My Potato Gratin recipe I show you on this page. I got to know Gratin Dauphinois, as the recipe is called in French, during my apprenticeship in a restaurant that was awarded a star by the Michelin Guide.
The gratin is absolutely simple and consists only of potatoes, cream, garlic, butter, salt, pepper, nutmeg and cayenne pepper. Optionally you can add thyme or some broth.
The most important thing is, the original gratin comes without cheese on the table.
The gratin is a popular side dish with meat and fish, it goes excellently with roast lamb and steak.
Below you will find a few step-by-step photos of the recipe, which will help you cook it yourself.
Wish you good luck and a good appetite!
Inhalt
1. Gratin Shopping List
This list is handy if you are in the supermarket right now and want to buy the ingredients. You need it:
- waxy potatoes
- cream
- garlic
- vegetable stock, cubes or powder (optional)
- salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and nutmeg
- fresh thyme (optional)
You can find the exact ingredients in the recipe Gratin Dauphinois further down the page.
The potato gratin is a similar recipe. Combined with other vegetables the gratin quickly becomes a vegetarian main course.
2. Do´s and Dont´s
I’m honestly a little excited right now. What I found today again in recipe excrescences, about the preparation of gratin is to the hair is tussle… the absolute Lowlights I present to you here:
- In some recipes it is recommended to rub the casserole dish with garlic.
It is enough to boil the garlic clove in the cream. The rubbing out of the form with 1/2 or with 12 garlic cloves you can generally save at this point…
- You don’t need to use cream and milk together. What would be the point of combining creamy cream and watery milk to boil the liquid down again?
Only use cream!
- A good gratin you prepare without cheese. The cheese, as indicated in most recipes, is placed on top of the gratin at the beginning. It dissolves almost completely in the oven in combination with steam and liquid into its components protein and fat. You get fat dripping potato stuff that doesn’t taste good.
Do not use cheese or put only a little grated cheese on the potatoes in the last 10 minutes (briefly gratinated).
- Sour cream and cream fraiche, even yoghurt and cream cheese are popular gratin ingredients. Unfortunately, all the “flakes” mentioned above are lost during baking. This is the result:
Do not use cream fraiche, cream cheese or yoghurt!
- The preparation time of gratin, also prepared with thin potato slices, is mostly wrong.
Potato gratin takes at least 45 minutes in the oven, 60 minutes for older stoves and inexpensive models. A good temperature is 175°C hot air.
The many peculiarities about cooking have produced the most wonderful style blossoms in the new age. I also found “blanching eggs“.
I don’t want to annoy anyone here, it’s all about the children and the planet. Imagine that this food would be served in Germany’s best restaurants. Unimaginable? Exactly!
3. Prepare Gratin yourself, the Cooking Professional Tips
Please observe the following preparation tips during preparation:
- Start with the cream so that the taste of garlic can develop: Bring the cream to the boil with the garlic and let it mature for at least 10 minutes.
- Then add salt, pepper, cayenne and optional broth.
- Season to taste very salty, as the potatoes always need a lot of salt.
- Optionally you can add the garlic in slices to the cream or even mix it up for more garlic taste.
- Then pour the cream over the potatoes later, i.e. through a sieve.
- Use a waxy potato such as Linda.
- Plane the peeled potatoes with a kitchen plane evenly thin (2-4 mm).
- The finer you cut the potatoes, the tastier your gratin will be and the faster your casserole will be ready.
- If available, add some thyme to the potatoes.
- Grease the casserole dish with a little butter.
- Place the potato slices nicely layered in the casserole dish.
- Pour the cream without the garlic over the potatoes, these should be barely covered.
- Cook the gratin at 175°C hot air for 45 minutes and test the degree of cooking with the needle sample. If the gratin is easy to prick, the preparation is ready.
4. Recipe Potato Gratin
Now I wish you good luck and later a good appetite. You can use the comment function to send me cooking questions.
- 1 pc glove of garlic
- 0,5 l cream You can also use soy cream
- 1/2 pc vegetable broth optional, at star restaurants we have used chicken broth
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 6 pinches white pepper
- 4 pinches nutmeg
- 3 pinches Cayenne pepper
- 700 g big potatoes I use a waxy potato variety
- 25 g Butter
- 4 twigs thyme optional!
- Put the ingredients on the table, wash the potatoes, prepare the slicer, spices, garlic and cream. Keep casserole dish and pot within reach.
- Preheat the oven to 175°C. Peel the garlic and put it in a pot with the cream in half. Season the cream with salt, pepper, nutmeg, cayenne pepper and optional broth, bring to the boil and let simmer.
- Peel the potatoes generously.
- Cut the peeled potatoes into 2-3 mm thick slices.
- Spread a casserole dish with the butter. This is only necessary for porcelain moulds. With stainless steel and enamel crockery you can save on greasing. If necessary, season the potato slices with thyme and place them nicely in the mould.
- Season the cream sauce and remove or mix the garlic. Pour the sauce through a sieve onto the potatoes. The potatoes may be covered with cream, otherwise the gratin will dry too much.
- Cook the gratin in the oven for 45 minutes, then either serve it hot or let it cool down and cut it out to heat it up again if necessary. Since I often prepare gratin I have inserted the beautiful picture with porcelain form and not the picture of the stainless steel bowl here.
5. Calories, an Overview of Nutritional Values
6. Further Ideas for Potatoes and Side Dishes
Make your own french friesPotato gratin with more vegetables
Fried potatoes
Baked potatoes
Potato fritter with apple compote
Simple potato pancakes
Potato fritter and roesti, potato pancakes with chives sauce