There's nothing quite like a bowl of smooth mashed potatoes on a chilly winter evening, whether it's served as a scrumptious side dish or a hearty main course.

While mash is a common dinner staple, creating a batch that's so creamy it has everyone asking for seconds is a rare achievement. In fact, many may have been settling for mediocre mash for years, repeatedly making the same error without realising there's a better way.

Fortunately, a clever chef has now shared her top tip for creating the kind of light, fluffy mash that dreams are made of, and you don't need to be a culinary whizz to try it out yourself. Rosemary Gill, the director of education at the Boston-based Milk Street Cooking School, regularly shares her cooking tips on TikTok, educating eager learners worldwide.

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In a recent video posted on the school's TikTok account , Rosemary revealed a common mistake that home cooks often make when preparing mash. Cookery whiz Rosemary showcased her top tip in a handy video, explaining: "Simmer your mashed potatoes in milk, not water! Potatoes are like pasta, in that they leach starches into their cooking liquid. In the case of pasta, you want to reserve some of that liquid to give sauce a luscious shine and bind it to the noodles.

"In mashed potatoes, cooking in milk, and preserving that starchy liquid, gives your potatoes a natural creaminess and allows you to skip the weighty heavy cream. Potatoes are like pasta, they release starches into their cooking liquid. That becomes liquid gold - allowing us to get lush, silky, creamy, mashed potatoes.

"When you throw out water that you cook your potatoes in, you throw all that starch down the drain, so you're wasting it. The milk becomes our cooking liquid - and a replacement for heavy cream."

Further sweetening the deal for those who hate cleaning, Rosemary revealed that she mashes the potatoes right in the pot, avoiding any need for a mixer. The trick has been a smash with her fans, as one lauded: "You're a damn genius." While another shared: "This is how I have been doing my potatoes for years and everyone always asks how are my potatoes so good."