Classic Mashed Potatoes

Several years ago I took a class from Shirley Corriher, expert food scientist and cookbook author. She was discussing potatoes and the absorption of butter into a mashed flaky, fluffy-textured potato such as a russet. She said, “While many cooks mix together the melted butter and warm milk and then add it to the mashed potatoes, you will get a more buttery-tasting potato if you add the melted better first and then stir in the milk. This allows the fat to absorb into the cells of the potato,