luv's potatoes gratin dauphinoise

luvs

luvs

'lil Chef
-yukon gold potatoes, 1 per person ave.
-cream, as needed
-whole milk, as needed
-garlic, minced (1-2 cloves per potato; vary to your liking)
-seasalt, T/T
-coarse black pepper, T/T
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oven to 400.
wash, &, if desired, peel, (i generally leave my potato unpeeled) & thinly slice potato(es), about 1/8" thick. (though they may be sliced as thinly as 1/18"). whisk mainly cream & only a splash of milk together with the other ingredients.
layer half the sliced potato into individual dishes, as in le creuset cocotts (i use these), ramekins, etc., & pour half the cream combination over. layer remainder to almost the rim of the cooking vessel(s); pour remaining cream combination over to just under rim.
****line an aluminum baking sheet w/ foil! these tend to bubble over if too full.
place, uncovered, on the baking sheet & bake until thickened & bubbly & potato is tender & this is litely browned.
unmold if sauce has sufficiently thickened, or serve in dish.

~~this can easily be made in a baking dish rather than individual dishes & seasonings may be adjusted.
 
Oooo, baby - that sounds delicious, luvs! I'd never heard of that dish before!

I love Yukon Gold potatoes, as they are so versatile. Their skins are so thin that I never peel them, which also endears them to me!

Lee
 
Where's the cheese? "Gratin Dauphinoise" always has cheese. No cheese - no "Dauphinoise". Do a search & check it out. In fact, the cheese is pretty much the only reason I make this - lol!!!! Just cooking potatoes in cream/milk doesn't cut it for me. But cooking/eating is all about personal taste, so I guess this works for non-cheese-lovers. Just don't call it "Gratin Dauphinoise", because it ain't.
 
thanx, guys!

a slight typ-o. i meant the potato could be sliced as thinly as 1/16th, not 1/18th).

there's a pic of them in the 1/14/12 dinner thread, btw.
 
breezy, there need not be cheese.
not according to 1 of the recipes in my Le Cordon Bleu professional cookbook. 1 calls for it; another calls not for it. it would be naive to listen to anything on the internet wholeheartedly, imo.
 
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luvs said:
breezy, there need not be cheese.
not according to 1 of the recipes in my Le Cordon Bleu professional cookbook. 1 calls for it; another calls not for it. it would be naive to listen to anything on the internet wholeheartedly, imo.
Click to expand...

Whatever, dear. Your "Le Cordon Bleu "professional cookbook" notwithstanding, you're being just a bit snobbish & into your yourself (& your "education") to assume that I based my comment by being "naive to listen to anything on the internet wholeheartedly". I was born long before you, have been cooking long before you, catered long before you, & actually taught some cooking classes before you. And I don't rely on the internet (or cooking school textbooks) for my information.

I can only assume that you must poo-poo Julia Child & her education & experience? Because Potatoes "Dauphonoise" DOES contain cheese. While it CAN be left out for personal taste reasons - "Potatoes Dauphonoise" DOES normally contain cheese.

Please don't keel over; nor do I expect "Le Cordon Bleu" to recall all of their "textbooks" for correction.

As I stated before - COOKING IS ALL PERSONAL TASTE. But please don't make it sound like because a textbook from "Le Cordon Blue" says so, it's engraved in stone.
 
some contain cheese. some. btw, Julia Child she went to le cordon bleu, too.

haven't got time for this today or any other, for that matter. this is a legitimate recipe. plain & simple.
 
And Julia going to LCB too means what, exactly? Particularly since her "Potatoes Dauphonoise" contains cheese?

Sorry if I'm the only one here willing to question you Aubrey. If you're going to post on an online website/forum, you simply have to be ready to have folks question you. I'm not being nasty, I'm just saying that, while your recipe looks delicious, it's not a classic "Dauphonoise", & if you've attended "Le Cordon Bleu", you certainly know that it "TRADITIONALLY" has cheese.

If your "adapted" recipe doesn't, that's absolute fine, & I'm sure it's delicious. But please stop stamping your feet & holding your breath until you turn blue because someone disagrees with you.

And yes, yes, I know that I'm opening myself up to a snark-fest because I dare to disagree with "luvs" - however politely. Go at it guys. Frankly, I think someone has to break through the Teflon once in awhile. This IS a public forum after all, & I do have a right to disagree.
 
pix-
 

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I'm no expert...I'm not a chef....I never taught nor took any cooking classes....I'm just a home cook...shoot, I don't even know any French :lol:.

I'm speaking as a member, not as a mod, let me say this...It's just a name for food....merely a technicality....what I have learned in my 53 years is that I value the feelings of my friends above petty indifference's and I really wish that other felt the same way. I think we need to remember what's important in life in get our priorities in order.
 
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I did a little research on the internet and come to find out, the original recipe for these wonderful potatoes does not contain cheese. I found this:

Why does the traditional version of Gratin Dauphinois not have cheese?
Back in the 17th Century in the Haute Savoie region of France, cheese was practically a form of currency- it was an aliment of its own. Cooking with cheese it was unthinkable, and would have been extremely wasteful, not to mention expensive.
Farmers would milk their dairy cows in two rounds. The first round was called “le Bloche”- this was literally the cream of the cream. The first round is rich and very creamy. This would be then put aside and sold to local artisanal cheese makers who would produce quality butter and rich mountain cheeses such as the famous Comté .
The second batch of cows milk was called the “Re-bloche” (‘re-milking’) and results in milk which has a lower cream content and is less ‘rich’. The ‘rebloche’ would be kept by the farmers themselves and used for milk, cream, and for making a secondary cheese- the wonderful “Reblochon.”
The cheese was of course sold, and the cream would be used for cooking and enriching regional specialities such as the ‘Gratin Dauphinois’.



The original, handwritten recipe given to me by chef Christian Dauve (Here's a pic, just to prove I'm not making it up)

Recipe: Traditional Gratin Dauphinois
Ingredients:
(Serves 6)
• 2 kilograms Bintje potatoes
(Bintje potatoes have a high moisture content and are low in starch, making them a ‘waxy’ variety. They are oval in shape, with pale yellow flesh).
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 litre fresh cream
• 1 heaped tbsp salt
• Half teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
And that’s it!
Here’s how you make it:

Preheat the oven to 200 Degrees Celsius
Using a large baking/casserole dish- either metallic or ceramic, finely grate the garlic cloves into the dish evenly so the inner surface is sprinkled with garlic. This is important- the garlic needs to be on the base of the dish, and not IN with the potatoes. This way it flavours the potatoes aromatically during the cooking time without having actual pieces of garlic throughout the potato gratin.
Wash and peel the potatoes. Slice them into rounds approximately 3-4 mm thick. And evenly layer and distribute them into the dish.
Sprinkle the sea salt and nutmeg over the top
Lastly, pour the cream evenly over the top of the potatoes. By adding the cream last, it distributes the salt and nutmeg throughout.
Bake the potatoes in the oven for one hour, uncovered. The actual magic happens in the last 20 minutes of cooking when all the ingredients are at boiling temperature and the potatoes soften with the cream then develop a golden crust on the top.
Remove from the oven, leave to cool slightly, then spend the next hour answering the front door as the neighbours pass by to find out what that divine smell is wafting from your kitchen…

Courtesy of frenchforfoodies.com
 
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