dont laugh but how do i make mash???!!!!!!!

[nikcola]

i have never made mash potato before could someone tell me how. I can cook hard to follow recepies but give me something easy and i mess it up thanksxxxxxxxxxx

Peel and chop potatoes and boil til soft. Drain and mash with potato masher adding butter, milk and seasoning for required consistency.

Add the milk slowly though and not too much - you don't want it too runny or sloppy.

Well Nikki there are all sorts of fancy recipes, but the basic one is this

Cut up and cook your spuds (floury spuds like king edwards or desiree best for mash) and then drain them and put them in a bowl or back in the pan. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave for 5 mins to get most of the moisture out.

Bung in a big lump of butter and some salt and pepper, then mash using a masher or a fork, don't use a blender thingy or they will turn to glue! Once all the lumps have gone put in some milk and beat until smooth and fluffy

Lots of variations on this, you can add other things like chives, cooked cabbage, grainy mustard, chopped bacon etc.

ps I often make mine in advance and heat in the microwave, add a little bit more milk and beat again when they come out

Ooohhhh - is nice if add creme fraiche or I add Horseradish sometimes, sometimes grain mustard and sometimes mint - depending on what we are eating.

Is also nice with a bit of mashed parsnip and carrot too - I hated potato before I was pregnant - now all I want to eat is mash - ooohhh sausage and mash, cold meat and mash, mash and mash or just mash - thats it am off to buy some for my lunch!!

I will never forget when my brother peeled some potatoes and then tried to mash them. He really didn't know that you had to cook them first.

tip: slightly under cook the potaotes.
if you cook them until completly soft your mash will be very watery.
add milk a little at a time, its very easy to go overboard.

swede and potato mash is yum, with a bit of grated nutmeg

ah but don't undercook or will be lumpy

Water is the enemy of the mashed spud. Make sure they are dry and crumbly before mashing

First choose the right kind of potato: in my experience King Edwards make the absolute best mash closely followed by Maris Piper.

Chop into pieces and cook in salted boiling water for about 15 minutes (test with a fork, you want them tender but not mushy), drain and add a big dollop of butter.

Top tip I learned on the Delia site is to use an electric whisk to mash rather than a masher or potato ricer and it really does make the job easier. Only use a small bit of milk once you've already started the job of mashing so you don't overdo it.

Voila, perfect mash

thank you thank you ill let u no how i get on lol at your bro nutcracker

Bu tgeorgina - I have heard never to use a whisk - makes them too startchy apparently??

Never done it meself - DP insists on mashing everything - it is one of those male things apparently like taking the bin out and cooking on the BBQ!!

I haven't found it makes it too starchy (and Delia is god!) Works fantastically well with mash you want to put on shepherds pie because then you want the potatoes pretty stiff and DON'T want to add ANY milk (otherwise it gets too soggy in the oven), and my hand drops off after 2 mins with the potato masher! I will use a masher rather than the whisk if it's only small quantities, simply for ease of washing up.

Note, I do mean an electric whisk and NOT a handheld blender. That really does make the potato like glue if you use a blender!!

I got a potato ricer after a recommendation on here and it is so quick and easy. I just pop the potatoes in the microwave to cook them and then through the ricer. Never had so much mash as we do now!

like evryone else here says but i like to grate cheese over the top and then grill for a couple of mins yummy

My DH likes to make them with cream and garlic and a handheld blender - he is a bit odd in this department.

Aunt Bessie frozen mash?

peel the spuds. stick 'em in a pan with water. keep simmering until you can put a fork straight through a potato without it feeling hard at all. Drain the water. mash the spuds up with a masher or fork. stick looooooooooaaads of butter in it - mash it up some more - stick it on a plate and eat it. yum

or leave out the butter - and put gravy on top

or get frozen yorkie puddings - the really really big ones - stick your mash inside - stick your sausages in like a castle and pour your gravy on top

yum

or make mash models. i made my son a speedboat once out of mash with beans for the sea. mash faces are easy withspaghetti hair

or make a shepherds pie.

its really hard ... take careful notes.

make mash as above.

open two cans of mince and stick in a oven proof pyrex dishy thing put the mash on top of the mince and spread about til it looks ok

stick it in the oven for half an hour

and serve to your kids who think its sunday cos there are no chips

tesco and sainsburies do mash in the fridge section - only its fancy mash! which means you get feck all and its bollox basically

custy if you have no tins of mince for your shep pie, fry some mince and chuck a tin of campbells condensed oxtail soup and some frozen peas and worcester sauce in.

wa hey i made chicken casserloe and mash and dd ate it all im really proud of myself thank you all watch out delia!!!!!

Great to hear - well done!

i am having a mumsnet splurge ( like you do) and have been so engrossed whilst the kids are playing out and hubby is at work til 10pm - that i burnt the canned mince - canned mince ffs! still made the little turdies eat it allllll up

always add hot liquid to potatoes when making mash, either cooking water or milk