The iconic preparation, often called “Robuchon potatoes,” has everything you want in a perfect mashed potato recipe: It sits at the intersection of comfort and luxury, at once an exaltation of the humble potato and a celebration of butter in all its glory. Anthony Bourdain shared his version of Joël Robuchon’s signature dish for Food & Wine’s 2016 Thanksgiving issue, making some light tweaks but keeping the recipe to a tight four ingredients — and refusing to skimp on the butter. Incorporate Robuchon potatoes into your holiday menus, and then sit back and bask in the compliments.
Frequently Asked Questions
What food is Joël Robuchon known for?
Joël Robuchon is the Michelin Guide’s most decorated chef, having opened restaurants in Paris, New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Tokyo, Shanghai, London, and many more global culinary capitals before his death in 2018. Born in Poitiers, France, Robuchon’s food was rooted in French cuisine, though like many French chefs of his era, he also looked to Japan for inspiration. His restaurant group currently has 23 Michelin stars across its portfolio, having broken a record at its height in 2016 with 31 stars.
Why are Joël Robuchon’s potatoes so famous?
Robuchon began serving his legendary pommes purée at a time when fine dining was turning up its nose at the plebeian root vegetables. Robuchon’s potatoes are representative of his larger culinary philosophy: When it comes to flavor, less is more. The chef advocated for letting produce shine by not overcomplicating a dish with too many distractions. Indeed, his famous mashed potatoes were prepared with nothing more than butter, milk, and salt.
What do professional chefs use to mash potatoes?
Robuchon pressed his potatoes first through a food mill, a manual tool that pushes the cooked vegetables through a finely perforated plate using a hand crank. To ensure the silkiest texture, he would pass those processed potatoes through a tamis, also known as a drum sieve, which has an extremely fine mesh and eliminates lingering lumps. Here, Bourdain calls for a ricer, which does not give as fine a texture as a food mill or tamis but does make the mashed potatoes nearly as decadent and buttery-smooth.
Notes from the Food & Wine Test Kitchen
Instead of the La Ratte potatoes Robuchon preferred, Bourdain used Yukon Golds, another waxy potato that is much easier to find in the U.S. He also opted for heavy cream over milk while calling for slightly less butter to accommodate the richness of the cream.
Both Robuchon’s and Bourdain’s recipes employ a ratio of roughly two parts potatoes to one part butter. In Patricia Wells’ L’Atelier of Joël Robuchon, the ratio given is four parts potatoes to one part butter, but that recipe adapts Robuchon’s original specifically to suit American audiences.
Robuchon did not peel his potatoes before boiling them. If you’d like to try this, let the potatoes cool slightly before peeling them to avoid burning yourself.