The Perfect Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes
To me, these potatoes are perfect. They are divine. They are what I want every Thanksgiving and every day in between. They are flawless carb heaven.
The first thing that you might notice in this recipe, that is surprisingly off-brand for me - prepare your gasps, pull out the fainting chaise - there is… NO GARLIC!!! I know, I know, I know, I know. Believe me, I KNOW. But here’s the thing. While I love garlic. While I adore garlic. While I’d immediately run away with garlic and leave Samuel behind without a second thought, I don’t *always* love garlic in my mashed potatoes.
In my scalloped potatoes? Of course. In roasted potatoes? No question. But mashed? Not always. I love garlic mashed with red meat mains, and some other exceptions, but my favorite mashed potatoes are garlic-free.
If you can’t live without garlic in your potatoes, that’s totally fine! It’s an easy fix, just grate 4 to 6 cloves and add it to the infusing butter and cream mixture when you add in the bouquet garni.
Yes, the last two words you just read were “bouquet garni” - which is just a fancy ass way of saying “twine tied herbs”. You’ll see where this comes into play in the recipe below.
Another thing about these potatoes: I use a classic wavy wire (I think it’s called waffle?) masher. I like chunky mashed potatoes. Perfectly smooth potatoes just tastes like baby food to me. And since the potatoes get perfectly seasoned while the cook, the chunks don’t taste bland. HOWEVER, I know everyone has their own particular mashed consistency preferences. Prefer to use a ricer? Go for it. Wanna use one of those grid-like mashers, no problem! Want to blend them with beaters? Totally, why the hell not? Create whatever consistency your little heart desires. I’m all about adapting recipes to suit my own needs and I hope you feel comfortable to do that with mine!
Well, that’s all that’s making it to the blog before Thanksgiving. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, a delicious feast, and family time that isn’t too… trauma-inducing.
The Perfect Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 5 pounds Butterball or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into sixths (or quarters if smaller potatoes)
- Kosher salt
- 1 ½ sticks of unsalted butter
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 4 to 6 sprigs thyme
- 2 sprigs oregano
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground white pepper
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Cooking twine
Instructions
- Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Season water with salt until it tastes like the sea. Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are fork tender.
- While waiting for potatoes to cook, prepare the infused brown butter and cream.
- Tie rosemary, thyme, and oregano together with cooking twine to create a bouquet garni.
- Heat butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.
- Once it's completely melted and begins to brown and turn lightly golden, begin to whisk the butter to continuously scrape up the golden goodness, and crinkle the bay leaves and add them in.
- After the brown bits in the butter turn dark gold, add in heavy cream and bouquet garni. Turn heat down and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, don’t let cream boil, adjust heat as needed.
- Once potatoes are done, strain and return to pot.
- Remove bouquet garni and bay leaves from butter and cream mixture and pour on top of potatoes.
- Add a ton of black pepper, the white pepper, and mash with a wavy wire masher (or your preferred masher).
- If your water was seasoned enough, your potatoes should be good to go, but always taste and adjust salt as needed.
Notes
When browning your butter, don't leave it unattended. I didn't include a cook time for how long it'll take, because it truly varies from stove top to stove top. So keep a sharp eye out, and start whisking as soon as you see the golden flecks begin to appear!
Don't have twine to make the bouquet garni? No worries! just throw in the herbs without binding them, and then strain the butter and cream mixture with a fine mesh strainer to get them out when adding to potatoes.
Feel free to make some extra brown butter to garnish your potatoes when serving. And the bay leaves pictured here are some extra I crinkled and fried in the butter then pulled out before adding the cream. So if you want to get fancy with your garnishing, that's an easy way to elevate your presentation!
