# Mashed potatoes in advance.  Comments please.



## julesthegolfer (Nov 20, 2011)

In Saveur magazine a tip said you could peel, boil and mash potatoes the day before.  It said pass the cooked potatoes through a ricer directly into a ziplock bag and refrigerate.  Next day you can add your butter and cream.  Has anyone tried this?  Won't the potatoes turn a funny color?
Thanks


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## msmofet (Nov 20, 2011)

julesthegolfer said:


> In Saveur magazine a tip said you could peel, boil and mash potatoes the day before. It said pass the cooked potatoes through a ricer directly into a ziplock bag and refrigerate. Next day you can add your butter and cream. Has anyone tried this? Won't the potatoes turn a funny color?
> Thanks


 I have stored leftover mashed taters and they stayed white.


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## Dawgluver (Nov 20, 2011)

Mine too.


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## Oldvine (Nov 20, 2011)

I've stored left over cooked mashed taters and they stay white.  Sounds like a great idea to me.


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## Katie H (Nov 20, 2011)

julesthegolfer said:


> In Saveur magazine a tip said you could peel, boil and mash potatoes the day before.  It said pass the cooked potatoes through a ricer directly into a ziplock bag and refrigerate.  Next day you can add your butter and cream.  Has anyone tried this?  Won't the potatoes turn a funny color?
> Thanks



This should work well.  Cooked potatoes won't discolor.  Uncooked potatoes will oxidize and turn a brown or copper color, even under water.

I'd say go for it and enjoy your make ahead dish.


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## no mayonnaise (Nov 21, 2011)

Mashed potatoes are one of the few foods that don' really change flavor when they are leftovers.


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## snickerdoodle (Nov 21, 2011)

I'm making the mashed potatoes the night before and warming them in a crock pot in the morning.  I don't see a problem with it since I've stored many o' mashed potatoes as leftovers on several occassions.


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## ChefJune (Nov 21, 2011)

julesthegolfer said:


> In Saveur magazine a tip said you could peel, boil and mash potatoes the day before. It said pass the cooked potatoes through a ricer directly into a ziplock bag and refrigerate. Next day you can add your butter and cream. Has anyone tried this? Won't the potatoes turn a funny color?
> Thanks


 
They won't turn colors, and that is an EXCELLENT do-ahead idea!  Be sure to warm the cream first in a separate pot before whipping them into the warmed up potatoes.


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## Sir_Loin_of_Beef (Nov 21, 2011)

Would you be surprised to find that frozen mashed potatoes in a microwavable plastic bag are available in most supermarket frozen food sections? You nuke them, add salt, butter and milk or cream and you're good to go. If they can do it, why can't you?


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## jennyema (Nov 21, 2011)

ChefJune said:


> They won't turn colors, and that is an EXCELLENT do-ahead idea! Be sure to warm the cream first in a separate pot before whipping them into the warmed up potatoes.


 

Can you make them entirely ahead of time (potaotes, buter, cream/milk)?  

Or just the potatoes?

Ive never trusted make-ahead potatoes but I have too much to do this year.

Ideally I'd like to complete them on Wednesday and reheat on Thursday.


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## snickerdoodle (Nov 21, 2011)

jennyema said:


> Can you make them entirely ahead of time (potaotes, buter, cream/milk)?
> 
> Or just the potatoes?
> 
> ...


 
I'm making mine entirely, with the butter and milk, the night before.  I've never thought twice about it since I've successfully stored and reheated (and enjoyed!) leftover mashed potatoes many times before.   To me, this is the same thing but on a bit larger scale.  I think the only thing to be careful of is overworking (too much mixing) the potatoes; then they get kind of sticky.


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## jennyema (Nov 21, 2011)

Tnx!


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## Kayelle (Nov 21, 2011)

I *always *do my potatoes the night before, with all the fixins, and put them in a casserole in the fridge. I just can't imagine dealing with mashed potatoes at the last minute.
I always use a potato ricer on them, and mix in sour cream, cream cheese, melted butter and *no milk or cream. *In other words, they are like twice baked potatoes without the skin.
I have used non fat yogurt and non fat cream cheese to reduce the calories with little difference in flavor.  I believe the trick is to not use milk to avoid that "leftover potato" flavor.  My family loves my potatoes, and the gravy is optional.


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## Sir_Loin_of_Beef (Nov 21, 2011)

jennyema said:


> Can you make them entirely ahead of time (potaotes, buter, cream/milk)?
> 
> Or just the potatoes?
> 
> ...



If you go to the refrigerated section of the supermarket you swill see that Country Crock sells completely prepared mashed potatoes in a plastic tub. If they can do it, you can too!


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## jennyema (Nov 21, 2011)

Sir_Loin_of_Beef said:


> If you go to the refrigerated section of the supermarket you swill see that Country Crock sells completely prepared mashed potatoes in a plastic tub. If they can do it, you can too!


 

Dear Lord, I  dont want mine to taste like theirs!


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## Ranchwifeg (Nov 21, 2011)

I'm glad I found this thread because I was contemplating preparing just the potatoes ahead of time for Thanksgiving dinner.  A few years back I made the potatoes early in the morning of Thanksgiving and put them in a crockpot on low.  The flavor of them turned out funny - kind of sweet.  I was disappointed in them.  I like this idea of doing just the potatoes, then adding all the goody before serving.  One question, would you heat them up in the microwave, or on the stove top, before adding the goodie?  Sometimes microwaved food doesn't stay as warm as stove top food.  Thanks!


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## Rocklobster (Nov 21, 2011)

Sir_Loin_of_Beef said:


> If you go to the refrigerated section of the supermarket you swill see that Country Crock sells completely prepared mashed potatoes in a plastic tub. If they can do it, you can too!


  I have seen them in shrink wrapped bags also. Just drop in boiling water and heat.
We tried it at a restaurant I worked at once.  We never had enough orders for mashed at lunch time, so we just bagged a few the previous evening. We would drop them in an insert of hot water in the steam table and they turned out fine.  We cut a hole in the corner of the baggy and squeezed them out of the bag   and curled them up like doggy poop.  Sorry. It got pretty boring there, somedays.


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## Kayelle (Nov 21, 2011)

Ranchwifeg said:


> I'm glad I found this thread because I was contemplating preparing just the potatoes ahead of time for Thanksgiving dinner.  A few years back I made the potatoes early in the morning of Thanksgiving and put them in a crockpot on low.  The flavor of them turned out funny - kind of sweet.  I was disappointed in them.  I like this idea of doing just the potatoes, then adding all the goody before serving.  One question, would you heat them up in the microwave, or on the stove top, before adding the goodie?  Sometimes microwaved food doesn't stay as warm as stove top food.  Thanks!



I think that odd "leftover potato"  flavor is from the milk or cream used........that's why I don't use it when I make them ahead.
Your crockpot should be fine, and the best way to gently warm them if you want to add the fixins' at the last minute

By the way, welcome to DC....


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## pacanis (Nov 21, 2011)

jennyema said:


> Dear Lord, I dont want mine to taste like theirs!


 
What do theirs taste like? I've never had prepared mashed potatoes... that I know of.


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## Girl49 (Nov 25, 2011)

*Mashed Potatoes Fluffy and Creamy*

Would love to do my mashed potatoes ahead next year. Used organic Yukon Golds yesterday and didn't get them creamy or fluffy enough. Is this pretty much a function of how much butter/milk-cream is added, or whether you use a potato masher or a hand-held beater?


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## Kayelle (Nov 25, 2011)

Girl49 said:


> Would love to do my mashed potatoes ahead next year. Used organic Yukon Golds yesterday and didn't get them creamy or fluffy enough. Is this pretty much a function of how much butter/milk-cream is added, or whether you use a potato masher or a hand-held beater?



Girl, in my opinion, the success of perfect mashed potatoes begins with not mashing them with a masher, or a hand held beater, which will give you potato glue.  Once you've used a potato ricer, you'll never do it any other way.


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## Aunt Bea (Nov 26, 2011)

Rocklobster said:


> I have seen them in shrink wrapped bags also. Just drop in boiling water and heat.
> We tried it at a restaurant I worked at once.  We never had enough orders for mashed at lunch time, so we just bagged a few the previous evening. We would drop them in an insert of hot water in the steam table and they turned out fine.  We cut a hole in the corner of the baggy and squeezed them out of the bag   and curled them up like doggy poop.  Sorry. It got pretty boring there, somedays.




I have had good results freezing the high fat make ahead mashed potato casserole leftovers.  I portion them in plastic sandwich bags, squeeze out the air and pop them in the freezer.  I thaw mine and heat them in the microwave but, I think I will try your boil in bag method.  I think I will even try your doggy poop swirl.  Do you swirl clockwise or counter clockwise?  It gets pretty boring here almost everyday.


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## Fabiabi (Nov 26, 2011)

Kayelle said:


> Girl, in my opinion, the success of perfect mashed potatoes begins with not mashing them with a masher, or a hand held beater, which will give you potato glue.  Once you've used a potato ricer, you'll never do it any other way.



I've never been good at mashed potato. Sometimes it's because i've over/under cooked and then I can't make it smooth. I will try a ricer, thanks


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## Bolas De Fraile (Nov 26, 2011)

The type of pot is vital for good mash. Mashed Potato - Potato Council


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## Sir_Loin_of_Beef (Nov 26, 2011)

If I make mashies from scratch, I don't slice and boil the potatoes. I bake some russets, whole, for about 45 minutes, cut them in half, and use a big serving spoon to take them out of the skins. Then I run them through the potato ricer, put them into a microwave safe serving bowl, mix in milk or half & half, butter and a little bit of sea salt, and nuke them to serving temperature. For home use just for myself, I'll buy prepared mashed potatoes. If I run low, I will sometimes even fortify them with Betty Crocker Potato Buds. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





BTW, I didn't buy the potato ricer for mashed potatoes, I bought it to frost my world famous spaghetti & meatballs cake!


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## Dawgluver (Nov 26, 2011)

The Idahoan brand instant is really tasty and easy for everyday mashed.


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## taxlady (Nov 26, 2011)

I buy organic potatoes and they are not uniform in size, so I cut my potatoes into uniform size chunks. Sometimes I peel them first. Other times I just mash them with the peel on 

I use some of the potato cooking water to mash my potatoes, that's all. They still turn out yummy.

I like this potato masher:






I don't like this kind:
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




How do you get rid of the lumps?

I have occasionally used a food mill to rice potatoes, but I prefer my masher.


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## Ranchwifeg (Nov 26, 2011)

I made my potatoes 2 days before Thanksgiving this year and then reheated them and added the "goodie."  They turned out amazing!  I so liked not having to peel, cut up, boil, and mash them before dinner.  I will make mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving this way from now on!

On another note, my mother taught me to add about 1/4-1/2 tsp of baking powder to the mashed potatoes when you are adding the butter and milk to make them lighter and more fluffy.  I've usually use the mixer when mashing my potatoes and they always turn out fluffy and creamy when I add the baking powder.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Nov 26, 2011)

Dawgluver said:


> The Idahoan brand instant is really tasty and easy for everyday mashed.



It's too late for your sojourn to Costco, but they have a good Instant Mashed Potato, the brand is "Honest Earth."  Quite tasty and one of the reasons Shrek will cook dinner for me on occasion.


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## Dawgluver (Nov 26, 2011)

PrincessFiona60 said:
			
		

> It's too late for your sojourn to Costco, but they have a good Instant Mashed Potato, the brand is "Honest Earth."  Quite tasty and one of the reasons Shrek will cook dinner for me on occasion.



Good to know.  I'm keeping a running Costco list on the fridge door.  I got a huge box of Idahoan packets there last year.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Nov 26, 2011)

Dawgluver said:


> Good to know.  I'm keeping a running Costco list on the fridge door.  I got a huge box of Idahoan packets there last year.



I do doctor them, double the butter, add pepper.  I fed them to my Mom and had to convince her they were instant.


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## Zereh (Nov 26, 2011)

Bolas De Fraile said:


> The type of pot is vital for good mash. Mashed Potato - Potato Council



It's too bad we really have to search to find different varieties of potatoes around here. Typical supermarkets have russets and reds and "baby" potatoes of either. It was like a miracle when they started having Yukon Golds readily available.

For all of our American excesses, we're really limited in many ways. We're stuck with uniformly sized and boring potatoes instead of be offered a variety.


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## Bolas De Fraile (Nov 28, 2011)

This is the site I use to pick my seed pots each year, I have about 160 lbs of 3 types in winter store, Cara for jkt spuds, Roosters for roast and french fries, Maris Pipers for mash. I use these most years, we will use Charlotte again next year for salads and pick 2 other types.     The British Potato Variety Database


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## taxlady (Nov 28, 2011)

Bolas De Fraile said:


> The type of pot is vital for good mash. Mashed Potato - Potato Council



At first I thought you meant the kind of pot that you boil your potatoes in. I read the article and they didn't mention cooking pots. All they talked about was varieties of potatoes.


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