After a grueling arm workout from mashing potatoes, there's nothing worse than a gummy, gluey, and sticky end result. Overworking the potatoes is the main cause of this undesirable texture, and since adding more cream and butter only sort of fixes the problem, you should prevent it in the first place by using your dairy wisely.

You should always add butter to mashed potatoes before adding stock, milk, and/or cream. Mashed potatoes turn gluey and tacky when they release too much starch, and while liquid ingredients can make their starches swell up, butter contains hydrophobic fat molecules that can seal up the starch and prevent it from being released.

By adding butter first, you'll end up with a creamier, smoother mash that has more insurance against turning gluey. It's also better to use cold butter than melted butter, because solid butter has more of a protective effect — and produces a better overall texture — than liquid butter, which is often separated into solid and liquid parts.