Not to long ago I used to peel and cut the potatoes before I cooked them. Not anymore! While at a girlfriend's house one day preparing mashed potatoes she wondered why I cut them up. I told her that was the way I was taught. She laughed and showed me that I didn't need to. Just peel them she said. It worked!  Well knowing me I had to take it a step further. My gram never peeled or cut up her potatoes before she made hash browns. She simply took the skins off after they had cooked in the pot. Apparently they come off quite easy that way. And they do! However I felt that they took a little longer cooking whole. So I leave the skin on and cut them in half after I wash them . When they are done cooking I pull the skin off and mash them up.

We use about 6lbs potatoes. This leaves us with a little leftovers. To mash them I use some of the cooking water and a 1/2 pound unsalted real butter. Occasionally we use chicken stock and this makes them really yummy. Mmmm, mmmm, good as my children say!  Oh and I tried those gold potatoes once. Wow they were good! Now if they weren't so expensive.