I really appreciate seeing these single serving recipes.

Interesting. Skins off = fluffier potatoes. Skins on = creamier potato. Rinse after cooking to remove excess starch. This will definitely help folks have great, not gluey potatoes this Thanksgiving. I love Kenji’s in depth explanations. Thank you!

I think I heard in the Thanksgiving video that you've given up drinking; whatever you're doing, you're looking super healthy. Love the content on this channel and the second one.

Ohmygoodness…my Japanese grandfather (~1880-1964) would heat the potatoes after pouring out the cooking water, too. (He did save some of the potato water). He wanted to "dry" them out. He would shake the heated pot, tossing around the potatoes, put back on flame, shake, repeat. Always delicious. I do same today. He had a small cafe in Berkeley, California, in early 1910's.

Hi Kenji. I'm irish and we know a thing or two about potatoes 😉. It's a thing in Ireland to drain the potatoes in a colander, put it over the pot, and then cover the colander with a clean tea towel to absorb the steam from the potatoes. It works a treat for drying the potatoes.

I use equal parts russet, yukon, and red potatoes. I leave 1/3 of each of them whole, and I cut the other 2/3 into 1 and 2 inch dice. After that, I cook all through, then I mash 1/3 with a masher, 1/3 with a ricer and 1/3 with a food processor. Then I combine with equal parts of salted and unsalted butter and a 1:1:1 mix of milk, half and half, and heavy cream. This is the perfect way to make sure nobody can accuse you of being more than 2/3rds wrong about how you made potatoes and if anyone says "you should have done xy or z" you can say "I did".

I really appreciate the science behind the Why and What with your style of cooking. Awesome. Request - scrambled eggs.

I am very grateful for your channel, your books, and your writings online. You really are a great inspiration and source of knowledge. Thank you for existing and doing what you do Kenji :)

Kenji it's so good to see you in a good mood, having a great time cooking and having fun with your camera setup! I've been watching since you first started doing these more "off the cuff" style videos at the beginning of Covid. Things sure have changed a lot since then!

Love it when Kenji says yum yum good. Makes the whole video.

A potato ricer is such a blessing for fluffy potatoes. And if you have one with a changeable grate (idk, it's the thing you push the potatoes through), you can get really creamy and not gluey mash with the smaller holes

I think you just solved a mystery for me. For years I’ve done the Chefsteps pomme purée which sous vides the potatoes (no surprise). Every year I think “If I slice the potatoes thinner then it’ll cook faster” and that never happens. I have to Hulk-out on the ricer and it makes the whole process not worth it.

One of my favorite holiday tricks is to make the mashed potatoes earlier in the day and bag them and keep them in a sous vide water bath at around 150°F. Then, when I’m ready to serve, I snip on the corner of the bag and essentially pipe them out onto the plates.

Appreciate the recap of important steps at the end. And that view of the potatoes in the bowl, steam rising and rivulets of butter streaming, was a stellar shot!

Never thought about intentionally removing starch. Always learning something from you, Kenji. Thank you for sharing.

This was great Kenji! A good midground between casual and professional styles. You look like you are having fun, and that's what matters!

Hadn't thought of mashing them in my stand mixer, but that makes a lot of sense. I'll have to give that a try. And more rinsing off of starch, definitely going to incorporate both of those into my potatoes this year. Mashed potatoes are my wife's favorite, I think she'll be pleased. Thanks Kenji!

13:00 I love putting a bunch of garlic and herbs in my mashed potatoes, especially rosemary. Gotta chop it up really fine, though, and make sure it gets cooked a bit by incorporating it as soon as the potatoes get mashed or riced. I think everyone has their own version of mashed potatoes, though, and honestly, they're pretty much all good. Edit: I should probably put the herbs in the milk and heat that up. I've been using the heat of the potatoes to melt the butter; it never occurred to me to heat up milk and butter separately. Thanks Kenji!

Interesting! My mom and I started using yukon golds recently and really fell in love with the flavor and texture - they seem buttery before even adding butter. My mom always just uses a a hand mixer to whip the potatoes up, which seems to work well, although on a few occasions there have been some small undercooked bits of potato left that are hard to puree in, so I’ve filtered them out by pressing through a strainer. Maybe that’s similar to the French technique? They come out VERY creamy. I think my ideal potatoes are less liquidy than what Kenji has here, but super smooth. And then a ton of cold butter on top to melt in 😅

I love just how much of a science cooking is.

I've now watched so many of Kenji's videos that I reflexively go, "mmmh" after every taste when I'm cooking.

Man, appreciate the latest videos... Really takes away the stress of figuring out the nuances of making a thanksgiving dinner

The way I cheered when you added the rest of the cream and butter

love the explanations you give, like with size of dice vs grating...you are awesome!

I like to use black pepper because I can see how evenly its mixed in and how well its distributed in the potato. I also like to season the milk/butter instead of the potato, so when I heat it up it gives a fuller flavor. also for other home cooks, smash (instant mash) can be used to recover over wet potatoes, like if you go over board with milk and butter, its good in an emergancy.

They look PERFECT!!! Thank you, Kenji!

I love watching the sunrise through this video.

This recipe (and its rich and creamy counterpart) has been up on my phone since last week! Thrilled that there's now a video.

I've always done the chef steps sous vide method for my potatoes, but I think I'm going to add in the initial rinse when I do them this year. I've never really paid much attention to starch reduction with their method, but it makes a ton of sense. And I need friend garlic and shallots on my mashed potatoes especially for texture. Thanks as always for such great info. All the best to you and yours.

OMG! I never realized there could be a course on Potato Science, but there you have it. Kudos, Kenji.

Think I speak for everyone who gets bad motion sickness when I say I really appreciate the new camera angles, much less of an issue.

I love Kenji's chemistry class.

Now my wife wants me to buy her a potato ricer. Thank you Kenji. I enjoyed you talk about the science of potato cooking

In the Netherlands we add onions and carrots, season with nutmeg and call it a meal (hutspot)

I grew up with riced potatoes much as you described, then as I learned to cook for myself have gotten much lazier. You reminded me of the best of my home holidays with those lovely fluffy goodies. Thank you so much for all the details--I'm going to put russets on my grocery list (and probably use a food mill as that's what I have instead of a ricer) and make them in this week's meal plan. Oh, and thank you also for going to the extra cost and effort of putting cameras overhead (instead of on your head)--I notice and appreciate it very much, it makes a huge difference for me (lessens my susceptibility to vertigo). Love your videos and your books (great evening reads) and my husband loves the results!

I really love this style of mashed potatoes, especially for thanksgiving. I have never noticed them ever being any worse after reheating in the microwave... maybe I'm just very forgiving when it comes to mashed potatoes.

I love just the potato flavor . I just want, milk, butter cream and salt. A chef told me once that the secret to the best mashed potatoes is to not cut the potatoes small for boiling, He said that if you do that the potatoes absorbed too much water and lose that rich potato flavor. So that’s what I’ve done and I think it works. Never rinsed them either. This is a very interesting video. Enjoyed it.

I like to add carrots to smashed potatoes. The colour is beautiful, and taste is greatest of all!

46 seconds into watching this late at night and already loving the new angles! awesome!

One of my favorite KZfaqrs. Learn something new on every video.

Great video. Have learned so much from you over the years and the content just keeps getting better. Nice to see your face!

I absolutely love the way he does his videos. 😊

Excellent, excellent video Kenji... Thank you...! Cheers from Canada...

As always this is a great tutorial. Thanks Kenji!

My kids loved these potatoes for thanksgiving dinner. They came out great.

Used your all of your fluffy mashed potato recommendations and it was truly WONDERFUL. I will never make mashed any other way.

If you put green onions and sauteed kale in like you mentioned, then you have Colcannon! Yum.

A new approach to mashed potatoes! Love it! All of the rinsing hasn't ever occurred to me but makes total sense. I've started using russet potatoes for mashed because I find the waxy potatoes - Yukon gold and red - get way too starchy and gluey. Personally, I'm a fan of super rustic mashed potatoes, skin on, lots of potato chunks left behind, but most other folks prefer the super smooth version. And my guests get what they enjoy! Can't wait to add these extra ideas to my mashed. Seems simple, but thanks, Kenji!

If you like mash with cabbage and spring onion you should look up the Irish dish 'colcannon'! Although you probably know it already, but we use both of those thing (plus Irish butter is best in my biased opinion)

So, I was doing everything all along except the second rinse... definitely trying that next. Also, I like sometimes some small hints of ground nutmeg in my mash, but my main is still black pepper.

I love a hint of freshly ground nutmeg in my mashed potatoes.

I’ve watched your videos for years and think your mental well being and overall happiness seems to be in a good place right now, brother. Hope you are and stay well!

Another great video. I just happened to be referencing your Food Labs book today, looking for the salt/baking powder brine ratio for crispy skin turkey/chicken. Love your book, thank you. I must note you are looking trim and fit Kenji, good for you. 👍💪

Kenji, can you break down why it is that for fluffy mashed potatoes we should use the starchiest variety of potato but then wash as much starch off as we can? Is it something about starch that's inside of cells versus released from ruptured cells or how does that work?

Nice job! Love the cast iron display setup 😎

Outstanding. Thank you. I'll stick to my Silver Palate holiday potatoes, made that recipe my own 30 years ago. But yours look awesome, and you explained things perfectly.

Thanks, Chef! Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks, Kenji. I routinely use a ricer for mashed potatoes. It’s the only way to go. Happy Thanksgiving from the San Francisco Bay Area.

One of my favorite " mashed potato " thank you for sharing🌿❤️💞🌿

@JKenjiLopezAlt I started steaming my potatoes for mashed potatoes after a NYT Cooking article and I like the texture of the mashed potatoes more. What are your thoughts about boiling vs steaming potatoes for mashed potatoes? Thank you

I have been dying to try and make a miso tonkotsu mashed potato and I think this is life telling me to do it

so glad i checked out this channel! i'm excited to try this out :)

Happy to discover Kenji has a channel. I have his book *The Food Lab* and it's terrific.

I'm so used to Kenji's POV style of video, it felt perverse to watch him walk around the kitchen from behind. Feels I'm stalking him while he cooks. That being said I do think the new angles/camera is a very nice addition.

I miss the GoPro view! It made the videos feel very natural, casual and realistic, personally I don't feel like these new camera shots provide any more clarity and probably makes it harder to make the videos too.

What I like to do is as an egg yellow once it got slightly runny from milk and butter. It sets it up slightly and makes them even richer. Have to mix it in fast or else it cooks before it's completely mixed under. Premixing a tiny amount of mash off in a bowl before putting it back works too. Also mash needs Muskat and a ton of it.

The water bath to re-heat is a great idea!

Those look amazing. I don't have a ricer or food mill; my favorite method is the Instant Pot, potato masher, and a quick zip with a hand mixer. I use Yukon Golds, as they seem to work better with the pressure cooker. I don't know what it is about the process, maybe the pressure release, or the higher temp, but they end up way fluffier than Yukons have any right to be. And it's rare that I don't add at least a few garlic cloves to cook and include some sour cream with the dairy. And lots of black pepper, of course. I'm liking this multi-camera setup, btw, a really nice middle ground between first-person GoPro and the slick, polished productions that look nice, but (IMO) tend to distance the viewer from the kitchen. Cheers!

Cook's Illustrated recommended slicing the potatoes. I wonder how that compares to the large dicing. Thanksgiving isn't at our place this year, so will try this weekend for our informal Thanksgiving.

Garlic roasted until its super soft, mixed with butter and herbs is what I like.

Sometimes the basics need to be reiterated. Glad to see your videos. Please do go on. Thanks.

lol, I literally just made Joël Robuchon mashed potatoes this weekend. And wasn’t a huge fan. May try this next.

Nice work here Kenji! I tried cooking some peeled Yukon golds in cream and milk and then mixing with butter and some of the liquid and it came out great--perhaps the cream and milk liquid was a bit too starchy and a teeny bit grainy--but I liked your approach here.

Hey Kenji! Whats your new camera setup with the auto-follow? Its super nice however i find that sometimes when it overcorrects or keeps moving it does give me a bit of motion sickness. Do you know if there are sliders for how sensitive the auto-follow is?

Kenjiiiii you’re the best⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I used a ricer a few times, and I got blowback from the family. They wanted lumps, just like Grandma used to make! (It's also easier to wash a masher than a ricer.) So, I went back to the masher, and our holiday mashed potatoes definitely have some lumps. Texture, baby! Good for ya!

I like the new Kenji look!

Great video. Just in time for Thanksgiving. What about sprinkling with baking power before ricing?

I just made mashed potatoes for myself a few nights ago. When I reheated the leftovers I mixed in a little chicken bouillon. It really kicked it up.

What a masterclass we've been given here

Did you make a bowl of mashed taters as a stand alone meal? You mad genius. I love you

Does look pretty good

I am 100% use a ricer and skin off, about 1-2 inch chunks. Very good tips here, thanks Kenji!

Kenji, you look maaahvelous! Thank you for the tips, Happy Thanksgiving!

That initial plop into the bowl was satisfying.

Hey, I've got that ricer. It's pretty good. Makes that potato leek soup pretty well.

Wonderful

I'll have to try the method with the rincer(?), though the thing i have instead is a Spätzlepresse(you may know southern german nudels, doe put into a similar utensil like he used above hot water = best nuddles ever). Usually i used a potato masher(Kartoffelstampfer hrhr). One thing i will not do though is having pepper in my potatoes. In my univese pepper comes onto meat or into sauces, but i am happy with some muscat, milk and butter.

One of the very best videos ever produced on this channel. Production value is top notch too. Please pretty please do sweet potatoes too!

Yeaaaaah, good to see, I guess. I even have a ricer, for Spätzle (the holes might be slightly larger, but it’s basically the same thing) - but that contraption is awkward to clean, so I’m probably sticking with a simple masher. Looks delicious though, I have to admit.

Digging the DruBru shirt! Am jealous that you're in the PNW, where there is fantastic beer.

Yukon Gold and heavy whipping cream for me, all the way! Nobody ever puts in enough salt. And yes please on the black pepper!

Bacon bits or Parmesan crisp goes also very nicely on top

Hey Kenji, do you have any opinions on salting the cooking water like you would pasta?

I love making this type of smooth mash because I enjoy the process, but I prefer skin on chunky mashed with an embarrassment of butter to eat.

Loving the new video setup and perspectives!

Kenji thinned tf out good job Mr Lopez

Love the sink camara

the cinematography here is next level

Can potatoes be cut and stored in water over night for prep-ahead or is that not recommended?