Mash: what's your secret ingredient?

[Quartz]

I'm probably going to do myself mashed potato for lunch tomorrow and I'd like to make it a little bit different. Now I do a mean mustard mash - add coarse-grained French mustard - and adding tartare sauce is also really nice, but I'd like to hear what you add to make your mash special.

[Dolores Reborn]

Melt butter over low heat, and add sliced garlic and sliced green onions. Heat for a while, until butter is infused with the flavors. Add to your potatoes, as well as a bit of sour cream and heavy cream. Salt and pepper. Mash 'em up! Mmm.

[Savannah]

The Pioneer Woman puts in cream cheese, and lordy, it's delicious.

[Harriet the Spry]

Saffron. Warm the milk, butter, any other liquid/dairy ingredients you're using, then crumble in a little saffron to turn the liquid yellow. Add to potatoes. This is delicious!

[krisolov]

sour cream instead of milk, real butter and minced garlic. Add the garlic when the potatoes are at their hottest so it has a chance to infuse to its maximum.

[FoieGrasIsEvil]

Roasted garlic whipped potatoes, or for even better mash, Alan Alda.

[N. Sane]

After I drain the poatoes, I put them back into the pan and back onto the still-warm burner to let the rest of the water sizzle out. Then I mash them with French or Irish butter and a splash of milk, and--secret ingredient--seasoned salt. They're not all that fancy, but oh my, they're good!

[Paul in Qatar]

Add a turnip.

[Full Metal Lotus]

Chop up a medium white onion and add it to the potatoes as they boil. then sour cream, white pepper (fresh ground is best), a little savory and butter..

Note.. drain the potatoes (don't remove the onions) and let dry a bit (3 minutes tops) add the other ingrediants and mash with a ricer..

there ya go!

[Cat Whisperer]

Creamy cucumber salad dressing.

[Lynn Bodoni]

Roasted garlic is great in mashed potatoes. Sometimes I break a stalk of celery and add that to the boiling potatoes. Sometimes I add a bit of chicken flavor base to them, too.

[Quartz]

I'm definitely getting a garlic theme here... :D

[Manduck]

Truffle oil

[BACI]

Grated parmesan cheese. Adds an edge.

[Quartz]

Grated parmesan cheese. Adds an edge.

Grated cheddar's more to my taste.

[Girl From Mars]

I go with a clove of garlic cooked at the same time as the potatoes, with some milk and salt - I've also whipped up cannellini beans and mixed them in, or flavoured cottage cheese. You could also make colcannon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colcannon).

[don't ask]

Jerusalem artichokes, although they are a bit dear this year. Garlic infused olive oil for some of the butter.

[Quartz]

Well, I just crushed some garlic and mixed it in, and very nice it was too.

[Harmonious Discord]

Add a little too much liquid to the potato flakes, so they aren't too dry when you microwave them

[MikeG]

I roast the garlic, then blend that with heavy cream and a bit of chopped parsely or tarragon before adding to the potatoes.

[ivylass]

Roasted garlic, sour cream, and white pepper. No nasty black flecks!

[Quartz]

Yum! So many things to try...

[crowmanyclouds]

... mash with a ricer.. ...That's probably the most important one, technique, it's real easy to make potato paste with a hand mixer!

Ricer (http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/827/586214.JPG) or food mill (http://www.greatknives.com/Mouli%20products/food%20mill%202%20lg.jpg) all the way.

CMC +fnord!

[Zsofia]

The Pioneer Woman puts in cream cheese, and lordy, it's delicious.
This. Also roasted garlic.

[Sigmagirl]

That's probably the most important one, technique, it's real easy to make potato paste with a hand mixer!

Ricer (http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/827/586214.JPG) or food mill (http://www.greatknives.com/Mouli%20products/food%20mill%202%20lg.jpg) all the way.

CMC +fnord!
I'm on this bandwagon. Ricer. And NEVER add cold liquid to hot starch; add hot starch to HOT liquid. Heat up your milk, cream, broth, whatever you're using, and then add the potatoes. I like a little speck of horseradish powder.

[Charlie Tan]

Apart from real Dijon mustard, the thing to add to mash is bacon. Chop the slices and let them simmer in whatever liquid you're using, then add taters.

Bacon mash is divine, it's barbaric, hedonistic, heart failure inducing and ....

...and ...

... words fail me. There are no superlatives that can convey the joy of bacon mash.

[Drain Bead]

Mashing in some parsnips with the potatoes is nice.

I also like your standard horseradish mashed potatoes.

[Lisa-go-Blind]

A teaspoon or two of wasabi.

[ouryL]

Lime or lemon juice

[Mangetout]

A raw egg - added when the potatoes are still piping hot (so it does get cooked by the residual heat, as it's is mashed together).

I also like it with a parsnip mixed in, or jeruasalem artichokes.

[Annie-Xmas]

Add beets to make Red Flannel Hash (http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1926,146166-246206,00.html). Old New England recipe.

[An Gadaí]

This thread is making me really hungry.

[devilsknew]

Paul McCartney's secret Mash (http://youtube.com/watch?v=WyyEc-GNDfQ) is simple genius, a bit of the zwiebeldom.

This video makes me cry, it just shows how much he loves Linda.

[Flutterby]

Creamy cucumber salad dressing.

We use ranch dressing (I thought this was just a family quirk, you're the first I know of outside the family that does this..)

[Cluricaun]

I do the cream cheese thing too, but like to use the vegitable flavored cream cheese myself. Chicken stock intead of all water helps too.

[Lumpy]

While a lot of purists insist that your mash has to be corn and nothing but corn, my daddy always claimed that adding just a little bit of potato helped boost the yield. You have to make sure not to brew it too hot and to make sure you have a long enough coil to...

Oh wait, never mind.

[hlanelee]

I thought that this was going to be a thread on moonshine...but I live in the sticks.

I add yogurt to mashed potatoes. I've maintained the same culture since last summer.

[hlanelee]

While a lot of purists insist that your mash has to be corn and nothing but corn, my daddy always claimed that adding just a little bit of potato helped boost the yield. You have to make sure not to brew it too hot and to make sure you have a long enough coil to...

Oh wait, never mind.
I thought that this was going to be a thread on moonshine, too...but I live in the sticks.

I add yogurt to mashed potatoes. I've maintained the same culture since last summer.

[WoodenTaco]

Children.

[Manduck]

Mashed potatoes is PEOPLE!!

[trustno_1]

Im nae sure if anyone said this one but I love my tatties with cream and butter - yum! Not god for you but a nice treat!

[Zoe]

I was going to suggest a little tarragon, but I am so taken with all of the other suggestions. The saffron has me in a daze! Must have!

[Dottygumdrop]

Boil the potatoes in chicken stock, drain and push them through a ricer, mix through roasted garlic and cream cheese, then push it all through a drum sieve. Garnish the most divine potato purée with some finely chopped chives! :D

[Capt. Ridley's Shooting Party]

Nutmeg, sometimes. Otherwise I just use cream and butter.