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Potatoes that are mashed, usually with the addition of milk, butter and some seasoning. Loved around the Western world at least, they are often affectionately known as "smashed Potatoes" or simply just "mash."

Some German recipes for doughnuts contain Mashed Potato, as do other doughnut recipes. Many people swear in fact that the best doughnut recipes contain Mashed Potato. The original Krispy Kreme Donut recipe used Mashed Potato.

Cooking Tips
To make good Mashed Potatoes, use a good floury potato. Medium-sized potatoes, left whole, will take about 35 minutes to cook in boiling water; less them if you cut them up in 3 or 4 chunks each. Cook, drain, and then let them sit in the pan over very low heat for two or three minutes to dry them out. Then mash (using a masher or electric beaters). Once mashed, stir in 1 tbsp of butter for ever two potatoes, and some salt. Then beat in the milk, about 1 tsp for every potato you cooked up. To keep your mash hot and keep calories down, pour some of the hot water from the boiled potatoes into a jug, add a few teaspoons of dried milk powder and add this to your mashed up potatoes instead of cold milk. Some advise always heating the milk first in a microwave, but this isn't strictly necessary if you don't dawdle when the mash is ready. The real secret to good mashed potato is to serve it piping hot.

Nutrition
Mashed Potato is one of the fastest ways of getting glucose into your body for an energy rush.

Many dieters swear by this trick: to make the milk for Mashed Potatoes out of non-fat (skim) powdered milk mixed with water that the potatoes were boiled in.

Equivalents
Allow 1 pound (450g) of potatoes to make enough mash for two people, if they are Mashed Potato lovers. People tend to eat more potato when it is mashed than when it is presented any other way, so always allow about 50% more potato than you would if you were serving potatoes boiled or baked.

1/2 cup mashed potato, with butter and milk in it = 4.5 oz by weight (125g)
1 cup mashed potato = 9 oz / 250g
1 3/4 cup of mashed potato = 1 pound (16 oz / 450g)
2 cups of mashed potato = 18 oz / 500g
1 pound of mashed potato = 1 3/4 cups

Literature & Lore
Mashed Potatoes are used as a substitute for ice cream in food photography, as the ice cream would melt under the lights.

Language Notes
Called "Pétates pilées" in some parts of rural Quebec.

Also called:

See Also:

Floury Potatoes

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Alabaster, Anna Potatoes, Berny Potato Croquettes, Champ, Delmonico Potatoes, Duchess Potatoes, Lyonnaise Potatoes, Mashed Potato, Matchstick Potatoes, Papas Arrugadas, Rappie Pie, Salt Potatoes, Stovies

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Savoury Dishes
Alfredo Sauce, Béaltaine Caudle, Boiled Dinners, Bouchées à la Bénédictine, Bouchées à la Périgourdine, Chop Suey, Crappit Heids, Curry, Darioles, Favetta, Fondue, French Fries, Koromo, Pancakes, Pies & Tarts, Pizza, Porridge, Relish Trays, Sandwiches, Soups, Spring Rolls, Steak Tartare, Sushi, Tenkas, Teriyaki, Timbales, TV Dinners, Yakimono, Zakuska

Other entries for: Dishes

Desserts, Dumplings, Salads