Best mashed potatoes ever!!!

fletcherfam

So I have my family and extended family hooked on my baked potatoes (brined for 4 hours then cooked indirect at 400 for an hour) 

so so I decided to try and up the game with smoked mashed baked potatoes (skin on). 

Brined in one cup salt to two Quarts water for four hours.

Once done, dry off. I covered in bacon grease at room temperature (totally added a slight baconish flavor) and salt.
grill indirect for an hour. 

Mash those taters

Add cream cheese (8oz), a cube of butter per 5lbs of potatoes (I used almost 3 cubes for 10lbs of potatoes) half and half, salt and pepper to taste. (Heat butter and half and half in a pan to not cool the potatoes.

told by the family that the mashed potatoes were the best they had ever had. I honestly don't like them and devoured them!! Oh my goodness!!

mad max turkey was also a huge hit!

Mickey

Real nice

bgebrent

Strong work.  I've done same but not with bacon fat.  Nice idea I'll try.

Botch

I'm interested in your brined baked potatoes; do you prick the skin first?  

fletcherfam

Yea, prick then brine.

Skiddymarker

Very nice, never thought of using cream cheese - a must try. Usually use a very similar technique only with sour cream rather than cream cheese. 

blasting

@fletcherfam   Nice.  I do very close to the same.  I add the protein drippings to the mash with the cream cheese -  rice them instead of mash.

The brining intrigues me.  I do a fair bit of brining, but what do you think it adds to the potatoes?

@Skiddymarker   I'll vouch for the cream cheese.  You'll never go back.

fletcherfam

Not sure what it adds, maybe a slight salt taste to the "meat" of the potato. I got the idea from Nakedwhiz website. Never go back on the brining.

i think it also crisps the skins pretty nicely too

DuckDogDr

That's the way my ex girlfriends grandmother made them... Some of the best indeed

DoubleEgger

Skiddymarker said:

Very nice, never thought of using cream cheese - a must try. Usually use a very similar technique only with sour cream rather than cream cheese. 

I use both cream cheese and sour cream in my potatoes. Find the proportion that work for your taste buds. 

YukonRon

I will try this, looks delicious. Thank you for sharing. Happy Thanksgiving.

stompbox

What is a cube of butter?

DoubleEgger

stompbox said:

What is a cube of butter?

It's a stick of butter. 

stompbox

DoubleEgger said:

stompbox said:

What is a cube of butter?

It's a stick of butter. 

Gotcha, never heard that term and I was trying to figure out how many sticks you needed to make a cube shape lol.

500

So up to the point where you "Mash those taters", is that your baked potatoe recipe?

Another question;  Since you seem to have these taters down, what do think about brining them in salt and cider vinegar?

fletcherfam

@500
Yes you are correct that is my baked potato recipe (my kids who will not normally eat baked potatoes devour these).

i honestly don't know what apple cider vinegar would do....looking online it looks like cooking in vinegar is a British style dish? (Maybe) people on that Recipe seemed to say it added a tartness to the potatoes, and that it needed to be paired with something that balanced it. I probably wouldn't do it hat way because of my family, however, if you wanted to try I would separate a potato or two and brine it separately in that solution and then smoke it to see how it tasted. If you do try it let me know how it goes!