THE RELUCTANT GOURMET COOKING COMMUNITY

Reluctant Gourmet

I received an email from Judy asking:

Having 13 for Thanksgiving. All adults, How many pounds of potatoes should I use for preparation of mashed potatoes??

I guess that really depends on what kind of appetites your adults have?

The number I hear most often used is 1/2 pound per person. That sounds
good but if you have really big eaters, you may want to increase the amount.

Using the formula above, you would need about 6 1/2 pounds but I always cook
a little more just in case everyone asks for seconds.

Don't forget to check out my article for Perfect Mashed Potatoes Everytime at http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/mashed.htm

jfield · Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 553 Location: Cary, NC

I'm a huge fan of mashed potatoes, so there are never leftovers at my house, but if you happen to have some, here's an idea: take your left-over mashed potatoes, add lots of chicken stock and onion or leeks and white pepper, a little cream or 1/2 and 1/2 for richness (depending on how much fat you used to make the mashed potatoes originally) maybe some ham or bacon and/or some cheese at the end, and make potato soup.

This is so good you'll probably want to cook a few pounds extra just to make the soup!

Reluctant Gourmet · Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 3:56 pm Post subject:

Hi Chef jfield,

Excellent idea. I'm sure you wing the amounts based on how much leftover mashed taters you have but many of us home cooks need a little more direction. So if you can give us a "rough" idea of how many cups of leftover mashed potatoes to the chicken stock and cream, that would be great.

I'm off to take the bird out of our new wood burning oven. It has been an adventure but I think it will turn out allright.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.

RG

jfield · Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 553 Location: Cary, NC

Wow, I really don't have any measurements to give, RG. I'd sweat some onion/leek in some butter, add the potatoes, and just stir in enough stock to make a "souplike" consistency. Then pour in just a touch of cream or 1/2 and 1/2 and seasonings to taste. I would venture to guess that you'd need 2-3 cups of stock for every cup of mashed potatoes, but that's just a guess.

Hope your Thanksgiving was lovely!