Yesterday, I discovered that you can buy pre-made mashed potatoes at the store.  Not the boxed dehydrated variety that is only edible with enough butter – I’m talking about refrigerated varieties that are made fresh in the store.  How did I find out about these store-made treats?  After serving my mashed potatoes to some friends, I received a backhanded compliment: “wow, these are as good as the ones you buy in the store.”  Depressing isn’t it.

Anyhow, given that I enjoy making my own heart-warming mashed treats, I’m going to keep cooking… well, at least until someone tells me, “These are ALMOST as good as the ones I buy in the store.”

Making good mashed potatoes depends on choosing good potatoes.  Potatoes are usually of the baking, boiling or all purpose variety.  For mashed potatoes, I recommend baking potatoes or russet potatoes.  I have occasionally used red potatoes or yellow potatoes.  They both work fine, but don’t have quite the same consistency.   There are also several methods of cooking the potatoes to get them mashably soft.  I use the boiling method, but I have not tried steaming or baking so I can’t personally recommend which is better.

All in all, this is a very easy recipe, and many of you probably know how it’s done.  Since it’s been on my mind, though, here’s the recipe.

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