Your favorite scalloped potato recipe

I am doing a small chunk of center cut pork loin on the grill for dinner and was thinking scalloped potatoes would be nice with it. Am going to make some German red cabbage to go with it too, and some garlic bread to accompany. Will likely open one of Linda's Pinot just because I can Anyway. I don't have a decent recipe for the potatoes and I am a little late asking, so I will just wing it. Am thinking 1/4 inch thick slices of potato and finely minced sweet onion. these I will layer in a Pyrex baking dish adding bits of unsalted butter between each layer along with a bit of s&p then pour scalded milk over the total. I will cook them on the grill along with the pork, and all will be cooked indirect. And when the potatoes are soft, I will add some shredded smoked Gouda cheese the last 10 or so minutes.

Even though I am late with the request, I am hoping to get several favorites from the board, and thanks for them.

[Jenise]

Bob, one of my favorite ways to make a great potato gratin uses no milk or butter, just chicken broth which in light of your health issues might be a good thing. The other ingredients are thyme, a handful or two of swiss type cheese and a few slices of slivered onion--it's just seasoning, though, so not too much. Basically, slice about six russet potatoes (I prefer fairly thin slices, myself, around 1/8th). Put a bit of olive oil in the bottom of a baking dish, add half the potatoes, a few slices of onion, salt and pepper, and sprinkle of thyme. Then a handful of cheese. Repeat with the remaining potatoes and cheese. Add chicken broth up to about the halfway mark. Bake foil-covered for about 50 minutes, then uncover and finish baking until golden and crusty on top. Incredibly tasty and pretty close to guilt-free.

[Jenise]

Oh, a parenthetical comment I meant to make about thickness: the thinner you cut the potato, the more uniform and densely packed your final result will be. The thicker, the more air space at the outset which makes the liquid demand harder to gauge and more settling occurs during cooking for a less attractive final result (pan not looking full enough).

Jenise,
This is AWESOME, too late for today, but awesome. I am saving all replies in my food folder and will use them in the future. Are you available for chat today?

I was taught (by my mother) that scalloped potatoes are not "au gratin". I've always made the "scalloped" as she did. Thin sliced potatoes (white potatoes, peeled), thinly sliced onions and cubed ham, layered in a shallow baking dish. Top with salt and pepper, and barely cover with milk. Cover with foil, cook for about an hour. Then, remove the foil and continue to cook until a golden crust starts to form on top.

I was taught (by my mother) that scalloped potatoes are not "au gratin". I've always made the "scalloped" as she did. Thin sliced potatoes (white potatoes, peeled), thinly sliced onions and cubed ham, layered in a shallow baking dish. Top with salt and pepper, and barely cover with milk. Cover with foil, cook for about an hour. Then, remove the foil and continue to cook until a golden crust starts to form on top.

Howie, as the dinner hour approaches, I am in your camp minus the ham.

I had raclette at a French resto last night. May I recommend raclette?

With my Mom, little or no ham it would be served as a side dish. With more ham, it was a casserole, served with a green veggie.

I had raclette at a French resto last night. May I recommend raclette?

Jeff, I love raclette, and if it is swiss raclette, I love it even more!

I had such horrible scalloped potatoes in a restaurant the other night that I don't even want to think about them anymore!

I do a gratin/scalloped potato dish that I really like:

No quantities, as I usually just wing it.

Yukon Gold Potatoes, Peeled and Thinly Sliced On a Mandolin
Cave Aged Gruyere
Comte
Emmetaler
Roasted Garlic Paste
Duck Fat or Butter
Heavy Cream
S&P

Shred equal part of the three cheeses and mix together in a large bowl.

Using duck fat or butter, grease a 10 inch stainless steel fry pan.

Lay down one layer of potatoes in a spiral pattern. Add some of the roasted garlic paste and then salt and pepper this layer and then add a layer of cheese. Repeat four times for a total of five layers of potatoes and cheese.

Press down on the layers to compact them as best possible. Pour cream all around until you see it almost reach the top layer. Cover with foil, place on a sheet pan and toss in a pre-heated 350 deg F oven until the cream begins to bubble. When it bubbles, remove the foil and jack the heat up to 450 deg F for about 10 to 15 minutes to crust up the cheese. Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes uncovered.

Not sure if it qualifies according to local standards but my own favorite is pommes de terre Anna


Anna a la Carte
(c) Daniel Rogov

In all of France there is probably no courtesan more fondly recalled or respected than Anna Deslions who, in 1865, was deemed by the critic Sainte-Beuve to be "as true a queen as Paris has ever known." Deslions, who was known throughout Paris as La Lionne des Boulevards, was the model for the title character in Emile Zola’s famous novel Nana.

Unlike her two major rivals, Valresse de la Bigne and Blanche d'Antigny, the beautiful and cultured Deslions never charged for her services, relying instead on the generous gifts that her clients bestowed upon her. This practice made good sense, because in addition to being generous with their cash, quite a few gave her diamond and emerald jewelry, several gave her sable coats, one gave her a cottage in Normandy, and another presented her with an apartment in London.

During Deslions' reign as "queen", the most fashionable restaurant in Paris was the Café des Anglais, an establishment favored by princes, emperors and society idols. Anna found the restaurant much to her taste, and the owner, Maurice Chevreuil, so adored her that he had a private dining room built for her on the second floor.

In addition to a table permanently set for two, the room also contained a large chaise longue and a comfortable canopied bed. Chevreuil, who was a meticulous restaurateur, also kept a list of Deslions' lovers, including the crucial information as to what each of her lovers liked to eat and drink and at what time they had to be awakened to return home to their wives.

The still-famous dish known as Pommes de Terre Anna was named in her honor by Adolphe Dugléré, the most famous chef of the Café des Anglais. Dugléré also concocted several more dishes that he dedicated to Annette, a further homage to Anna who was known by this diminutive only to those with whom she had been intimate and a few close friends. It is said that three kings, twelve emperors, eighteen princes and thirty-four dukes knew the lady as Annette. According to the lists kept by Chevreuil, she was also known as Annette by two princesses and several well known actresses of the day.


Pommes de Terre Anna
Potatoes Anna

2 lb (900 gr) medium size potatoes, peeled and sliced as thinly as possible (but not soaked in water)
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup butter
salt and pepper to taste


In a shallow flame-proof casserole heat the oil and 2 Tbsp of the butter. Once the butter is melted, tip the casserole to coat the sides. Remove from the flame before the butter browns and ar-range a single layer of potato slices in an overlapping spiral pattern.

Sprinkle over salt and pepper, and dot with butter. Continue build-ing spiral layers. Salt and pepper each layer, and dot each with but-ter until the casserole is full.

Place the casserole over a medium flame and cook until the pota-toes on the bottom layer are browned (about 12 minutes) and then transfer to a hot oven. While the potatoes cook, press them gently with a spatula from time to time, until they are tender when tested with a fork (about 25 minutes). To serve, loosen the edges with the spatula, place a preheated serving plate over the casserole and in-vert so that the potatoes fall on the platter. (Serves 6)

[Jenise]

I was taught (by my mother) that scalloped potatoes are not "au gratin". I've always made the "scalloped" as she did. Thin sliced potatoes (white potatoes, peeled), thinly sliced onions and cubed ham, layered in a shallow baking dish. Top with salt and pepper, and barely cover with milk. Cover with foil, cook for about an hour. Then, remove the foil and continue to cook until a golden crust starts to form on top.

Okay, school time: in cooking, the word 'gratin' originally referred to the crusted layer that forms on top of a dish of something baked for a long time, but it has long since been applied more generally to the entire resulting dish, wherein that dish has a base a vegetable and/or meat component, and is topped with cheese, egg, or breadcrumbs (or a combination). Gratins are generally served from the same dish they're baked in. What Bob described wanting to make, and what you describe above, is categorically a gratin. "Scalloped potatoes" is an Americanized type of gratin--when baked with a topping, that is.

[Jenise]

I do a gratin/scalloped potato dish that I really like:

No quantities, as I usually just wing it.

Yukon Gold Potatoes, Peeled and Thinly Sliced On a Mandolin
Cave Aged Gruyere
Comte
Emmetaler
Roasted Garlic Paste
Duck Fat or Butter
Heavy Cream
S&P

Classic! The first potato gratin I ever had, besides the scalloped potatoes with ham I grew up on, was at a little French bistro in Basel, Switzerland and it was made just this way. The garlic flavor in it was an absolute revelation, and I was so besotted that I remember it, and no other aspect of the meal, to this day. I too make such a dish on the rare day I think I can afford the calories.

I do a gratin/scalloped potato dish that I really like:

No quantities, as I usually just wing it.

Yukon Gold Potatoes, Peeled and Thinly Sliced On a Mandolin
Cave Aged Gruyere
Comte
Emmetaler
Roasted Garlic Paste
Duck Fat or Butter
Heavy Cream
S&P

Shred equal part of the three cheeses and mix together in a large bowl.

Using duck fat or butter, grease a 10 inch stainless steel fry pan.

Lay down one layer of potatoes in a spiral pattern. Add some of the roasted garlic paste and then salt and pepper this layer and then add a layer of cheese. Repeat four times for a total of five layers of potatoes and cheese.

Press down on the layers to compact them as best possible. Pour cream all around until you see it almost reach the top layer. Cover with foil, place on a sheet pan and toss in a pre-heated 350 deg F oven until the cream begins to bubble. When it bubbles, remove the foil and jack the heat up to 450 deg F for about 10 to 15 minutes to crust up the cheese. Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes uncovered.

Bill, I am going to do this or die trying! Awesome man!

Okay, school time: in cooking, the word 'gratin' originally referred to the crusted layer that forms on top of a dish of something baked for a long time, but it has long since been applied more generally to the entire resulting dish, wherein that dish has a base a vegetable and/or meat component, and is topped with cheese, egg, or breadcrumbs (or a combination). Gratins are generally served from the same dish they're baked in. What Bob described wanting to make, and what you describe above, is categorically a gratin. "Scalloped potatoes" is an Americanized type of gratin--when baked with a topping, that is.

So, since Mom didn't use a topping, it's scalloped potatoes, or in the original sense of the word, au gratin, but since it doesn't have a topping, the more recent meaning of au gratin would not apply?

[Jenise]

So, since Mom didn't use a topping, it's scalloped potatoes, or in the original sense of the word, au gratin, but since it doesn't have a topping, the more recent meaning of au gratin would not apply?

Actually, I think it could be argued that prompting the milk and starch to combine to make a crust also makes it a gratin. I just didn't think your mom was correct in the way she differentiated, though it was probably exactly what was widely believed in pre-Julia Child America.