes, I cannot take the pressure.

Of course chives, we try to keep a pot growing in the kitchen in the winter. But then there is the garlic question. I like garlic in demure quantities, the other side of us would put enough in to keep the dog away from us for a week.

Maybe all people wishing to be married should go to a garlic counsellor, a certified one of course, prior to the bands.

Garlic aside, we ofen have to make a decision on the fate of a tater. Should we smash the tater just a tad, not bad. Or a bit more. And what do we add? Or should we just pick up the hand mixer and add some butter and cream and enjoy?

And the possible additives like crumbled bacon or shallots, how do I deal with that?

I promise to calm down. But smashing a tater is not a casual decision. Choosing from a palette of potato possiblities is difficult at best.

But just smash aeay. Taters are great. But I love just boiled smashed taters with a bit of S&P to the very blended toaters with a lot of fatty stuff and bacon.

The enigma is figuring out how far one wants to go for any meal.

 

[virgo152]

I love it the DEW Guy!

 

[archiduc]

Hi Flounder,
Would you like a recipe for smashed potatoes, mashed potatoes or Pommes Puree. You need to be more exact, and dare I say, more discriminating in your search.

With which dish would you like your "pommes" to accompany?

Regards,
Archiduc

 

[darlenemt08]

I peel my potatoes, dice them, & cook till done. Then I mash them or whipped them with the hand mixer. My mom used the hand mixer while I was growing up. I use my hand mixer most of the time whenever I've got a small batch of potatoes. Whenever I've got a bigger batch of potatoes, I use my Kitchen Aid stand mixer.

My mom adds butter & milk to hers along with a little salt to taste.

After I've drained my potatoes, I add butter, Paula Deen's House Seasoning, & milk. I also add a couple of teaspoons of chicken boullion. I've been using Watkins Soup & Gravy base for the past year in my mashed potatoes. I try to mash out as much lumps as possible but it doesn't bother me if there's any lumps in it. I make potatoes creamy...a little thicker than country gravy. After they've set for awhile, they do thicken up.

Darlene