Polish Style Mashed Potatoes
My friends make fun of me whenever I talk about my Polish-style mashed potatoes because they claim they are just mashed potatoes and I just happen to be Polish but that doesn’t make the mashed potatoes Polish. We have debated this for about 18 years and to me, they will always be Polish Mashed Potatoes. It’s the way my dad taught me to make them and they are my favorite.
Whenever recipes call for cheese in their mashed potatoes my soul dies a little. I just can’t do it. hahaha! If you’ve ever been given a recipe that’s passed down and that you love it becomes a sort of scared cow that you just can’t edit or modify. At least that’s how I feel. I think the only time I’ve ever added cheese to my mashed potatoes was when I made shepherd’s pie and it was quite a debate in my head. I had settled on adding cheese on top just for the browning effect. The Polish mashed potatoes recipe was preserved!
Whether they are Polish or not doesn’t matter, they are the BEST mashed potatoes you will ever eat. Every time I make them for a party they disappear so fast and the recipe is requested. It’s why I started this food blog. I’m asked for recipes so often that I decided to start documenting them here on The Homes Heart. I rarely cook with a recipe and cook with my heart and soul so recipe testing and getting the recipes down in a way that anyone can follow has been a fun challenge.
I encourage you to cook with your heart and soul also. The more you cook the more you will develop instincts. I just know how much salt to add to dishes. Was it a teaspoon or a tablespoon? I have no clue I just know it’s delicious. So slowing down and measuring so that I can put recipes on this blog has forced me to make my recipes repeatable. I remember the first and only dish I ever over-salted. I think I was about 10 or 11 and I was making curry chicken. Yes I know, I started cooking young at the age of 7. The curry came out sooooo salty that it was completely inedible. I remember adding so many potatoes to the curry trying to soak up the saltiness but to no avail. The entire pot ended up in the trash. That never happened again. I learned to salt slowly and taste and then adjust. I also learned that some seasonings come salted so if you add salt on top of the salt already in the seasoning you get a disaster.
Anyway back to mashed potatoes. What type of potatoes should you use? This is debated fervently, amount chefs. I personally prefer Idaho or russet potatoes for my mashed potatoes. They are drier so they absorb the delicious fat and dairy I add and have a beautiful texture once mashed. I have tried Yukon gold/yellow potatoes that are waxier and they do come out delicious but I just prefer the drier texture of russets or Idaho better. I don’t like soupy mashed potatoes and I felt like Yukon gold was just too moist for my preference. You see Polish people like their gravies over their mashed potatoes and I feel like the Russets/Idaho type of potato holds up better.
You will see when you make this recipe how delicious and fluffy these mashed potatoes come out. You will need a potato masher, I like this one*. The ingredients are pretty simple, russet potatoes, butter, sour cream, and salt. I love cooking in my cast iron enamel dutch oven as it conducts heat so well. I love this one by Lodge*. I seriously use this pot to cook all my soups, stews, and roasts as well as bake my bread.
The secret to great mashed potatoes is to not overcook them. At about the 30-minute mark of boiling the potatoes, I get a knife and check for doneness. If the knife goes through a piece smoothly, they are done. You don’t want to over-boil them where they are falling apart. They would have absorbed too much water and will be mush. If this ever happens to you just turn them into gnocchi. They will not be good for mashed potatoes. Another key to not overcooking your potatoes is to not cut them too small. I usually cut the russet into 4 quarters about 1.5-2 inches big. They are pretty big chunks.
How smooth you like your potatoes is totally up to you. I like them smooth but with some texture. I don’t want them to look like they were blended into a fine puree. That’s baby food to me. As you can see, I’m pretty picky with my mashed potatoes.
In my mind, I totally romanticize this recipe and imagine my grandmother made her potatoes like this as did her mother, and so on and so forth. I have no idea but this is how I make them and how my dad makes them. These are some of the problems when you’re 1st generation American and don’t have much connection to your family across the pond.
I hope you enjoy these Polish-style mashed potatoes and that they become your style too. 🙂
Be Blessed Abundantly.
Angelica
Polish Style Mashed Potatoes
Course: Sides, Dinner, Holiday, Special OccasionCuisine: Farm to TableDifficulty: Easy6
servings20
minutes35
minutes55
minutesIngredients
6 Russet Potatoes
About 2 Tablespoons of salt in the water while boiling
1.5 cups of Sour Cream
1 Stick of Butter
1/4 – 1/2 cup milk as needed to smooth it out
Salt to taste
Parsley or Dill for Garnish
Directions
- Peel Potatoes and slice them into 1/5-2 inch pieces. They should be pretty big pieces
- Place in cold water with salt
- Boil over medium-high heat until tender and knife slices through potatoes easily
- Drain all the water
- Place the hot pot with drained potatoes back on the stove with the stove turned off. Let the heat of the pot evaporate some of the water still on the potatoes for about a minute
- Add 1 stick of butter sliced up and let the heat of the pot and potatoes melt it. It can be softened at room temperature or straight from the fridge. The hot potatoes will melt it either way
- Add the sour cream
- Add salt to taste
- Mash
- If it’s still too lumpy and you’re struggling to mash you can add a splash of milk or more sour cream to smooth it out
- Taste and add more salt if needed
- Serve and enjoy! You can garnish with parsley, dill, or chives if you enjoy those herbs
Notes
- As you mash your potatoes taste them to make sure they are salted enough. This is a lot of potatoes so make sure you add enough salt. Do it slowly so you don’t oversalt because you can’t go back once it’s too salty.
- Don’t mix and mash too much because you can risk your potatoes becoming like glue. This is why I prefer russets to Yukon gold, I find russets can hold up to mashing a bit better than Yukon golds. Once you get to your desired texture stop mixing and mashing.
- I always keep one or two sticks (sometimes even an entire box) of butter on my counter. They will NOT go bad if used within the week. I like soft butter on my bread in the mornings and use it in my recipes or if I get the craving for cookies. I always have butter ready.
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