Is there a difference between mashed and creamed potatoes?

[browneyes]

One restaurant here also has smashed potatoes.

 

[Pin Wizard]

Creamed potatoes? Never heard of them. I've heard of creamed peas and creamed corn, but never creamed potatoes. Hmmm...might they be little potatoes in a cream sauce? But I do know mashed potatoes...yum! Smashed potatoes? A restaurant here has them also. They seem to not be as smooth as mashed. How many ways can you cook a potato? LOL!

 

[browneyes]

How many ways can you cook a potato?

Dunno, but if someone else is willing to cook them, I'll try them.

 

[Pin Wizard]

True! They always taste MUCH better when someone else cooks them.

 

[Griggle]

There is!!! DH is a MP conisieur (sp) and there's actually a science to MP's, that yes, I learned because one way to the heart is through the belly ....basically, it's using two different techniques that then impact density and consistency....

Mashed potatoes are just that - you get the masher and manually mash them with the milk and the butter (or whatever you put in them) without overworking it. They're lumpy and very dense.

Creamed potatoes are more processed - usually a electric mixer is used for a longer period of time; they end up being creamier and lighter.

DH prefers 'em mashed.

 

[Whitegloves]

I always thought creamed potatos were cubed, cooked then a white sauce was added. Similar to creamed peas. One dish I remember from childhood was creamed peas & potatoes.
=0)

 

[Jenn Lynn]

Originally posted by Griggle
There is!!! DH is a MP conisieur (sp) and there's actually a science to MP's, that yes, I learned because one way to the heart is through the belly ....basically, it's using two different techniques that then impact density and consistency....

Mashed potatoes are just that - you get the masher and manually mash them with the milk and the butter (or whatever you put in them) without overworking it. They're lumpy and very dense.

Creamed potatoes are more processed - usually a electric mixer is used for a longer period of time; they end up being creamier and lighter.

DH prefers 'em mashed.

I guess I have been making cream potatoes this whole time and calling them mashed!

 

[BlkBearSuz]

Smashed potatoes...very yummy. They have them at Bugaboo Creek. The red potato skins are mixed in the potatos, as well as some garlic and I think chives. They are very good and are the best potatoes I've ever tasted. Now I think I will have to have lunch at Bugaboo sometime soon.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Around here creamed potatoes can be sliced, julienned or cubed and it is in a white sauce. Similiar to scalloped but not cheesey.

Smashed is mashed with the skins on.

Mashed is only done with the electric mixer.

 

[Griggle]

Lmao! I guess I need the money back from that course!

In all fairness, it was a cooking science class, not a "cooking class" perse....so I guess the instructor was speaking to techniques of mashing potatoes as opposed to the names of the dish.

The instructor likened mixing the potatoes with an electric mixer much the way you do when creaming the butter and sugar for cookies....the longer and more thorough you do it, the creamier and airier they get.

Mystery Machine - I have never used an electric mixer for my mashed - so, here I sit wondering what exactly it is I have been making???? lol

 

[Disney Ella]

Creamed potatoes! Now that brings back unpleasant memories! My DM made them cubed with white sauce. I never liked them and had a hard time getting them down. My DM insisted I was just being difficult (I was four) until a little incident at the table (or should I say on the table) after I was forced to eat them. I don't like cream sauce to this day. Give me mashed any day!

 

[helenabear]

Griggle, I call using an electric mixer *whipped* potatoes... like you do with whipped cream and all that in a mixer. To me mashed potatoes is made only with a hand masher and no electric tools.

 

[BrerMom]

mashed potatoes are good, but I'd love to have creamed potatoes again: little bitty baby potatoes, too little to be peeled, with fresh peas and a white sauce. Mmmmm.

 

[battricia]

What about Riced potatos?

I'm trying to find as many uses possible for the ricer I got for christmas.

tricia.

 

[BedKnobbery2]

I looooooooooooooove potatoes in their many and varied forms! Yes, there is a difference between creamed and mashed, as some have already mentioned. I absolutely love creamed potatoes (the diced variety). My mom always made them by first cooking the potatoes in a chicken broth, then draining and putting them in a white sauce with lots of salt and fresh pepper, then popping them in an oven until they brown just a little on top. Yum!

I also love what in my house we call Latvian Potatoes, because they were a common side dish in the restaurants I ate in when I visited Riga a couple of years ago. I don't know the exact recipe, but at home I make them by dicing potatoes and cooking them in a giant frying pan, covered, with about a cup of chicken broth, a tiny bit of onion (maybe 1/4 cup, chopped very very fine...or grated), and some butter....cover them, and stir occasionally until the broth has boiled off. By this point, the potatoes should be soft and cooked through (but still solid, not totally mushy). Then add even more butter, and fry until you get lots of yummy browned potato. Season with salt and pepper. Yum! My kids love these too.

I usually leave the skins on when I mash potatoes, but lately I've been peeling them and doing them in the mixer with heavy cream, whipping the cream loosely before adding the hot potatoes and butter, and salt and pepper.

Yep, all of these recipes are heartstoppers....but oh so good!

Can you tell I'm hungry?

 

[catsrule]

The kind of snow you use to make them.