Joël Robuchon’s mashed potatoes — The Best In The World

Joël Robuchon, Michelin-starred ‘chef of the century’, died at age 73. However before his death, he made a lot of contributions in the culinary world including one that made him famous and everyone else fat.

There are several versions of the recipe, with the restaurant’s famously consisting of a 2:1 potato to butter ratio.

However, the British chef Tom Aikens, who used to work for Robuchon in the early 90s, described how it took two hours and a lot of effort from the chef to make, and included more butter than spud.

For successful mashed potatoes, it is important you salt the cooking water when it is still cold and salt the finished purée carefully.

If possible, use a food mill or potato ricer rather than a blender or food processor. When the potato has gone through the ricer, put it in a saucepan over a medium heat and turn it vigorously with a wooden spatula until it dries out a bit.

After, stir in the butter then the whole milk. Finish mixing with a whisk for a lighter purée.

Below is the complete fail proof recipe:

Preparation: 15 minutes

Cooking: 35 minutes

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

• 1 kg potatoes, preferably rattes or BF 15, scrubbed but unpeeled
• Coarse salt
• 250 g butter, diced and kept well chilled until use
• 250 ml whole milk
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Put the potatoes in a saucepan with 2 litres of cold water and 1 tablespoon of coarse salt. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook until a knife slips in the potatoes easily and cleanly, about 25 minutes.
2. Drain the potatoes and peel them. Put them through a potato ricer (or a food mill fitted with its finest disk) into a large saucepan. Turn the heat to medium and dry the potato flesh out a bit by turning it vigorously with a spatula for about 5 minutes.
3. In the meantime, rinse a small saucepan and pour out the excess water but do not wipe it dry. Add the milk and bring to a boil.
4. Turn the heat under the potatoes to low and incorporate the well-chilled butter bit by bit, stirring it in energetically for a smooth, creamy finish. Pour in the very hot milk in a thin stream, still over a low heat, still stirring briskly. Continue stirring until all the milk is absorbed. Turn off the heat and taste for salt and pepper.
5. To get an even lighter, finer purée, put it through a very fine sieve before serving.

Enjoy!