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Making good mashed potatoes is an art form honestly. I'm really good at it too. I go as far as weighing each potato just so I can have the perfect ratio of ingredients. I think most people's potatoes are hit or miss because they just add shit until it looks right but if you have a method they can be consistently awesome.
Mine are not consistently good - sometimes good but sometimes gluey. What am i doing wrong?
Measure everything. I use a fancy cooking scale I got for Christmas and I weigh the potatoes after peeling and then adjust my usual amount of ingredients to the weight of the potatoes. Plus you might be over or under boiling the potatoes. You don't want them mushy but also not too hard. I usually test it with a fork. If I can stab the chunk in the water with a fork and pick it up it isn't finished, but if I stab it and almost falls apart then it is good. I also soak them in water for hours before cooking to remove some of the starch, might help, might not but I do it. I also cut them in to consistently sized chunks before boiling so each potato is of similar consistency. Also gotta use the right type of potato. Golden will get mushy easily but russet is more forgiving.
Also, this is important. After you drain the potatoes put them back in the pot and cook over low heat to remove the excess moisture. That's prolly why they're gooey. If you immediately start mixing them after draining they'll have too much water.
Thanks. I think I'm overcooking them and then overwhipping because they're too wet.
That's what I suspected. Definitely put them back in the pot after draining over low heat for like ten minutes. That will remove the moisture. The butter and milk are the only moisture you want really. I also melt the butter and whisk it into the milk then add them together slowly as I mash. That way you can get the consistency where you want. You can't be certain how much water is still in them so sometimes it takes a bit less than you planned but this way the ratio of butter to milk is consistent no matter how much or little you needed.