Last Thanksgiving at my house, a small family feud broke out over the mashed potatoes.
I like to keep my potatoes pretty simple, but I don't think simple has to mean boring. I like to flavor them just slightly, saving the need to hide them in gravy. So I made what I thought was a modest addition: a little bit of garlic, some scallions and a sprinkling of Parmesan.
From my family's reaction, you'd think I'd painted a mustache on the Mona Lisa. Their thinking held that you never, ever stray from the traditional smashed taters – potatoes, butter, salt, a little pepper, that's it. They felt so strongly about it that I had to make a second batch just to appease their traditionalist leanings.
Where do you stand? How do you mess with your mashed potatoes? Or do you stick to the original?
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Comments (58)
traditional, please!
i used to put ketchup in my mashed potatoes when I was little, though.
Lots of garlic and cheese please!
In my family, it's a miracle if we even have mashed potatoes on the table. We don't tend to eat traditional Thanksgiving fare in general because, most of the time, we're more concerned about eating tamales or carne asada instead.
depends on the dinner...but I have been known to do it at least these two different ways
potatoes, butter, milk, seasoned salt, garlic powder
and
potatoes, butter, milk, cheese, sour cream, bacon bits (REAL bacon cooked and broken or sliced up)
i used to put ketchup in mine too!
but now its garlic powder/onion powder.....or cheese.....or both......
wait what, nobody likes gravy?!
I FSKING LOVE GRAVY! :D
I like mine many ways.
It depends on the dish, a lot of times. Generally I like them smashed, and very chunky. I like the texture. I tend to keep it simple, S&P, cream, good butter, good potatoes.
There are times though, that I... ohhhhh I know what I'm going to do for my IRLF Thanksgiving contribution now.
Anyway, there are times that I like going so far with my mashed potatoes that they're not even mashed potatoes anymore -- smashing up the potatoes in a cast iron pan; and then covering it with bacon, cheese, cheese, cheese, sour cream, chives, butter, and then putting it back into the oven so the top gets all caramelized and gooey and browned...
It's like a Twice Baked Potato, except like, 5 of them in a cast iron pan, that you eat with a giant spoon.
@chow - Everytime you post a comment like this, I get closer and closer to running away down there.
@live_for_love@xanga - Imma make this and post it :D
My recipe: potatoes, butter, salt, a little pepper, onions, sugar, milk or ice cream.
@chow - Can I come over for Thanksgiving pweeze? *puppy eyes*
Mashed potatoes are really the only way I like to eat potatoes. I think I've generally liked them regardless of how they were prepared. The exception is the one time the school dining hall decided to mix kimchi into the potatoes. That was a little weird.
My friend made the best garlic mashed potatoes I've ever head. They were absolutely devine. I miss it so much. I know no matter how I make it, it will never be as good as his, and he knows it. And that steak he made for me... ughhh =(
Lots of variations but have to agree with sticking to the basics is the best. Slight modifications are acceptable depending on the fare it is accompanying.
i make potato castles out of them.... oh you're talking about extra ingredients... well i add garlic to my mashed potatoes. i don't add butter because my potato castle loses its stability due to the low viscosity.
I just stick with the "normal" ingredients.
what you did sounds spectacular! i find traditional to be dull. so i usually opt for sweet potatoes!
Yeah that is pretty traditionalist, which I can understand. However I make all kinds of mash potatoes... Wasabi Mashed potatoes with salmon, goat cheese and chive mash with chicken, butternut squash, pumpkin mash... hahah pretty much anything I'll put in there.
i like either brown gravy or sour cream on my mashed potatoes with butter but that's as far as i will go to change them..
mashed potatoes are a major comfort food for me. i love them all ways. usually with some sort of cheese, garlic, & perhaps bacon. sour cream is good. & always buttered up.
I don't believe in rules. I make whatever tastes most mindblowingly awesome and experiment frequently to make it even more awesome. This includes my mashed potatoes. However, I will tend to keep the potatoes simple if I'm experimenting with the gravy, to get a better sense of how my experiment is going. And vice versa.
when my mom makes mashed potatoes, she usually just keeps it simple, using butter, milk and maybe some salt. when i eat them, i end up putting lots of cheese, pepper, sour cream, maybe more butter and gravy. definitely have to add other things in them. it's so hard eating them plain.
When I saw the question, I was like, you mean play around with it? Haha, I just add gravy. I like doodling on mashed potatoes though. ;D
I like to roast garlic and mash it up in there, as well as margarine, salt, pepper and maybe some type of herb if I am feeling cheeky. Next time I will add nutritional yeast too. Yumyum.
I have a gravy recipe I am dying to try out that I also plan on using at some point. I am generally not a mash and gravy girl, but as I do not eat fake meats, the only thing I can think to put it on is mashed potatoes.
As someone who's family landed on the shores of America in Black '47, the deadliest year of the Great Potato Famine, I love and revere the potato. And what I can't understand is this - with all the wonderful things that can be done with a potato( you can boil, bake,roast,broast, or fry it), why mess it up like that at all? If I'm forced to eat mashed potatoes , I too just like some butter, pepper, and salt on them.
@chow - After reading your comment about the
"..smashing up the potatoes in a cast iron pan; and then covering it with bacon, cheese, cheese, cheese, sour cream, chives, butter, and then putting it back into the oven so the top gets all caramelized and gooey and browned..."my stomach turned over....looked at me and said "Why don't you do that for me? You don't love me do you"
.....of course...it was stomach talk...so all I heard was grumbling and rumbling...but I think I translated it pretty well. lol