No. 725

Puree of Potatoes

Puree de Pommes de Terre

Peel and wash two pounds of medium sized potatoes, put them into a saucepan with sufficient water to cover, and a little salt, let them boil till soft, then drain off the water and cover them with a wet cloth, set the lid on the saucepan and put them into a slack oven for twelve minutes to steam. (They may be cooked by steam for half an hour. which is always preferable to boiling in water.) Rub them either through a sieve or pass them through the machine (Fig. 99a), and put this puree back into the saucepan; season, add a little sugar, then heat it up without boiling, stirring in half a pint of cream and two ounces of fine butter.

← No. 724 Puree of Split Peas Garnishings No. 726 Puree of Sweet Potatoes →

For the Modern Kitchen

A straightforward mashed-potato purée from Ranhofer's garnish chapter, distinguished by its high proportion of cream and butter and by the steaming step that keeps the potatoes dry.

Slack ovenA slack oven is the coolest working range, variously given as roughly 200-300F. Ranhofer says the twelve minutes there are "to steam": the wet cloth and lid trap moisture around the drained potatoes while the low heat finishes them.
Steam instead, as he saysRanhofer's parenthesis is the better instruction. Half an hour in a steamer basket over simmering water gives a drier, less waterlogged potato than boiling, and no draining or drying step is needed.
Half a pint of creamOne cup, US measure. With two ounces of butter to two pounds of potatoes this is a rich purée by any standard; scale the cream back if it is going under a sauced meat rather than standing alone.
The machine, Fig. 99aThe text refers to a machine for passing the potatoes, shown in a figure not reproduced here; a ricer or a food mill will do the same job. A food processor does not, as the blade shears the starch and turns the puree to glue.
Heat it up without boilingThis is the hinge. Once cream and butter are in, keep the pan below a simmer and stir. Boiling breaks the emulsion and the butter separates out in a slick.
The sugarA pinch, not a spoonful. Taste before adding any at all.
Potato choiceUse a floury variety, russet or a similar baking potato, for a light purée. Waxy potatoes hold water and resist the sieve.
YieldTwo pounds of potatoes with this much cream serves six to eight as a garnish or bed, four as a side dish in its own right.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer spent more than thirty years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and The Epicurean (1894) is the codification of that kitchen's practice: over a thousand pages, numbered entries, cross-references running forward and back. Placing potato purée among the garnishings rather than the vegetables is telling. In a restaurant of this kind a purée was structural, a base spread on the plate or piped through a bag to hold a cutlet or a bird. Ranhofer states his preference for steaming rather than boiling as a general one. The sieve-and-cream method itself is French classical technique.