The saddest painting
I didn’t speak to my parents for five years. This was a deep betrayal of the central tenet of East Asian society, transcending all laws and religions: Bool-hyo(不孝). Filial piety (Hyo 孝) is the Chinese character for Elder (老) above the character Son (子); that is, an elder being carried by a son.
It is difficult to communicate how seriously we take Bool-hyo in Korea, a Confucian culture. As the eldest son, or jangnam, I have known since I could walk that it was my duty to care for and respect my parents. Refusing to do this was an outright rejection of the most important tenet of my heritage.
Betrayal ravaged my Asian being as I tried to justify my decision as a way to save my Modern marriage. Guilt filled my soul on every family birthday and holiday I missed.
I would torment myself by looking at Van Gogh’s The Potato Eaters and imagining the family depicted as my own, torn apart by my Bool-hyo(不孝). I saw my mother pouring coffee after a deep sigh, the kind that pulls all the life and colors into a darkness that even light bends into obscurity. My father consoled my mother, my sister-in-law attempting to enliven the atmosphere with banter. After a hard day of work providing for the family, my younger brother was looking into the distance. ‘You are breaking Mom’s heart,’ he told me with his frustrated silence.
In the middle of the painting stood an empty shadow of a girl that belonged there but was not. Her presence would color the family with joy; her absence drained the light out of the room. Would they remember her face after five years?
In my imagination I was hiding behind that girl, my daughter. Outside the frame and invisible to my family; a coward trapped in a prison of my own making. Looking from too far away. Yet I could almost hear the coffee pouring into the cup.
It was Thanksgiving.
Family photo
Last October, after my divorce, our whole family stood in front of the MET all dressed up for a wedding. My twelve year old daughter was in her first heels that she ditched later, her mere presence shining joy on the whole family. My mom was in a Korean hanbok, my dad next to her with a radiant smile.
I asked a passerby to take a photo, and he happened to be a professional photographer. I show this photo when people want to see my family. We are all together in a photo that took nearly a decade.
All of us.
Return of the discarded
For every festive Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving there are hundreds of somber Potato Eater moments. And yet, perhaps it is the potato that brings us together. The humblest of foods. Affordable, hardy, fulfilling, forgiving.
When I made this recipe for Thanksgiving last year I noticed the discarded pile of skin. Sometimes I felt like I too deserved to be discarded. But my family never gave up on me.
I saw redemption in using the discarded pile of potato skin. I decided to create a dish that includes all of the potato. I found that the discarded skin returned to the dish with a crispy zing and an acidic tang that shined light on the entire dish.
In a way, Van Gogh’s painting is the buttress that supports the rare Norman Rockwell Thanksgivings. I want families to come together once a year despite differences and difficulties. I want to share what Van Gogh depicted in his first masterpiece through a simple dish, to remember and celebrate and hope for the loved ones not present.
The Recipe: Fat is flavor
A potato is pretty dry. It needs flavored fat to make it taste good. Now consider the fat content in the below dairy products.
Whole Milk: 4% fat
Half & Half: 12% fat
Heavy Cream: 36% fat
Butter: 80% fat
You need x20 milk to achieve the fat content of butter! Mashed potato made from just milk has very little fat. On the other hand, Joël Robuchon (‘Chef of the Century’ by guide Gault Millau in 1989) uses a 2:1 potato to butter ratio. An extraordinary mashed potato elevated on top of a mound of butter. Funnily, Robuchon stopped eating butter in his later years to lose weight.
After a dozen different ratios, I decided on 2:1 potato to milk and butter ratio, where I use 1/2 milk and 1/2 butter.
I discovered that where butter is used to add fat, milk is mostly used to control thickness.
Flavor the fat
Mashed potato is a way to add flavored fat to the dry turkey. I heat thyme and garlic in the butter to release the full potential of the flavors.
Both are strong but quiet supporting flavors. Make sure not to overpower the flavor.
I prefer subtle thyme to overpowering rosemary. The mashed potato at the Thanksgiving dinner plays a supporting role.
Ingredients (4 people)
Potatoes ….. 1.5 lb (24 oz, an average potato is about 5 oz)
Butter (or plant butter) ….. 3/4 cup (6 oz)
Milk (or oat milk) ….. 3/4 cup (6 oz)
Garlic ….. 8 cloves
Thyme ….. 4 sprigs
Salt ….. to taste
Pepper ….. to taste
Olive oil ….. 2 tbs
Lime ….. 1
Instructions
Heat and flavor the milk and butter in a separate pot.
Add garlic cloves. Add thyme. Salt to taste. Heat for 5 minutes. Pour through a sieve. Push the softened garlic through the sieve. Keep the flavored cream and butter warm to fold into the potato.Potato skin crisps
Use ALL of the potato, including the skin.
Peel the potatoes then finely chop the skin. Fry in olive oil until crispy. Remove from pan and put the skin crisps on paper towel. Salt to taste. Zest with lime then squeeze lime wedges onto crisps to add acidity. Set aside.
Dice potatoes
Dice the skinless potatoes into 3/4 inch cubes and place them in a pot. Try to get uniform sizes so the potatoes all cook evenly.Diced potatoes mean shorter boiling time and more starch control. Trust me, dicing is so much better that boiling the whole potato.
Wash out the starch
Wash the potatoes in the pot with cold water twice for Yukon Gold potatoes and 4-5 times for Russets until water is clear. Washing will remove the excess starch. Russets have more starch.
It’s the same process sushi chefs use to control the starchiness and thus the stickiness of the sushi rice. The chef will wash anywhere between 3-8 times depending on the rice. You can go crazy with potatoes too. But I wouldn’t recommend it unless you are writing a food blog.
Simmer potatoes.
Start in cold water so that you don’t shock the potatoes. Salt the water. Once you bring to a boil, simmer about 10 minutes until soft.Test the doneness by pushing through a sieve with a rubber spatula. Cook until it goes through the sieve effortlessly.
Mash the potatoes
There are a few ways you can mash potatoes. The easiest is to use a masher. I like to use my everyday fine mesh strainer (sieve) to create fine potato particles.Whatever tool you use, remember the goal in mashing is to make tiny pieces of potato that will emulsify the fat (butter, milk, cream) into a fluffy creamy heaven without being starchy.
If the lumps are too big you have pieces of dry potato. If you break up the potatoes too much starch is released and makes it gummy.
The tools
Masher: If you like lumpy mashed potatoes, this is the way to go.
Ricer: No lumps. But not everyone has a ricer. Gordon Ramsey does.
Food mill: Fancy. No lumps. But not everyone has a food mill. Joël Robuchon does.
Tamis: Fancy. Super fine silky results. But not everyone has one. Thomas Keller does.
Strainer: I like using my everyday fine mesh strainer to get silky mashed potatoes.
Food processor: Don’t use. The results are too gummy.
Fold in the milk and butter
Fold 3/4 of the milk and butter into the potato in the warm (not hot) pot.Use a silicon spatula to avoid over releasing the starch. Fold, do not stir.
Fold remaining liquid until desired consistency. Salt to taste.
Warm it up when you want
You can make the mashed potatoes a few hours ahead of the dinner. Place the mashed potato in a reheat-able plate. Keep in a warm place until ready to eat.Warm in low heat and fold more milk to loosen if needed.
Garnish like Van Gogh
Cover the entire surface with potato crisps so that the mashed potato is only revealed once you dip through the skin. Make the color look intentionally potato skin dirt color. Make it look like a heap of brown stuff. Make it look like NOT mashed potato. Make your family and friends at the table curious about the mound of brown.Talk about the potato dirt colors in Vincent’s masterpiece The Potato Eaters. And how sometimes a simple potato can bring the family together.
Zoom
I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving. We won’t be able to be together this year due to the pandemic. But hopefully we will be on Zoom eating some mashed potatoes with skin crisps. All of my family in the same online picture frame.