How a Michelin Star Chef Makes Mashed Potatoes in 10 Minutes

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Hello, I'm Chef Jean Georges,

and I'm at Jean-Georges Restaurant in New York City,

and I will show you my favorite mashed potato

for Thanksgiving. [upbeat music continues]

[bell dings] In New York City,

we operate about 18 restaurants on about 65 worldwide.

That mashed potato goes from Shanghai to Paris, London,

Marrakesh, back to New York.

Our mashed potato here is very simple.

We use a pressure cooker.

It takes six minutes to cook it.

Buttercream, salt, very simple.

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So the first step here is to cook the potato.

I use a pressure cooker, but you can use regular pots.

It would take a little longer.

I'm adding about two pounds of Yukon Gold into my pots.

They absorb not too much water when they cook,

they stay firm, you know, they have a great texture.

It's a low starch potato, but lots of flavor.

I'm adding about a quarter and a half of water.

Some salt, tablespoon.

If I say that to my mother,

cooking mashed potato in a pressure cooker,

she would kill me.

Six minutes, walk away, come back when it's cooked.

Pressure cooker really keeps all the flavors,

steams together.

It cooks faster, but as well, it keeps...

Nothing evaporates, everything stays in the pots.

And when it cools down, you open up, it's like magic.

Magic in one pot.

I think it is perfect mashed potato

because you can walk away now.

For the next 10 minutes, you can prep something else.

General time downstairs in our prep kitchen,

we have six of those going all day long.

Making stews, making stocks, making all kind of preparation.

We're gonna let the potato cook and get back to it later.

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[pressure cooker hisses]

Six minutes on high pressure, potato are cooked now.

We let the steam go off, and then we'll...

Gonna drain them. [pressure cooker hisses]

Smells like potato.

All the pressure's releasing.

Here we go. [lid clicks]

Voila, here we go.

[indistinct] I'm gonna drain the water.

That's good.

Well, now, we're gonna use a ricer.

So you can see the potato are cooked, perfect texture.

It's a ricer, it's a old school technique

of pressing the potato.

You can open up to a larger [indistinct] or a smaller one.

You want it to be very smooth and perfect.

And when you use the mouli, you know that high hand

or any other technique, sometime it gets really gummy.

We'll add the butter.

This is Vermont butter, cultured.

I use cultured butter.

You know, you make the butter

and then you let it ferment a little bit,

and it really brings the flavor of the butter.

The cream, look at this.

It should be, you know, smooth.

I'm gonna add the salt.

So salt in the water to cook and then salt after.

Okay, one more spoon.

[spoon clangs]

More salt.

[indistinct] Has to be smooth.

They're not watery.

And that's it.

You're gonna fill up your serving dish

or keep it in your warmer.

I just like to add a piece of butter on top.

As you go to the table, it melts a little bit

on that spoon is the best.

A little pepper.

This is mashed potato for Thanksgiving

in every restaurant we have in New York.

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So the best part is when you eat where the butter is.

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Delicious.

So you can see the potato are very smooth.

I like when the butter is melting here.

Little pepper. [upbeat music continues]

[hums] Great texture.

To do a perfect mashed potato, it's very simple.

It's, you know, just choose the right potato.

It is not [indistinct].

Mashed potato is something very homey.

Happy Thanksgiving. [upbeat music ends]