Mashed Potatoes

Submitted by Jonathan

The classic mashed potato. Traditional Irish style is to leave them fairly chunky, and leave a moderate amount of potato skin in there. North American style is to remove all the skin, and whip with extra milk and sour cream until they're very smooth and fluffy. I recommend trying both ways, as some dishes are better served with Irish style, while others work better with the smooth variant.

Ingredients

• Potatoes (roughly 1.5 large potatoes per serving, I use 8 large which leaves some leftovers)
• 2 - 4 tbsp butter or margarine
• Fresh ground black pepper
• Milk
• 1 cup sour cream

Method

• Peel potatoes (you can leave bits of potato skin on the spuds if you wish. Some prefer to skins in the final dish, others enjoy the added texture from some skin.
• In a large pot, boil water 2/3rds full, add 1 tsp salt
• Cut potatoes into chunks, roughly 1/2 the size of your computer mouse
• Once water is boiling, add potato chunks, reduce heat slightly as to prevent boiling over and having your girl bitch because you made the house smell like burnt starch. I hate her bitching.
• Boil for 20 minutes until you can slide a fork into the potato chunks without much effort. If you're not sure how to tell if they're done or not, try sliding in a fork after 5 mins of boiling, your should be able to feel the difference between the cooked and uncoooked "core" of the potato. 20 minutes is a rough guess, you may need more or less time. It's much better to overcook than under cook.
• Once cooked, drain water, and add butter, pepper, sour cream. Do not add the milk yet.
• Mash potatoes with a potato masher until they're all mashed. Add 1/2 cup of milk and mash thoroughly. Keep adding milk and mashing until potatoes are of a desired smoothness. If you wish, try whipping the potatoes with an electric egg beater. This will turn them into a smooth whip-cream like consistency and may also increase the volume that they take up.

You can then add a chicken, turkey or beef gravy, or a dab of butter to the top and serve.

Goes with

Brown Soda Bread

Guinness Beef Stew