Gratin Dauphinois (Scalloped potatoes)

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Ingredients

Serves 4:

• 2.2 lb (1 kg) Bintje potatoes
• 17 oz (50 cl) milk
• 8.5 oz (25 cl) liquid cream
• 2 tsp (10 g) butter
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 sprig thyme
• Black pepper
• Nutmeg and salt

Preparation

• Peel garlic cloves and potatoes.
• Avoid rinsing potatoes in water so they don't lose their starch.
• Chop one clove garlic very fine.
• Cut potatoes into 3-4 mm slices. Slices must be as even as possible.
• Bring milk to a boil in a pan.
• Add potatoes, chopped garlic, thyme, pepper, nutmeg and pinch of salt.
• Cook 30 minutes over moderate heat then let rest covered 10 minutes.
• Butter inside of an au gratin dish.
• Rub garlic clove cut in half all over inside of dish.
• Arrange potatoes in layers in au gratin dish up to 1 cm from top.
• Pour cream and cooking milk to cover potatoes.
• Place a few dabs of butter on surface.
• Bake for 30 to 45 minutes in oven pre-heated to 400 °F (200 ºC). Cooking is done when surface of gratin is a uniform light brown.

Suggestion

• Scalloped potatoes are a splendid accompaniment to serve with a leg of lamb, lamb or game. I can hardly conceive of eating a leg of lamb without its scalloped potatoes as an accompaniment.

• There's certainly no lack of variants. Some people add eggs, others grated gruyere. Some people are fans of 100% cream, others of a milk/cream mixture.

• This proposed recipe is supposed to be the basic traditional recipe. Starting from this one, you can vary it ad infinitum. Personally, I really love adding one or two tablespoons of old-style mustard to the cream.

• During the holidays, you can dare to add a few peelings of truffles when you can get your hands on them.