Tausi Insider

There are a lot of ways to prepare mashed potatoes, and almost all of them are valid (even, or especially, the microwave method ). Most mashed potato recipes start the same way: Cube the spuds into roughly 1 1/2-inch chunks, then cook them in simmering water until they can be easily mashed with a fork. This usually takes about 20 minutes, but Cook’s Illustrated notes you can shave off half of that time   by slicing the spuds into 1/4-inch rounds, rather than cubing them into chunks. This move is quite obvious when you think about it: A thinner piece of potato will cook faster than a thicker one, and a uniform slice will cook more uniformly than a lopsided chunk. (There will, of course, be some irregularly shaped pieces taken from either end of the potato. That is the nature of things that grow in the ground.) Slices also take up less space, which means you use a smaller pot and less water (you just need enough to cover the spuds ). You can try out Cook’s Illustrated’s full rec...