This week, I uncovered a perfectly Thanksgiving-timed Hotline question from EMF224: Does preparation method (baking vs. boiling vs. steaming potatoes) noticeably effect consistency?
This is the exact type of question that gets my brain going, especially because I predict 99 percent of Thanksgiving tables will include some version of the humble side this year. My usual method involves boiling chopped potatoes—but I began to think about how incredible it would be if I found out that roasting added some nutty complexity, or steaming provided the ideal fluffy texture. I set out to investigate.
As I was buying ingredients and thinking about testing methods I had a mini eureka moment. I love my microwave and steaming other vegetables with it—so what if I could do the same for potatoes? Microwaving steams vegetables by heating the existing moisture in the ingredient until it vaporizes, creating steam and cooking. Not only could this make a huge difference for people prepping for a huge holiday, it could avoid any risk of water-logging the potatoes by boiling them. My excitement doubled as I added an extra bag of potatoes to my grocery order.
Testing Out My Theory
I peeled and chopped 15 lbs of potatoes, then spent 90 minutes in a potato cooking haze—steaming on the stovetop, boiling, baking, and microwaving. Once all the potatoes were cooked, I ran them through a ricer (a true must have for perfectly textured mash). I prepared each batch in the same, tried and true way, aka with tons of butter, milk, and cream.
After tasting it, I was pretty shocked with my results. So much so, I had Noah and Nea from the Test Kitchen confirm my findings.
First off, the baked potatoes were trash: they were starchy, kind of gloopy and were clearly at the bottom of the standings.
But after that, it was honestly very tough to tell the difference between the boiled, steamed, and microwaved potatoes. The added moisture from boiling may have made the end result slightly fluffier, but if you’re like me, Noah, and Nea, and prefer a richer mashed potato, we were ecstatic to discover that the microwaved taters came out the winner.
Through microwaving, you retain the potatoes’s flavor (yes, potatoes have flavor) and can dial in that perfect mashing texture with small bursts of extra cooking towards the end. Not only that, but microwave mashed potatoes free up stove space, reduce dishes, and give some cooking time back to you this holiday season. Lastly, if you or someone you know are a bad enough cook that you won’t even go near a stove, this is an incredible way to get involved in holiday meal prep.
How To Make Microwave Mashed Potatoes
Add 2 lbs of chopped potatoes to a microwave safe bowl. Cover it plastic wrap punctured with a few holes, and cook on high for 9 to 12 minutes, or until the potatoes are full tender. You should check every 30 seconds after 9 minutes for doneness. Once cooked through, remove and pass through a ricer while still hot, then fold in 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter chopped into pieces. Combine 3/4 milk and 1/4 cup heavy cream in another bowl and heat until hot but not scalding. Mix the dairy into the potatoes, season generously with salt and pepper, and enjoy!
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