After eating at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Vegas, I was inspired to try to recreate his famous pommes purée. Somehow "mashed potatoes" doesn't sound right given the level to which Robuchon has taken this dish. I found his recipe, along with quite a bit of discussion, on the eGullet forums. Two pieces of equipment were important to the recipe: a ricer and a tamis. I had never used any of these, nor did I own them.
The second piece of equipment, the tamis, is even more obscure. It's a flat bottomed sieve with a rim around it (kinda like a Chinese steamer), so that when you push food through the sieve, it comes out very smooth. I didn't have one, nor was I going to go out and find one, so I decided to try using a regular sieve.
Next time I try this, I will use truffle salt, which I'm sure will be awesome. I will also boil the potatoes a little longer and a little slower, as I feel they were still a bit undercooked in the center. Next Thanksgiving, I'm going to volunteer to make a big batch of this!
Pommes Purée
2 lbs russet potatoes
8 oz butter (I used 6 oz)
3/4 to 1 1/4 cups milk brought to a boil and kept hot
sea salt to taste
- Starting with cold water, boil unpeeled potatoes until a fork inserted meets barely any resistance (may take 30 min or more)
- Peel potatoes while still hot (the potatoes are incredibly easy to peel at this point)
- Push the potatoes through a ricer into a pot and stir over very low heat until steam no longer escapes (about 5 minutes)
- Add butter by vigorously stirring potatoes until incorporated
- Add 3/4 cup milk in a slow stream while vigorously whipping potatoes, incorporating air into the mixture
- Add salt, more milk as necessary, until desired taste and texture
- For that extra level of refinement, pass through a tamis
8 comments:
Mmmmmm so good. I say we go all out and use the full butter measurement next time! (I can't believe I just said that). It really did taste "almost" like Joel Robuchon's potatoes.
Pommes puree pushed through the strainer: A+
The rest: A- (great flavor, but still a bit chunky compared to the above)
whoa, yum. i just got thomas keller's french laundry cookbook and he's all about the tamis. i want to get one so i can try stuff like this.
and i agree with miniplum: next time, go for the gusto with the butter.
uhm... i'll hold you to that volunteer offer :P remember, your family is huge :) Everyone needs at least one tablespoon full of pommes puree
I couldn't wait to try your pommes puree next Thanksgiving. But are you sure you can do it for 30 people? And how many pounds of butter?
sounds alot like mine, but I use a pinch of fresh nutmeg and a sprinle of parmesan in them...yum, starch is good.
mashed potato at this level is definitely labor intensive (it takes me about 20 minutes to whip the butter into 2.5kg potato)...and also as a side note, the real Robuchon recipe calls for much more butter, I won't say exactly how much, but at LEAST a 1:1 ratio (of POST tamis potato to butter)! That's one reason pomme puree "to go" is a no-no policy at his restaurants.
Robuchon himself said (to Anthony Bourdain on camera): "1kilo of potatoes, 250 grams of butter, voila!".That would translate proportionately as 2 pounds of potatoes, 1/2 pound of butter---this recipe and not some others one sees.
The great news is that you don't have to peel the potatoes with a ricer - we never do and it works great. We discovered that by watching this potato recipe - https://www.facebook.com/epicurious/videos/10159629128095367
Post a Comment