Garlic Whipped Mashed Potatoes

Garlic whipped potatoes are one of the crown jewels in my cooking arsenal. Use this recipe, and I guarantee you, you'll be the sensation of your Thanksgiving table! People will completely forget about desert because these potatoes are that good.

INGREDIENTS:
Serving Size: 6-8 people

1) 5 lbs Russet Potatoes
2) 3-5 cloves of garlic
3) 1-2 tbsp kosher salt
4) 1 stick of butter
5) 1 pint heavy cream (the uber secret ingredient!)

YOU'LL NEED:
1) Stock Pot
2) Mixer with standard mixer attachment & whipping attachements



There are a few keys to making the world's best garlic whipped potatoes along with the key secret ingredient that sets these apart from your normal old, blah mashed potatoes!

1) When you boil the potatoes, keep an eye on the water color. It will start out clear when you add the potatoes and slowly turn murky as the starches in your potatoes break down and the potatoes soften. You don't want water that looks like pea soup! This means you've overcooked your potatoes, and the consistency you are looking for won't be there.

2) Besides watching the water, see how easy it is to break the potatoes apart. The consistency of a fully cooked potato is about the same as a stick of butter that's been out of the frig for about 15 minutes. It's not hard, but its not soft either.

3) The secret ingredient is the heavy cream. If you are looking for a bit healthier batch of potatoes, you can substitute half of the cream with 2% milk. You still need a little bit of cream though because it is what adds all the flavor!

4) Flavor to taste, and taste frequently! I don't use exact portions for this recipe, because people's tastes differ. So, make sure you taste your potatoes often and add the ingredients incrementatlly. Remember, you can always add more at the table, but you can't take away ingredients once they've been added. So, if people at your table are salt/garlic sensitive, go lite when you're making them.
**BE CAREFUL!** Garlic is one of the most potent herbs around. Why do you think Dracula is scared of garlic instead of mint! Garlic is a bit finnacky when you are making your potatoes. The full flavor really isn't there until about a day after and the garlic has time to sit in the potatoes. So if you flavor to levels that are adequate during your tasting, the leftovers will have a much more potent garlic flavor to them the next day.

Directions:

1) Use a stock pot to boil about 8 quarts of water.

2) Peel a 5lb bag of russet potatoes. Rather than buy the 5lb bags, I prefer to get the baking russets (if they have a 5lb bag of baking russets, you're set!) The reason is, the standard 5lb bag of russet potatoes are usually about 12-15 total smaller potatoes, which makes peeling more tedious. Get the bigger potatoes and save yourself some time peeling. Trust me, it makes it easier!

2) Add the potatoes to the boiling water. I like to use a small colinder to add the potatoes to prevent splashing. If the pot starts to boil over after adding the potatoes, simply turn down the temprature. Remember to stir them every few minutes.

3) Cooking time varies between 15-20 minutes at full boil. You can check to see if the potatoes are done by using your stiring spoon to see how easy it is to break apart a potato. If it is as easy as a knife through butter that has sat out for at least 15 minutes, you know you're done. Also, the water will turn into a slightly murky color.

4) Strain the potatoes in a colander, and add them to your mixing bowl using your standard mixing attachment. Turn the mix on low and start by adding the following:
-3 cloves of FRESH garlic (or about 3 tbsps)
-1 tbsp kosher salt (or a touch less if you're finicky about salt)
-3/4 of a pint of heavy cream
-1 stick of butter

Once all of your ingredients have been added, turn the mixer to high and mix for 2-3 minutes. Taste the potatoes. You'll probably want to add a little bit of everything! Remember, we are adding ingredients according to taste. I always like to add at least a little more salt, cream, and garlic. You'll be adding cream to get the potatoes to the consistency that you're looking for. The more cream you add, the more lite and fluffy the potatoes will become. Don't add to much though, as we aren't looking for potato soup!

5) We now have mashed potatoes - but wait! We're looking for lite and fluffy potatoes, so we'll swap out our standard mixer attachment for our whipping attachment. This allows more air to get into the potatoes, and really creates a wonderfully lite and fluffy potato mixture.

6) Enjoy!