Level up your mashed potato game with the world’s best mashed potatoes! I bring to you the legendary Michelin star chef, Joël Robuchon’s mashed potato (pommes purée) recipe. This recipe gives you the creamiest, silkiest, most buttery ribbons of mashed potatoes you’ll ever try. It’s so delightfully rich and luxurious that it’s perfect for special occasions, holidays, or fancy dinners!
You’ll sometimes see pommes purée (puréed potatoes), as Paris Mash in fancy restaurants. Paris Mash was made famous by the wonderful Guillaume Brahimi, who was trained by Robuchon in France before moving to Australia! Paris mash typically has a ratio of 3:1 potato to butter.
The pommes purée recipe here is closer to the original Joël Robuchon recipe from the early 1980’s, which goes for a 2:1 potato to butter ratio. Yes, you read that right! There’s a lot of butter in this! Here’s a video of the late, great Robuchon making this dish!
Legend has it that he sometimes went for a 1:1 ratio – but I haven’t been so bold yet! The result is truly what I consider the world’s best mashed potatoes. They’re unbelievably creamy, silky, and luxurious. Robuchon wasn’t awarded ‘Chef of the Century’ for nothing!
Ingredients in these Michelin Mashed Potatoes (Pommes Purée)
One of my favourite things about this recipe is how it uses simple, basic ingredients. All we need to make these mashed potatoes is potatoes (I use Dutch cream), good-quality unsalted butter, whole milk, and salt. That’s it! This recipe really is a testament to the beauty in simplicity.
Sebago or Desiree potatoes will also work well. If you’re in the U.S., Yukon Gold or Russet potatoes are a great choice. And if you’re in the UK, then you can’t beat Maris Piper or King Edward potatoes! Whatever you choose, make sure you select a floury potato (higher in starch, lower in moisture), or an all-rounder. Do not use waxy potatoes (lower in starch, higher in moisture) like Kipfler or Red potatoes. They stay firm and are best for boiling, for use in curries, or in salads!
Robuchon himself famously used La Ratte potatoes for this dish, known for their slight nuttiness and butteriness. If you can source these, they are the gold standard for these mashed potatoes! I’ve never come across them personally. In any case, just use whatever is available to you and works well in a mash! I’ve had great texture and flavour from Dutch creams.
Final tip: make sure to use a good-quality butter! Because there are so few ingredients, the flavour of the butter will really come through. My favourite is this grass-fed Westgold butter, available at Coles and Woolies. And after trying many butters throughout the years, I can confidently say that grass-fed butter tastes extra creamy and delicious.
Plus, grass-fed butter is higher in Omega-3s, and fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, E, and K2, and more! So if you’re feeling guilty after indulging in these creamy mashed potatoes, don’t worry – at least the butter is nutritious!
How to Make Joël Robuchon’s Pommes Purée
First, scrub the potatoes and leave the skin on. Place them in cold, salted water, and bring to the boil. The skin imparts a subtle, earthy flavour, and prevents the potatoes from becoming waterlogged. Starting them off in cold water helps them cook evenly! Otherwise, if you place them into boiling water, the outside can become mushy, and harder to peel.
When you can easily slip a knife through the centre, they are ready!
Drain them, and peel while hot.
Then, push them through a potato ricer into a bowl while they are still hot.
To elevate them to Michelin-level and reach ridiculous levels of smoothness, pass them through a fine-mesh sieve as well, into a pan on low heat. You can skip this step and still have creamy, luxurious mashed potatoes. But for that true pommes purée-style, extra smooth, silky texture, it’s worth the effort. It’s this kind of labour of love that makes these the world’s best mashed potatoes!
Cook for a minute or two to evaporate any excess moisture.
Then, it’s as simple as adding your cold, cubed butter, bit by bit! Add a few cubes, and stir into the mashed potatoes. Once incorporated, add some more, and stir again. Keep going until all the butter has been used.
Then, to loosen the mashed potatoes and achieve those silky ribbons of purée, add some warm milk bit by bit, and stir.
Adjust for salt, and that’s it!
My 3 key tips to perfecting this mashed potato recipe:
- Make sure you let the potatoes dry out after they’ve been boiled. We are essentially making an emulsion here. And if the potatoes have too much moisture, the butter won’t incorporate well into the starch structure of the potatoes. You’ll end up a pool of melted butter in your pan. Don’t ask how I know 🫠
- The butter must be fridge-cold! The temperature difference is crucial for creating a stable emulsion. Cold butter melts slowly into the hot puréed potato. This gives time for the starch to properly bind the fat droplets and prevent the purée from breaking and turning greasy.
- The milk must be warmed! Once the emulsion is formed, the pommes purée is very sensitive to temperature change. If you go ahead and pour in cold milk, this shocks the butter-potato emulsion. The temperature of the mixture will drop too quickly. If this happens, the butter may separate and you’ll end up with greasy mash with pools of melted butter that weep out. Warming the milk ensures a smooth final incorporation (think hot milk going into a hot emulsion). This way, we get a creamy, silky consistency without breaking the mash!
If your emulsion breaks, and the butter becomes a greasy pool while you’re adding it – do not panic!!! You can still save the mashed potatoes. Just add some heated milk, stir until everything re-emulsifies, and continue adding your butter slowly.
Serving Up Your Michelin Mashed Potatoes (Pommes Purée)
These mashed potatoes truly are rich and luxurious. I personally make them for special occasions, Christmas, or other holidays. They make the perfect bed for juicy Christmas turkey, with a delicious port and pistachio gravy! The indents in the mashed potato catch the pools of gravy perfectly, and the butteriness complements the lean turkey excellently!
These mashed potatoes are also lovely paired classically with some perfectly cooked steak. This is my idea of a date night dinner to make for my husband and I, to feel like we’re at a fancy French bistro!
However you choose to enjoy these Michelin mashed potatoes, I truly hope you love this recipe! If you tried it and loved it, I would be so grateful if you left a 5-star review and a comment to let me know how it went! xxx
World’s Best Mashed Potatoes: Joël Robuchon’s Michelin Recipe
Description
The world's best mashed potato recipe (pommes purée), courtesy of the Chef of the Century, the legendary Joël Robuchon! Unbelievably creamy, silky, buttery, and luxurious. These mashed potatoes are absolutely perfect for special occasions or holidays!
Ingredients
Method
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Scrub the potatoes well, but keep the skin on. Place them into a pot of cold, salted water. Pop the lid on, bring to a boil, and cook for roughly 20 minutes, or until a knife slips easily into the centre of the largest potato.
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Drain the potatoes into a colander. Peel them while they are still hot (hold them with a tea towel and use a knife to peel the skin off, if they are too hot to handle fully).
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Push the potatoes through a potato ricer into a bowl. Then, pass them through a fine mesh sieve into a large pan on low heat. Cook for a minute or two to evaporate any excess moisture.
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Add the cold, cubed butter, 2-3 cubes at a time. Stir vigorously into the mashed potatoes. Once incorporated, add a few more cubes of butter, and stir again. Repeat this process until all the butter has been used. If you suspect the pan is too hot (you will see the butter beginning to weep out of the mixture), continue this process with the heat turned off. See recipe post for how to save your emulsion if it breaks!
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When all the butter has been added, stir in the heated milk, a few tablespoons at a time, until you have your desired consistency. Adjust for salt, stir, and turn off the heat. Serve immediately!
