Interesting,
I’ve generally boiled the potatoes, then added loads of butter, then smashed with a large balloon whisk, then beat the fcuk out of it, seasoned it. then transferred to a ceramic dish, covered with heap of grated Gruyère cheese, oven baked for twenty minutes..
This is great, but I think you get a lot of the effect using a mouli/sieve instead of the old masher, while still just boiling. For a little extra effort you can boil with the skins on and peel when hot, they don't take on as much water.
Turns out making mash potato is better when you bake the potatoes for an hour and then put them through a sieve
Time consuming, but ultimately, a gamechanger.