Best Homemade Mashed Potatoes?

Certainly not local, but we fell in love with the Pesto Mashed Potatoes on a Royal Caribbean cruise. Now we make them at home.

I remember having some good mashed potatoes at Science Hill.

Bourbon's Bistro

I remember when I was working for SYSCO Foods they had about a bazillion varieties of potato products to offer restaurants. One of them was a mashed potato with skins and lumps. It was a very good product. So, I never assume anything I eat in a restaurant is homemade anymore unless I ask and they say "yes" and swear to it!

I'd have to agree with Carla. There are many products out there that you would swear were homemade if you did a blind tasting. There has been marked improvement in the past five years or so in prepared side dishes.
Why would any one use them? While mashed potatoes are pretty easy to make in small batches at home, the amount that a busy operation goes through on a day to day basis can get pretty labor intensive.
They are hard to do in large quantities and keep consistent. I don't care how good you think your recipe is, they never, ever come out the same way twice.
Peeling potatoes is a chore no one really likes so can you imagine doing 2 or 3 cases every day? Also if your kitchen doesn't have a steamer, and most don't, then imagine wielding large, heavy, scalding hot stock pots full of taters from the stove to sink to drain the water off.
Don't even get me started on ricing them.
Then depending on the size of the mixer you have, if you have one; You may have to make several smaller batches quickly before the rest of the potatoes cool off and get really lumpy and starchy.

Yes, I have been known to "buy" mashed potatoes in a pinch. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do to make things happen.

Exactly! Simple to do at home but near impossible to do consistently and in large batches in a restaurant.
So, if you've had good ones that you really like, tell your server how much you appreciate them. Someone will be glad you noticed.

My husband loves the garlic mashed potatoes at Lynn's Paradise Cafe. Not sure if they are "homemade" but they are really good and have great consistency. When we go there for breakfast, we try to go a little later so he can order them with his omelet.

Leah... my hubby also is a fan of the pesto potatoes and adds some in when we have it on hand, he's also been known to add in a sundried tomato pesto, it's pretty good.

I love this subject!!!
Over the years the perfect mashed potatoes have become a major deal at Equus and Jack's, starting with a former sous chef Bob Pott's I had, then my head chef Dan Thomas took them to the next level.
It is undersood with the changing of the guard comes the new Spud!
I am a bit biased of course by my current chefs Chris King and Wes Gatlein have surpassed all..of course they are putting in about 3 #'s of butter per batch and a God awful expensive Truffle salt.
Chef's rarely have time to really sit and eat, but as my waistline clearly shows there is not a day that goes by that I don't "inspect" the mashers.

Yes. The mashed potatoes at Equus are wonderful. Yum!

Indeed they take time to make but the pay off is well worth it. We use Yukon golds, leave the skin and add salt pepper and oh yes , Butter, lots of butter. We used truffle oil for a bit but decided to go old school. Mash Mash. it will wear your arms out.

Skins on = bleech!

With the yukon gold you hardly notice the skin. But I like an Idaho skin too.

If you're looking for a quick fix at home, the Yoder's brand mashed potatoes sold in the plastic bags at ValuMarket are really good. But it HAS to be the bagged version. You'll find them cold in the meat case. As far as I know, ValuMarket is the only place that has them in the bag. Our Kroger stopped carrying the bag variety and only carries them packaged in a plastic tub. Which aren't as good for some reason. Probably because they don't have to be kept cold (i.e. more preservatives).

If you're looking for a quick fix at home, the Yoder's brand mashed potatoes sold in the plastic bags at ValuMarket are really good. But it HAS to be the bagged version. You'll find them cold in the meat case. As far as I know, ValuMarket is the only place that has them in the bag. Our Kroger stopped carrying the bag variety and only carries them packaged in a plastic tub. Which aren't as good for some reason. Probably because they don't have to be kept cold (i.e. more preservatives).

Doll's Market on Brownsboro sells these as well. They have "whipped" and "mashed" in the meat case. I agree that they are good for a quick weeknight fix. We add salt and butter to make them even less healthy.

I love this subject!!!
Over the years the perfect mashed potatoes have become a major deal at Equus and Jack's, starting with a former sous chef Bob Pott's I had, then my head chef Dan Thomas took them to the next level.
It is undersood with the changing of the guard comes the new Spud!
I am a bit biased of course by my current chefs Chris King and Wes Gatlein have surpassed all..of course they are putting in about 3 #'s of butter per batch and a God awful expensive Truffle salt.
Chef's rarely have time to really sit and eat, but as my waistline clearly shows there is not a day that goes by that I don't "inspect" the mashers.

Heelarious!

Cooking with Gayle recently, we did them with the butter left over from poaching lobster tails. Skins on, gotta get those (vit-uh-mens) as the Brits would say!

Carla - never knew you worked for Sysco. Would love to know more about that.

For all - There have been a lot of "me" comments. Anybody ready for a throw down?