Gratin Dauphinois
Potatoes Baked Slowly in Milk and Cream
Potatoes, milk, cream and a clove of garlic. There is no cheese in a true gratin dauphinois and no egg: the starch from the potatoes thickens the cream, and an hour and a half in a low oven does the rest. The top browns, the inside turns soft and almost fudgy.
The French recipe read is emphatic about what does not belong: eggs are said to rob the gratin of its softness and cheese to mask its flavour. It slices a kilo of potatoes very thinly, does not rinse them, so that the starch binds the dish, layers them in a buttered dish rubbed with garlic, covers them with 400 ml each of milk and cream, and bakes at 150°C for about an hour and a half.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1 garlic clove, halved
- A knob of butter, for the dish
- 1 kg waxy to medium potatoes (such as Désirée or Charlotte), peeled
- 400 ml whipping cream
- 400 ml whole milk
- 1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- Black pepper
Method
- Prepare the dish Heat the oven to 150°C (130°C fan). Rub the gratin dish hard with the cut garlic, then butter it.
- Slice the potatoes Slice the potatoes 2 mm thick. Do not rinse or soak them: the starch on the surface is what thickens the cream.
- Layer Arrange the slices in the dish in overlapping layers, seasoning each with salt and pepper. Mix the cream and milk and pour over; the liquid should come just to the top layer.
- Bake Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes, until a knife slides through with no resistance, the liquid has thickened to a cream and the top is golden. Rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Thin, even slices matter more than the variety of potato.
It reheats well, covered, in a low oven.