Mashed potatoes are better without heavy cream. Not only can cream obscure the potato’s delicately sweet, slightly bitter and earthy flavor, but potatoes don’t even need cream to be creamy. Their natural starches provide everything required to give the dish a luscious texture. The problem? Most recipes have you boil your Yukons and russets in water—where they release all that lovely starch—then dump it down the drain. What a waste.

But we’re not wasteful here at Milk Street.

Our Milk-Simmered Mashed Potatoes capitalize on the potato’s natural gifts. Instead of extracting the starch in boiling water, only to dump it down the drain, we simmer Yukon Golds in a couple cups of milk, allowing them to absorb the dairy’s flavor while retaining their starch.

According to “Starch: Chemistry and Technology,” edited by Roy L. Whistler, James N. Bemiller and Eugene F. Paschall, root and tuber starches “generally have large granules and cook and solubilize more readily than grain starches.” When cooked, the granules swell, imparting “extra high viscosity.” Simply put: As long as you don’t wash those granules down the drain, you won’t have to compensate with thick, heavy cream.

But those same starches are what makes potatoes so easy to over-process. Release too much starch with vigorous or prolonged mashing, and your spuds become too viscous, giving the mash a gluey texture. To ensure you get the perfect creamy-smooth texture, we use Yukon Golds, which are dense and lower in starch than russets. We tested the technique with russets but found their texture too mealy.

Be sure to use whole milk (which has an average fat content of 3.25% ), not 2% or skim. That extra 1.25% of fat may not seem like much, but it acts as a buffer from the heat, shielding the milk proteins so they don’t coagulate and curdle. Also, don’t rinse or soak the potatoes in water once they’re cut. Doing so will wash off the starch, which is crucial for their creamy texture.

Just simmer the spuds in milk over low heat until they start to fall apart and most of the liquid has been absorbed, then remove from the heat and mash with butter. Taste, season with salt and pepper as desired, and serve immediately.

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Claire Lower

Claire Lower is the Digital Editor for Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street, with over a decade of experience as a food writer and recipe developer. Claire began writing about food (and drinks) during the blogging boom in the late 2000s, eventually leaving her job as a lab technician to pursue writing full-time. After freelancing for publications such as Serious Eats, Yahoo Food, xoJane and Cherry Bombe Magazine, she eventually landed at Lifehacker, where she served as the Senior Food Editor for nearly eight years. Claire lives in Portland, Oregon with a very friendly dog and very mean cat. When not in the kitchen (or at her laptop), you can find her deadlifting at the gym, fly fishing or trying to master figure drawing at her local art studio.