If there is a place in your heart for potatoes then there should be a place in your stomach for Duchess Potatoes. You ask, “What are Duchess Potatoes?’ Duchess potatoes are a level up from a mashed potato. They are a slightly richer due to egg yolks and are presented in a more elaborate way. Fine dining restaurants used to serve Duchess Potatoes on the menu. They were usually served with something like Chateaubriand (savory tenderloin filets with bernaise  sauce) that is usually served table side. It’s very rare these days to see Duchess Potatoes on any menu anywhere. Actually it’s very rare to come across any table side food anymore like Fish en Papillote, Steak Diane, Baked Alaska and so on. Sadly classic fine dining has gone out of style.Gone are the days when dining out was a big deal and people would dress their best to go out. I am lucky that I have experienced classic fine dining before it went out of style. One dish I really loved was Duchess Potatoes.I always looked forward to Duchess Potatoes when I had a fine meal out. These are the potatoes you wouldn’t normally prepare at home because THEY ARE A LOT OF WORK FOR WHAT THEY ARE. You WANT to dine out and have these potatoes. Here is what might be considered a lost recipe. Duchess Potatoes….Perfect for a special occasion! Not your everyday potato. These potatoes freeze very well so you can use what you need and freeze the rest and pull them out when you need.

Ingredients for about 16 servings.

3 lbs potatoes – peeled and cut in half – covered well with cold water in a sauce pot

1/2 onion – to boil with potatoes and discard afterwards

1 carrot – to boil with potatoes and discard afterwards

1 celery rib – to boil with potatoes and discard afterwards

2 garlic cloves – to boil with potatoes and discard afterwards

2 Tablespoons kosher salt – to boil potatoes

8 oz unsalted butter – 4oz to put into potatoes and 4 oz to finish potatoes

1 1/2 teaspoon course sea salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon white ground pepper

1/8 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg

3 large egg yolks (just the yolks) – slightly beaten

16 pinches piment d”espelette

2 Tablespoons fresh either parsley, thyme or celery leaves finely chopped

non stick spray

Directions

Set oven to 400 degrees F and spray baking sheet(s) with non stick spray. Set to the side.

In a sauce pot add the potatoes, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, kosher salt and medium boil till potatoes are fork tender. About 15 minutes.

When the potatoes are fork tender drain the water and throw out the onion, garlic, celery and carrot.

At this point you should rice the potatoes…….

After all these are special occasion potatoes so you SHOULD rice the potatoes for the fluffiest potatoes….but you can mash them only if you have a very good masher that looks like a disk with holes in it. It’s almost as good as a ricer. So either rice or mash if you can but don’t get mad at me if you mash and have lumps later from mashing that screw you up.

Hand mix the butter in now while potatoes are still hot or warm.

Hand mix in the sea salt, black pepper, white pepper, fresh grated nutmeg.

Taste for seasoning ….make any adjustments you want but it’s pretty close to perfect if you measured correctly.

Hand mix in the egg yolks.

Get out a #6 Ateco Star tip and a disposable pastry bag. Snip the end off the bag to insert tip. Fold the bag half way down and add potato mixture.

Twist end to hold in potatoes.

The bag is easy to use now.

If you aren’t used to piping do a practice swirl in the pot with potatoes. You just swirl.

Get out your sprayed baking sheet(s)

Now pipe out swirls well spaced like this.

20 minutes later …….

Melt the extra butter you have left and finish the potatoes with your choice of fresh herb and pinches of Piment D’ Espelette pepper.

Everybody will FORKING LOVE THIS! Man and Beast!

“DANG!” “THOSE ARE FORKING GREAT POTATOES!”

“Make any day a Special Occassion with Duchess Potatoes!”