I’ve no idea if they’re available there, but I always get Dutch Cream potatoes. They’re never lumpy, even if I don’t get out the ricer.

Nyt has an article, it overviews different types of potatoes and uses... https://cooking.nytimes.com/guides/12-how-to-make-potatoes

It depends more on the person cookin/mashing The potatoes. A lousy cook can take the best potatoes and make wall paper paste, a good cook can use any potatoes in a mash and make great potatoes.

I like Russets for mashed potatoes....but have used long whites....don't like red potatoes to mash.

I like Russets for mashed, as well.

Thanks! We usually buy russets. The potatoes have been good but I wondered if I was missing something.

Sorry, but Yukon Golds are rated best by the magazines I read and cooking tv shows I watch. Many cooks have learned to use Russets, but professional test cooks and their test panels prefer Yukon Golds.

Do you want to taste potato, or do you want the taste the dressing?

Russets are often the least expensive and most common potato in most parts of the United States.

FWIW, there are magazines who publish results of foods for prepared for testing panels.

Do you boil or steam your potatoes, how large are the pieces, do you mash or rice, butter, cream or milk?

In a practical sense, there are many variables, but there are magazine and tv shows that have conducted surveys.

Are you you missing something, yes. Try some different potatoes. Only you know what you prefer. Maybe you can’t cook, maybe you can’t tell the difference, but you won’t find that out on the internet.

For ~$5 you could determine which potatoes you and your guests prefer. Make two batches, your usual and something different. It may not be the potato, but the cook.

I often prefer Yukon Gold for a slightly more creamier, richer taster mash -- however I find russets produce a somewhat fluffier product, if that is what you prefer. Some guests are very particular to what they are used to, especially during the holidays.

Haha, the mashed potato police. As debated as mayonnaise.

I makes what I likes. Translates to, 'how Mom made them'. 5lb bag russet. Peeled and cooked till tender. Drain leaving a cup of the cooking water. Hand over to Dad. Curly wire masher with a gentle touch. 1/2 stick butter, 1/2 cup 2% milk. 80% creamy, 20% lumpy.

Years ago a friend insisted on making them every year for a large gathering. 10lbs russet, 1 lb butter, 2 cups heavy cream, cream cheese, minced parsley and green onion....

Tasted like French onion dip.

I prefer Moms. But I use both, gasp, russets and yukons. Small pat butter, dollop of Greek yogurt. 50/50 creamy lumpy. Like potato chips, as simple as possible. Not over salted or flavored. I just want the basic taste of a potato for what it is.

The Secret? It's Not the Potatoes

I like using russets for mashed potatoes, round white ones for frying. Red ones for salad. But they can all be used for whatever you fix, some just do a bit better with what you are fixing.

Sue

Back in the day, Mom always used reds for mashing and russets for baking but that was when there were only two kinds of potatoes. And the reds were big potatoes, not the little ones that you find now. If I were buying potatoes just to mash, I would get either the big reds or the Yukon Gold.

IIRC I've always read that russets are recommended. I use whatever happens to be cheapest the day I go shopping. But actually, I do prefer either red or gold because the skins are so thin and... yes... I leave the skins in. I like them. Even the thick-skinned ol' russets.

So that's the next debate: Skins or no skins?

(I obviously vote for skins.)

Depends on the skin. The rest of the year, summer potato salads, quick smashed potatoes w/steaks, roasted baby reds/whites, always the skins on. Depending on where they are grown, the soil conditions in the world, determines if I remove or not.

Mid summer I had a bag of russets that had such thick skins I removed them easily after cooking. Barely could get a knife through them. After cooling and cut in half they slid right out of the skin.

I realized after have many bags of potatoes in Canada where I have another home, that they need to be peeled. Most were from PEI. Once peeled, I had to use the end eye-digger. That little rounded scoop. Every potato had a couple eyes that needed digging. Good to great tasting potatoes....just varieties that are different than what we have. (no wonder they thought it was creepy that I made and served a potato salad one summer) ....those happened to be fine and thin skinned. They ALWAYS peel.

At the market last night I had at least 15 varieties to choose from. I have 5 or 6 in my pantry now. One is a gorgeous shiny black thin-skinned variety I'm using in my roasted dish tomorrow, skins on! Golf-ball size I'll cut in half. Usually I find the purples a bit mealy and thick-skinned.

*we also have 6 varieties of sweet potatoes. I grew some this year for the first time and just recently harvested. Looking forward to that taste testing.

I prefer Yukon Gold, but also Idaho potatoes if that's what I have.

Yukon Gold. Through a ricer to make them fluffy.

If you want more of a make-ahead, I make Chantilly Potatoes (mashed first), then put in buttered cast iron pan, top with freshly grated parmesan and bake in oven. Recipe: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chantilly-potatoes-with-a-parmesan-crust

I too use what Mom used for mashed potatoes--reds. And she always used red potatoes for potato salad, so I do too. No complaints.

This is an interesting discussion!

Jim Mat, for mashed, our process thus far: we have been peeling, cutting into big chunks, boiling til tender, draining, drying off water, then adding the other ingredients which thus far have been butter, sour cream, milk, and crushed fresh garlic. My husband does the mashing (I have carpal tunnel).He is good and fast. No lumps.

I don't have a ricer.

Last year he asked 30 year old our son to do it. We kept sending him back to the stove because they were lumpy. Husband was supervising the adding of ingredients. But they turned out to be heavy, so there is something to the hand of who is doing the mashing.

They will be a vehicle for the gravy, and we don’t want to mask the flavor of that, so we don’t add too much more to them. But they do need to have good flavor on their own. There's never enough gravy.

I prefer the "drier" texture of Russets for mashed , fried and baked. Yellow or Red for potato salad and new white for home fries and oven roasted. ...but whatever is in the bin is what I use !

I am rather set upon how I do mashed potatoes.....actually obsessive. Ricer , butter hot milk, salt and pepper...nothing more. Exception is when I make twice baked then I load them up.

I find reds to be waxy and full of water after boiling.

Speaking of potatoes. I read a news article awhile back about a entire family dying after eating potatoes except for one child that doesn't eat potato. It went on to say the potatoes had green under the skin which is some type of gas thats toxic.

Is this true? I've been scared of potatoes ever since reading that story.

I would never eat a potato gone green or sprouted. Yes, they are poisonous, but generally a little won't produce symptoms. I remember reading many years ago that the toxin is one that can build up over time in your body, so it may be the story you read was a family eating green potatoes more than once. There's lots of conflicting info on the internet, but this was the most comprehensive story I found from a credible source:

Smithsonian, potato poisoning

I prefer Yukon Gold, and I almost never buy Russet potatoes. I will put just about any potato on the barbecue to "bake" when I am roasting a chicken, and the potatoes roast with the chicken. I do use Russet potatoes to make gnocchi, but that's the only time I buy them. I bake them for gnocchi and then cut them open to cool so that even more moisture will evaporate. If you want dry potatoes, then Russets are the best. Any other potato will have better flavor IMO, but you can add flavorful moist (or wet) ingredients, such as cream, to improve the flavor of Russets.

I use yukon gold for everything. I love the creamy texture. I find russets too grainy.

I'm with Louise. I use Yukon golds for everything. I do enjoy Russets as steak fries, but I never make those at home.

Am I the only person who doesn't actually care for Yukon golds?! Really, I'd rather have almost any other potato.

Mom always used White Rose for mashed potatoes and I usually do too, except this year I bought a 5 lb bag of Russets. Glad to hear that was a good choice. We'll see in a few hours.

Potatoes from PEI!!! We were there one summer when the potato fields had just been harvested. That means that what's left it in the field is open to random camping tourists. OMG, I had no idea potatoes out of the field could be so yummy. We ate potatoes twice a day all the days we spent there. All these years later we now grow red potatoes in the garden for those few weeks of deliciousness.