Recipes that change the way you do things

Mashed potatoes.

Everyone knows how you make mashed potatoes.

You peel potatoes, put them in a pot with water, bring that to a boil and cook until the potatoes are tender, then drain it, add butter & your dairy of choice and mash away.

I did that for many, many years.

Until I found out that you don't need a huge pot of boiling water to make mashed potatoes.

I melt butter in my pot, then add about a cup of milk and a half a cup of water.  Then I put in my cubed & rinsed peel/chopped potatoes, and cook that for about 25 minutes until the potatoes are tender.

No draining.  All in one pot.

It's a Cook's Illustrated recipe I tried over a year ago, and I honestly don't think I've made potatoes any other way since.  I mean... why would I?  It's just way easier to cook them that way.  And if you ask me, they keep more of their potato-ness when you're not boiling everything away in a ton of water.

I know my mother or mother-in-law would look at me strangely if they ever saw me making potatoes that way.... but I know I'll never go back to doing it the old way.