The secret to getting that ultra-smooth, Michelin-starred mashed potato texture that chef Joël Robuchon is known for? Use a special kitchen tool called a tamis—that’s a drum sieve—and skip the immersion blender. While blenders can get rid of lumps, they sometimes overprocess the potato starch, which can make the texture gluey and unappealing. On the other hand, using a rubber spatula to mash the potatoes through a fine-mesh tamis can break down lumps without rupturing the starch granules, resulting in a creamy emulsion when combined with butter and milk. Chefs often use the sieve to make the potatoes extra silky. They do this by passing the potatoes through the sieve a few times before adding a lot of butter.
Mashed potatoes served in fancy restaurants, like the ones of the legendary late chef Joël Robuchon, are really smooth and creamy. They’re made with a special kind of potato, a lot of butter, and a special tool—a tamis, according to The TakeOut.
You might’ve heard of people using an immersion blender to make smooth mashed potatoes, but that’s not the answer. It’ll get rid of all the lumps, but it’ll also over-process the starch in the potatoes, which will make the texture sticky and not very appealing.
A potato ricer, on the other hand, is great for turning potatoes into mashed potatoes without over-cooking the starch molecules. This lets them form a creamy emulsion with the butter and dairy products you’ll add later.
It looks like a round cake pan, but it has a fine-mesh sieve at the bottom. You can use a rubber spatula or scraper to push ingredients like boiled potatoes through the sieve to make a puree with a really smooth and uniform texture. It takes some time and effort, but the result is unbeatable: creamy mashed potatoes that are just perfect.
How to Make Mashed Potatoes Using a Tamis
A tamis is a tool that helps you achieve a smooth, lump-free texture in your mashed potatoes without overworking them. It’s like other tools for mashing and pureeing, like vegetable mills or potato presses, but the mesh on a tamis is usually much finer. When you press the cooked potatoes through a sieve with a little pressure, it gently breaks up the lumps without destroying the starch granules.
Some chefs use a press or grinder to mash the potatoes initially, then pass them through a sieve for an even smoother texture. But you can also pass whole boiled potatoes through a sieve without using other tools first. When chefs want things to be really perfect, they might pass the potatoes through a sieve more than once to make the purée more consistent.
Michelin-starred chefs often use the sieving technique with their famous mashed potato recipe, which involves emulsifying the potatoes with a lot of butter. But you don’t have to go to such extremes to benefit from using a sieve.
You can use it to improve your regular mashed potato recipe or to make a more refined (though not quite Michelin-level) version for a special occasion.
If you want those mashed potatoes to be nice and smooth, you’ll want to use a tamis. Don’t even think about using a blender — it’ll totally wreck your potatoes!