How Anna Olson Saved my Mashed Potatoes

I’m a big fan of mashed potatoes. Actually, I’m pretty much a big fan of potato anything!

I remember watching my mom and grandmother make mashed potatoes during family dinners and holidays. They’d bring out the hand mixer, and to the potatoes add some milk, butter and herbs. Then, they’d whip those potatoes and serve them for dinner.

From what I can remember, those mashed potatoes were good, but they weren’t actually mashed. They were whipped. When you whip potatoes with a hand mixer, starch is released, and that can make then end up a big gloopy mess. Bad, bad, bad.

When I got a place of my own, I vowed to never use a hand mixer on my potatoes and instead bought a potato masher.

That worked, but I could never actually get my potatoes to be fluffy and lump-free.

Then, one day I was watching Anna Olson on TV and she was making mashed potatoes. She was using something that I’d never heard of – a potato ricer (similar to a garlic press, but much larger).

You put chunks of boiled potato into the ricer and press… and out come perfectly mashed potatoes with no lumps! I immediately ordered one from Amazon and it was delivered a few days later.

I made mashed potatoes for dinner that might and put the boiled potatoes through the potato ricer. I then added some milk, butter and herbs and mixed it all together with a large spoon. It worked! No lumps and no big, goopy mess. I now use this tool every single time I make mashed potatoes.

Perfect mashed potatoes every time.

Thank you, Anna Olson!