What are Smashed Potatoes?
Smashed potatoes are a hearty variant on the more well known mashed potatoes. One clear difference is that smashed potatoes are generally prepared with the skins on, creating a bit more chunkiness to the finished dish. There are recipes that prepare peeled potatoes for smashed potatoes, but these are less common than “skins on” recipes. One distinct difference between smashed potatoes and mashed potatoes is the way in which the potatoes are smashed. Most recipes argue for hand mashing with either a fork or handheld masher. Mashed potatoes, on the other hand, are often mashed with a handheld masher and then whipped with an electric mixer. The purpose of the smashed potatoes is to avoid the whipped result, and also to shorten preparation time. If the cook decides to resort to the electric mixer, he or she has changed smashed potatoes into the mashed variety, regardless of whether the skins are on or off.
