Three tips to avoid glue-y mashed potatoes.
One is to cook the potatoes partway, then cool them, and then cook them the rest of the way before mashing. The cooling step in-between gives the starches a chance to solidfy somehwat and avoid rupturing during the cooking process.
The second bit, which you’ve heard before, is to use a potato ricer and not a potato masher. This will help avoid rupturing the starches through sheer physical effort of mashing them.
The last step, and most delicious, is to add sufficient fat to the mashed potatoes to, well, lubricate the cells, kind of. The easier the cells slide around, the less likely they are to turn into a glue-y mess. This recipe employes the last method and suggests the second.
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| From the notebook of J.L. from Avon Lake, Ohio. Dated 1915. | |||
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Mashed Potatoes
Peel five potatoes and wash well. Boil until done, [warm?] and mash three tablespoons of butter, one teaspoon salt, and a few grains of pepper, and one-third cup of hot milk.
Beat with a fork until creamy and pile lightly in hot dish.