Don't Sweat the Aubergine

them as above.
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WHY YOU DO IT
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    1 • A gentle simmer . Floury, maincrop potatoes (Maris Piper, King Edward or Desirée, for example) often fall apart when boiled, because the outsides overcook before the heat penetrates the interiors. Steaming in particular causes uneven cooking: when potatoes are piled on top of each other, some get better access to the steam than others. Slowly bringing potatoes to a simmer helps to preserve their textures; their surfaces get less of a bashing if the water is maintained at a gentle simmer rather than at a rolling boil.
    Salt speeds the softening. In theory, salted water should help to shorten the time between the softening of the exterior of the potato and of its interior.
    A boiled King Edward is an unexciting thing, I know. But sometimes, with a creamy sauce or rich gravy, or with the juices from a roast chicken, it’s just what you want. You can always make a mash on your plate with a fork and some butter.
    2 • A boring scrape . Although new potatoes keep their textures better, they still benefit from this slow-boiling treatment. They have more tender skins than do maincrop potatoes; how much of the skin you scrape off is up to you. I’m pretty slack about it, because I find that scraping potatoes is a longer and more boring task than peeling them.
    Making potato salad, you can boil the new potatoes in their skins, drain them, wait for them to cool a little, then peel off the skins, before cutting them up and tossing them in vinaigrette ( see here ). Lord, I hate doing that: it takes me for ever.
MASHED POTATO
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HOW TO MAKE IT
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    Method 1 (for perfectionists): 1 heat a pan of unsalted water to 70°C. Peel the potatoes, slice them 20mm thick, and add them to the water, which you should return to 70°C and keep at that temperature for 40 minutes. Drain the potatoes, and put them in cold water for half an hour. Bring a pan of salted water to boiling point, add the potatoes and simmer until the point of a knife slips into them easily, then drain. Return them to the hot pan and stir them around, over a low heat if necessary, to dry. Push them back into the same pan – or into a clean one if you’re fussy about the bits of potato that will have stuck to it – through a food mill or potato ricer. Add warm milk until the potato reaches the required consistency; add butter, and more salt if needed. Put the pan on to a low heat, above a heat disperser, and stir until warmed through. Or spoon the potatoes into a heatproof serving dish, cover loosely with foil, and put into a low oven (say, gas mark 1/140°C) for 10 minutes or so.
    Method 2 (for the rest of us): peel 2 the potatoes 3 and cut them into slices about 1.5cm thick. 4 Put them into cold, salted water, 5 bring slowly to a simmer, and cook them at a gentle simmer until the point of a knife slips into them easily. 6 Drain, and follow the mashing instructions above. 7
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VARIATIONS
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    Simmer an unpeeled garlic clove – or 2 or 3 cloves if you like – with the potatoes, and put that through the mill too (it will leave behind its skin). Olive oil can substitute for butter; or, luxuriously, truffle oil.
    Aligot – or, if you prefer, cheesy mash – is a delicious variation. Prepare the potatoes as above, with the garlic clove. Drain, mash, and add a melting cheese to the potatoes and butter in the pan (about 350g cheese to 900g potatoes); Cantal is authentic, because the dish comes from the Auvergne, but Cheddar, pecorino, Gruyère or anything similar is delicious too. Pepper and nutmeg would be good seasonings. Remember that the cheese is salty.
    You could stir the mixture on a low heat, again with a heat disperser below the pan if possible, until the cheese is melted and the mixture is warmed through. That will release starch and produce a gluey consistency, which is often a feature of the authentic version. Or you could transfer it to an oven dish and warm it through at gas mark 5/190°C for 15 minutes or so. I sometimes leave it uncovered, browning the surface slightly.
    Turning the dish into something that is not aligot, I like to add fried lardons, with their fat (instead of the butter). I then have a choice of simmering the garlic with the potatoes or frying it with the lardons; the flavour of the latter is more assertive. I also like it with red onions, softened gently in butter and a little oil. (Making this version, I don’t add butter with the cheese.)
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WHY YOU DO IT
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    1 • How far are