Turn your oven on to 375°F. You don't really have to preheat for this recipe.
Arrange your potatoes on a baking tray. Bake for about 75 -90 minutes, depending on the size of your potatoes.
You'll want to have your mashed potato kit ready when the potatoes come out of the oven. Slice up your stick of butter, get yourself a towel, a good bowl, a strong wooden spoon, a container for the spent tater skins, and a knife. Warm the cream gently on the stove.
You know your potatoes are ready when you can poke a toothpick straight through to the center of the largest potato without feeling much resistance at all.
Alright, it's go time! The rest of this recipe is a race. You're fighting time to get those potatoes whipped, seasoned, and on the table before they cool. Many cooks recommend performing the rest of this recipe over a double boiler in order to maintain temperature. Personally, I don't like to make things too complicated. Better just move quick.
With your knife in your dominant hand, use the towel to pick up a hot potato with the other. Slice a strip of skin off, and scoop the insides into your bowl. Repeat with remaining potatoes.
If you have a ricer available, and you like your mashed potatoes silky smooth, pass the potatoes and butter through your ricer. No ricer? Don't sweat it, just scatter the sliced butter over your potatoes and move to the next step.
Beat those spuds with a wooden spoon. This technique is known to many as the 'dead arm,' technique (very little relation to the 'dead hand' technique) and I guarantee you it is the key to elevating your mashed potato game. Swirl the spoon around in the bowl until the potatoes seem to want to form a dough. Continue beating until it feels like your arm is gonna fall off.
Toss in a little salt and pepper, and beat in the cream. Now, just tighten up your seasoning and don't forget to perform a final mix.
Get em on the table and in some bellies. Great mashed potatoes are like a great risotto. They don't know respect. They're not gonna wait for anybody, not you, not Grandma, not anybody.
