Mashed Potatoes 101

Mashed potato or mashed potatoes (American, Canadian and Australian English), colloquially known as mash (British English), is a dish made by mashing boiled or steamed potatoes, usually with added milk, butter, salt and pepper. It is generally served as a side dish to meat or vegetables. Roughly mashed potatoes are sometimes called smashed potatoes.

Dehydrated instant mashed potatoes and frozen mashed potatoes are available. Mashed potatoes are an ingredient in other dishes, such as dumplings and gnocchi.

An early recipe is found in Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery, published in 1747. Her recipe mashed them in a saucepan with milk, salt, and butter.

Most authors recommend the use of "floury" potatoes with a high ratio of amylose in their starch to achieve a fluffy, creamy consistency and appearance. However, some recipes use "waxy" potatoes containing more amylopectin in their starch for a different texture or look; for instance, one pounded mashed potato dish from Yunnan cuisine (in southwestern China), uses waxy potatoes to achieve a chewy, sticky texture.

Butter, milk or cream, salt, and pepper are usually added. Many other seasonings may also be used, including herbs (notably parsley and chives), spices (notably nutmeg), garlic, cheese, bacon, sour cream, crisp onion or spring onion, caramelized onion, and mustard.

One French variation adds egg yolk for pommes duchesse, or Duchess potatoes, piped through a carrot tube into wavy ribbons and rosettes, brushed with butter, and lightly browned. Some French recipes for pomme purée (potato puree) use up to one part butter for every two parts potato. In low-calorie or non-dairy variations, milk, cream, and butter may be replaced by soup stock or broth.

Aloo bharta, an Indian sub-continent variation, uses chopped onions, mustard (oil, paste, or seeds), chili pepper, coriander leaves, and other spices. Alu pitika (Assamese: আলু পিটিকা) is a popular variation of aloo bharta in Assam, that may occasionally omit mustard and other spices. Alu pitika, made with roasted and smoked potatoes, is especially consumed in the winter.

The Mashed Potato is a dance move which was a popular dance craze of 1962. The dance move and mashed potato song were first made famous by James Brown in 1959 and used in his concerts regularly.

It was also a dance done to songs such as Dee Dee Sharp's "Mashed Potato Time". The move vaguely resembles that of the twist, by Sharp's fellow Philadelphian Chubby Checker.

Several songs inspired by the dance were hits, including "(Do the) Mashed Potatoes" by Nat Kendrick and the Swans (with vocals by King Coleman), "Mashed Potatoes U.S.A." by James Brown, and "Mashed Potato Time" and "Gravy (For My Mashed Potatoes)", both by Dee Dee Sharp.

In Australia the dance underwent a revival with Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs' version of "Mashed Potato" in 1964.

In France a song called "C'est le mashed potatoes" was performed by Johnny Hallyday in the early 1960s.


Mashed Potato Time with Dee Dee Sharp video clip
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=287...

Mashed Potato Dance Move demo: Cool Cats R Us/TikTok video
   • Do the Mashed Potato Dance  

Global mashed potato recipes
https://aladdinshouston.com/global-ma....