My Favorite Food part 2

As I mentioned in the previous post, I love potatoes. It is a staple dish for the winter holiday dinners that my family and I cook. My mom in my opinion, makes the best mash potatoes ever. So when I saw that Ree Drummonds made her own mashed potatoes I knew I had to try them and see if they were any different then my moms. In Ree Drummonds book The Pioneer Woman Cooks: A Year of Holidays  there were a lot of different steps she did to make what she calls the "Perfect Mashed Potatoes" .

The ingredients for the mashed potatoes was: 

5 pounds of Yukon gold potatoes

1 cup butter, cut into pieces, more for the dish and topping

One 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup half-half

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

First off, I peeled all of the potatoes and placed them into a bowl of cold water. You want to put the potatoes into cold water so they don't start to brown (Drummond 254). After I was done peeling the potatoes, I cut them into large cubes and placed them into a pot that had boiling water. I then covered the pot and cooked it for 25 minutes. Ree Drummonds said to cover the pot so the steam would stay in with the potatoes and cook them faster (Drummond 254). 

Once the potatoes were done you "drain the potatoes and place them back into the pot" (Drummond 254). When you place the potatoes back into the pot, you start to mash them over low heat. This was something new to me, I learned that this helps to allow the steam and excess moisture to escape from the potatoes. Then when the potatoes were smooth you "place all the butter into the pot" (Drummond 255). I didn't add all of the butter into the dish because it seemed like a lot and the potatoes were already moist enough. I only added one stick instead of two which I think made it turn out better. Before you start mashing the butter in you add the cream cheese, half-and-half and cream. Then you add the salt and pepper and start to mash everything together. 

The potatoes were a lot more creamy and wet like then my moms so I knew that these would be somewhat different then what the people in my family were used to. Then you pour the potatoes into a buttered dish and bake them into the oven at 350 degrees. Before you put the potatoes into the oven you "dot the top of the potatoes with a little more butter" (Drummond 255). I baked them for 30 minutes. 

Some things that were different about these potatoes compared to my moms was the half and half and baking them in the oven. The potatoes turned out good and we brought them over to my grandmas house that nigh for dinner. Everyone loved them. I would still say that I like my moms potatoes better but these ones are a close second!

My question for you is: What is a popular dish during the winter months that your family makes?

Citation: Drummond, Ree. A Year of Holidays. William Morrow Cook, 2013. Print.