Check Out The World’s Most Decadent Mashed Potatoes!
The late Chef Joe Robuchon was known to make the world’s most decadent mashed potatoes, and here’s why!
Jöel Robuchon’s purée de pomme is known as the most famous mashed potatoes recipe in the world, according to Food 52. Despite his passing in 2018, Robuchon’s legacy lives on through the famous dish, “purée de pomme.”
There is no better way to end the year than by digging into these incredibly decadent potatoes!
The great Chef and Cookbook Author Patricia Wells presented Chef Robuchon’s cuisine in this terrific collection of recipes – including his legendary mashed potatoes!
Look at those – they look like butter! That may be because of what’s inside them!
Chef Robuchon once said this:
“The mashed potatoes, it’s true, made my reputation. I owe everything to these mashed potatoes.”
So, how much butter does it take to turn regular spuds into a creamy delicacy? We are about to find out!
Making Joel Robuchon’s Decadent Mashed Potatoes – With Patricia Wells!
I love Patricia’s cookbook – it’s filled with incredible dishes – but today we are all about the potato!
There are very few ingredients for this dish – and it’s all about the ratio!
2 pounds potatoes
1 pound butter
1-1/4 cups milk
sea salt to taste
That’s it, and no that’s not a typo – a whole pound of butter! Let me explain with Alex’s terrific camerawork and prompting:
Get Your Potatoes Into Boiling Water!
The first step is to rinse your potatoes and get them boiling!
Chef liked to slow boil his potatoes with the skins on – you will peel them afterwards…he felt the skins gave the potato a richer flavor during cooking. You should be able to put a knife easily through a potato to ensure they are cooked…about 20 minutes or so.
The Chef’s “Two-To-One” Ratio!
Here’s the reason these are such decadent potatoes!
Chef Robuchon’s creamy mashed potatoes contain an crazy amount of butter.
It’s a two parts potato to one part butter ratio!
Yes, you read that right; the recipe is a 2:1 ratio of pure, comforting heaven. A full pound of butter is used for the two pounds of potatoes in the recipe!
When the potato are done, drain them and let them cool – then remove the skins. Meanwhile, melt your butter…I like to do it slowly in a pan but you can microwave it as well.
Once the potatoes are peeled, put them in a pan, smash them a bit, then pour your melted butter into the pot:
Mashed them up a bit so bring the two ingredients together…
Now, put your milk into a sauce pan and slowly warm it…I added a bit of heavy cream as well because why not?
Once warm, you simply pour the milk in to the potato/butter mixture…and it sure seemed to me like a LOT of liquid was being added!
Potato Soup!
I was immediately shocked at how the warm milk/cream mixture turned my dish into soup!
I took a deep breath and told myself that Patricia Wells and Joel Robuchon must know what they are doing, so I slowly began to stir it together by hand for a minute, then grabbed a handheld blender and used that on low as well – and do you know what happened?
A Perfect Puree!
Little did I know just how “thirsty” these potatoes were!
After two minutes of blending, they were velvety smooth – a perfect puree!
Robuchon’s “purée de pomme” exemplifies his love of flavor, and highlights his legacy as a chef.
With just four ingredients — potatoes, butter, milk, and salt — he created an incredibly rich, luxurious, silky dish that was completely unlike any mashed potatoes the world had seen before!
Alex got to do the first taste test – check out her reaction!
As you saw, Alex approved of this recipe – because they really were incredible!
According to The Guardian newspaper, critics have described eating Robuchon’s potatoes as an “emotional” experience.
These potatoes are to die for: a full, rich potato flavor but the added milk/cream/butter provide an incredible, mouth-watering richness…I used just a bit of salt, not wanting to distract from the flavor…using just the right amount of salt actually helps the potatoes pop even more!
WE love creamy mashed potatoes, and no one did it better than Robuchon!
This picture above came from a potato binge that Alex and I had once…were they thick and cheesy?
You decide:
We had a similar potato dish in Paris as well – where we ate potatoes four different ways – click here to see them all!
I have shared a number of potato dishes, because we are such big fans…like this classic side dish:
I made these scalloped potatoes from the classic “Joy Of Cooking” cookbook…check out the recipe here!
I also love making this potato pie, thanks to the incredible restaurant Chez L’Ami Louis win Paris:
They are fun to make, look great on the plate, and taste delicious!
Here is the recipe:
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Categories: Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Chef memoirs, Cookbooks, Eat This!, Food, Food Pictures, Food Porn, Recipes, Wacky Food, World's Wildest Food
Bite! Eat! Repeat! 
these look and sound absolutely stunning and I may make these one day as long as i can share them, they would be dangerous for me to have around.)
Yes you have to have a large group so they get eaten because the leftovers would no doubt be even better! Thanks for the comment and happy new year!
Ahhh what heights the humble potato can reach…each one more decadent and delicious…Happy 2024 to you and Alex 🙂
Yes, they are not for everyday consumption but for a special occasion nothing better – happy new year to you as well!
That is a cardiac surgeon’s dream recipe, John! But I would still eat them. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
Pete, a French creation and the country has low heart disease rates…could it be that you eat them with red wine? I say yes and cheers to it!
My dad would love these potatoes. A decadent and rich treat.
The cardiologists are planning their vacations because this dish will make them wealthy. Delicious but not for the faint of heart (pun intended).
Strangely, it’s a dish from a French Chef and that country has low rates of heart disease…could it be their love of life and the health benefits of red wine? I choose to believe so – Cheers!
I think it is because they do a lot of walking, eat very little junk food and eat in moderation. And, I think wine has a lot of benefits.
Yes, you hit all the important reasons they are much healthier….and they are happy too – or at least share their feelings openly too! Thanks for the comment!