[perfectly timed and oh so delicious mashed potatoes]

This is the sound of me writing very quietly about how to time your mashed potatoes.

I try not to be superstitious but it does smack of hubris to write about spot-on mashed potato timing when it remains to be seen whether I will pull it off this year. Here's what I do that usually works:

Early in the day, before you get frazzled, get yourself a big pot of cold water. Peel and dice your potatoes, chucking them in the water as you go so they don't turn pink or worse. This is not a precision undertaking, but I aim for approximately three-quarter-inch cubes.

If they are diced into roughly uniform pieces, then (a) you can cook them while the turkey is resting and (b) you will never again have to gnash your teeth because the smaller potatoes are done but the bigger ones are still firm in the middles and oh by the way the Mongolian hordes you invited for dinner are beating on the table and clamoring for food. It is a little more time up front in exchange for more peace of mind later.

Once they are diced and soaking, I put them in a quiet corner until the turkey is almost ready. I don't know if this is strictly necessary, but I chuck ice cubes in the water periodically to keep it cold. It could easily be that they'd be fine as long as they were covered with room-temperature water, but I learned as a child that the water had to be cold and so cold is what I do.

(Digressing-- I learned that in a book I read in second grade, about a French boy who wanted to be a sous-chef but his brothers said he was too small. He saved the day by making his father's famous chocolate mousse one day when his father was incapacitated by a toothache. I loved that book. Does it ring a bell for anyone? No idea what it was called.)

When the turkey is almost ready, salt the heck out of your water and get ready for the last-minute stuff. Conscript a turkey carver if you have not already done so, because you need to focus on potatoes and gravy. Here is where you have to know your stove. Do you have an electric stove that takes forever to boil water for a pot of pasta? If so, you'll want to turn it on shortly before you expect the turkey to be done. I have a gas stove, and I can just crank the burner when I pull out the turkey. I figure on about 25 minutes of resting time for the turkey, which works out nicely: it takes about 15 minutes for all that water to come to a full boil, and maybe 10 more for the potatoes to get tender. While the water is coming to a boil, you need to make your gravy and melt the butter (add a splash of milk but not very much) for your potatoes. Use lots of butter, because if you mis-time the potatoes or if the turkey is dry, butter covers a multitude of sins. (I'm pretty sure that's in the Bible.)

Once the water is boiling nicely, scoop out a couple of mugfuls. Put one in the gravy boat and one in the serving dish for the potatoes, and let them stand like that until you're ready to fill them with food. If the dishes are nice and hot, they will keep their contents hotter for longer -- just in case you need the wiggle room. Now, while your carver is doing his thing, you can drain the potatoes. Add the hot milk and melted butter and mash like fury. You shouldn't need salt if you salted the water emphatically, but add pepper and mash some more. Transfer potatoes and gravy to the heated serving dishes (nobody needs me to say that the hot water needs to be dumped out first, right?) and ferry them to the table, where you can smile modestly when everyone tells you how lovely it all looks.

Comments

[Lilian]

did it work out this year?

just curious. It sounds like a great plan although we usually don't have neither turkey nor mashed potatoes ;-)

[Jen]

Is that the same book as the one where the boy gets up early to slice the potatoes very thin, and he knows to cover them with water so they don't get brown? Also have no idea what book this was, but it taught me how to take care of potatoes.

[Jody]

Where I get into trouble usually is that I do have to start the water heating just before the turkey comes out, and I see the thermometer hanging out at 165 and think, ok, based on the rate of increase, we'll be at 180 at .... THIS point ... and then the turkey SITS at 165 for an hour. Or TWO. Which is FRUSTRATING.

I was wiser about that part of the process this year, and the potatoes were done last, and they were heavenly. YUM.

I am going to have to remember that bit about the boiling water heating the dishes, though, because I actually did think, darn, I should figure out a way to heat the dishes. It would have helped.

[Maria]

Gosh oh golly I never do all that soaking in cold water. I just cut up my potatoes, boil em, splash in some milk, butter/salt/pepper the heck out of em, and mash em within an inch of their lives.

I leave the skins on too, just because I like them that way, and because my mother told me that's where all the vitamins are. When I was in charge of potatoes for my aunt's Christmas dinner a couple of years ago I did take the skins off in deference to the other guests' delicate sensibilities.

[Jamie]

I only bother with the advance prep/soaking if I am going to have my hands full at the last minute. If all I have to think about is cranking the stove, then I'm much happier and it's less likely that I'll still be peeling potatoes as the rest of the meal cools off or shrivels up.

Jody, if I had an electric stove I'd probably boil smaller amounts of water in more receptacles, like a big jug kettle plus a couple of smaller pots, and then dump it into the big pot. I might cut the potatoes smaller too. You're right that it can be a pain to predict that temperature gradient as the turkey gets closer.