“Light potatoes” is an oxymoron if ever there was one! :mad:
I love mashed potatoes with lots of butter and S&P, but this is just a waste of valuable space.
Not to quibble, but German potato salad is properly eaten warm, with lots of crumbly bacon bits on top. And it should be served alongside an assortment of Würste. Yum-O! :o
Let’s see what you say when all your teeth are gone.
There are plenty of ways to make bad mashed potatoes, just as there are plenty of ways to make bad any potato dish. But good mashed potatoes are great with a number of dishes.
My biggest problem in the US has been getting the right potatoes, I know the qualities of the varieties sold in bulk in Norway, but appearance is not a good way to find equivalents in the US with similar qualities. And you need the right type of potato for your dish, or it will not go well.
I think good mashed potatoes taste good on their own. The way my mom or her mom made them was great. And when I make the fake kind (with potato flakes), I make them good with chicken broth and other seasonings. Never do I rely on gravy or some other food to make them good. Even if I do use that stuff, it’s an addition.
Fried potatoes of any kind are a different dish, and rely on the browning aspect to taste good. And a good browning takes either more effort or a lot more oil (as you have to deep fry them). And the types of foods it goes best with are different.
I don’t know how to convince anyone, other than to say that there is no reason you should not be adding other things to the potatoes to make them good. Butter, milk, buttermilk, mayonnaise, sour creme, yougurt, creme fraich, pepper, salt, oil, broths, garlic, seasoning mixes, even more butter–any of it is good. Though, if you get the right potato, even just plain can also be good. They can be lumpy or perfectly mashed or even whipped. But, however you do it, everything needs to be perfectly mixed in.
There’s so much you can do that will make them the star, without needing the crispiness of a good browned fried potato, nor without needing to make them into a potato pancake–though those are also really good.
It’s like telling me that you should always eat fried eggs instead of scrambled. They’re different dishes.
If it’s German potato salad, it has to be hot with lots of lovely bacon and mustard.
Regarding mashed, I prefer smashed. Leave the skin on. Wash ‘em, cube em’ and cook 'em. Add some warm milk and butter with some real garlic - not of that dried stuff. Smash it altogether and serve with meat loaf. Or, if someone else is cooking it, chicken-fried steak.
Actually, I prefer the simple boiled cubes myself when eating things like roasted chicken. Don’t know why, I just do. But if I’m having fried chicken like Popeye or the Colonel makes, it’s mashed with gravy, all the way!
Tell that to the deli counter at the grocery store. At the brauhaus I’m ordering spaetzle 100% of the time, so it’s neither here or there for me.
You are wrong. Mashed potatoes because they are creamy, buttery starchy love. Also, Europe is not a continent. Prove me wrong on either!
My fave mashed potato recipe contains riced potatoes, a ton of butter, cream, goat cheese, lemon zest, and rosemary. Plus kosher salt. Food coma!
[sub]ricing them before mashing them is key for creamy mashed potatoes[/sub]
Which reminds me of this exchange from Frasier, ep 7.9, “The Apparent Trap”:
Martin: Wait, wait, what are you doing?!
Daphne: I’m mashing the potatoes.
Martin: By hand? You’re supposed to whip potatoes, therefore every bite tastes the same.
Daphne: Isn’t that a bit bland?
Martin: Hello? Welcome to potatoes!
A Brit complaining about bland food? That *is hilarious! 
*Just kidding. To borrow a line from WC Fields, I *love *British cuisine … so long as it’s properly prepared! 
Hate to have to tell you this, but… 
So long as you pronounce it correctly. (There’s no “-lee” at the end.)
I’m not inviting you over for pizza if you’re just going to put butter and gravy on it.
I’ve never met a method of potato preparation I didn’t like, therefore, OP is disproven.
I have: forgetting you have them and leaving them in a bag in the back of the cupboard until they putrefy.
Well, sure, if you’re including failed experiments, but my use of the term method clearly excluded individual samples.
Are you suuuuurrre?