I do not own a potato masher. I own a potato ricer, because it’s better at its job. Rather than chasing potatoes around the pot with a masher, I push them through the ricer, extruding them into tiny little bits that can be gently stirred into warmed dairy, reducing the amount of mashing needed, which keeps the potatoes from getting gluey. Another benefit of the ricer is that it traps the peels, so you can skip peeling the potatoes before boiling them.
As you can see from the below TikTok video, a wire rack is kind of like ricer-masher hybrid. You won’t get the same tiny little potato particles you’d get from a ricer, but you will get uniform potato pieces for a more consistent mash, and the peels will stay behind on top of the rack.
If this hack looks familiar, it’s because we’ve covered using wire racks this way when mashing avocados, but it works just as well for potatoes. You can, as @xxiamkristinxx demonstrates, cook your potatoes whole, then slice them in half and push them, cut side down, through the rack, but I like to cut them in half (or even in quarters) before boiling so they cook a little faster, and I prefer cutting cold, raw potatoes to cutting hot potatoes. (Also, this should go without saying, but you can use any potato you like, including creamy Yukons, not just the russets used here by Ms. Kristin Xx.)
Once the potatoes are pushed through the rack, you’re free to doctor them as you like. Add some gently warmed cream, a little mayo, lots of butter, and (maybe) a pinch of MSG. (Or, if you need more inspiration, check out this collection of mashed potato wisdom. I’m partial to the onion dip mashers.)
