The Kitchen Tool Jeff Mauro Uses For Super Smooth Mashed Potatoes

Mashed potatoes are an absolutely versatile, delicious dinnertime side dish ... but they are a lot trickier to nail than most home cooks give them credit for. The ideal spuds, perhaps served alongside a golden roast chicken or a sliced ham paired with sweet wine, elevate your meal. Done right, they are creamy and velvety, but neither gummy nor chunky. So, how to get them just right? Mashing potatoes the correct way can feel a little complicated, to be perfectly honest.

Chef Jeff Mauro, Food Network personality, co-host of "The Kitchen," and owner of prepared food company Mauro Provisions, insists that the secret to perfect potatoes is all in using the right tool. Static Media, parent company of Foodie, caught up with Mauro at the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival recently. Mauro was asked the pressing question: what does he use for mashing potatoes? A hand masher? A stand mixer? Neither, he claims. Instead, Mauro says that "A potato ricer is a foolproof way to get smooth taters every time."

Your potato masher has a lot of unexpected uses, but you shouldn't necessarily be inflicting it on potatoes. Consider that the best kitchen tools are those that have multiple uses, so that you don't clutter your kitchen with a dozen one-off implements. For example, you don't need a rasp-grater to grate ginger when a fork will do just fine. Similarly, a potato ricer is a multi-use implement that can make mashing vegetables effortless and efficient. Prepared sweet potatoes, pumpkins, squash, carrots, and turnips are all easily mashed for multiple uses in a potato ricer, which is inexpensive, easily found online like this PriorityChef variety, and easy to store.

Ricers shine when it comes to potatoes because they often require much less effort to use than other implements — seriously, who hasn't developed a sore shoulder after mashing a large amount of potatoes before a holiday dinner? Ricers can also help turn out fluffy potatoes that haven't had all their starch forced out, which is how mashed spuds get gluey. Knowing when to back off is another key secret to great mashed potatoes, as they can easily be overworked and ruined. To that end, the ricer forces you to use restraint when handling the cooked potatoes. Add a little butter (or a lot!), some cream, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper ... your side dish will become the new star of the dinner table.