How Rachael Ray Keeps Mashed Potatoes Warm All Dinner Long

One of the most enduring American fantasies seems to be that of the big Norman Rockwell-style holiday dinner with extended family all gathered around a table piled high with numerous dishes. What ol' Norm failed to acknowledge (or at least, to illustrate) is just how much work goes into making such a meal. This is why most cooks tend to do a lot of the prep work ahead of time — in fact, making food ahead of time is Kardea Brown's top tip for less-stressful holidays. If you've made your mashed potatoes well in advance of your main course, though, how do you keep them warm? If you're celebrity chef Rachael Ray, you use a bain-marie.

A bain-marie might sound fancy (since just about everything does in French), but it simply refers to a water bath or double boiler. Ray takes her pot of potatoes and sticks it on top of a bigger pot filled with simmering water, although a dedicated double boiler with a lid would also work. She covers the potato pot sitting on top with a lid, sets the burner to low, and manages to keep the potatoes fluffy for hours with minimal effort. One caveat with this stovetop method, though, is that even on the lowest heat setting, there's a chance that the water could evaporate before you're ready to eat so you'll need to check and refill it as necessary.

Rachael Ray's potato-warming method may be all well and good if you have a burner to spare, but if you're juggling pots full of gravy, cranberry sauce, collard greens, and other Thanksgiving sides; burner real estate may be at a premium. On the off-chance your oven's not occupied (perhaps because you're deep frying your turkey in the yard, with all due safety precautions), you can put the bain-marie together in a warm oven. A full description of how to do that would require a much longer exposition than what we have room for here, but it is possible.

You could also skip the water bath and make liquidy mashed potatoes with extra cream and butter which will gradually get less soupy as it sits. This works great if you'll be making your potatoes the day before and keeping them in the fridge overnight. A crockpot is also a good way to keep mashed potatoes warm for as long as you need. Since the potatoes are already cooked, you can set the slow cooker to warm for a gentle heat while the slow cooker lid keeps the moisture from evaporating. If you don't mind a little extra work and you want your mashed potatoes to taste absolutely amazing, you can also throw the potatoes on the smoker to make a stunning (and still-warm) side dish.