Perfect mashed potatoes Heston Blumenthal style
May 14th, 2013
Want to know how to cook perfect mashed potatoes?
Who else to ask than Heston Blumenthal – founder of the acclaimed Fat Duck restaurant, and star of numerous TV shows including Heston’s Feasts.
Here he is, staring intently into your soul, as if to say: I know you ate a cupcake for lunch, instead of salad*. Shame on you.
Anyway, for the uninitiated, Heston is a chef who has devoted a lot of time to finding the ‘perfect’ way to prepare food – including anything from steak to poached eggs to chips and, you guessed it, mashed potato.
As Heston discovered, the key to producing mash that is soft and creamy, as opposed to gluggy and sticky, is to keep the starch cells in the potato intact.
What does this mean?
Okay, quick science lesson. Potatoes contain starch cells, and if these are broken, the starch will ooze out and turn your mash into “wallpaper glue”. This is why you should never make mashed potatoes with a stick blender or a food processor, because the sharp blade will cut through the starch cells, and give you mash that is gluey and gross.
The solution? Watch the video to find out:
As Heston demonstrates, this masher, which has been specially developed by Breville, will give you perfectly smooth and creamy mashed potatoes with a minimum of effort. Plus, it’s easy to clean!
The masher attachment comes as part of the Breville All in One™ – a set that includes a wire whisk, blending jug, processing bowl, slicing and shredding discs, and a stick blender with ice-crushing quad blades. Which is pretty darn nifty!
Heston’s mashed potato recipe
Heston’s ‘Ultimate Mashed Potato’ recipe is available at the BBC Food website.
If you are lucky enough to own a Breville All in One, you won’t need to worry about the ricer or the sieve. Simply use the coarse setting to mash your cooked potatoes, then add butter and switch to the fine setting to get them silky and smooth.
Serve like this:
Or this:
Or this:
Okay, I have to go now and stick my face in a big bowl of mashed potato. With a pint of cream, and a full pound of butter.
*This is, unfortunately, true. I’m sorry, Heston.
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