The name Gratin Dauphinois refers to the Dauphiné region of France, where a culinary method of preparing potatoes is a specialty. Gratin, from the transitive verb form of the word for “crust”, is a widely used culinary technique in which ingredients are topped with breadcrumbs, butter, or grated cheese, then baked or broiled until a golden crust forms. Gratin originated in French cuisine and is usually prepared in a gratin or baking dish and is traditionally served in its baking dish. Only the French has the word for the golden, crispy bits of food that get stuck around the edges of a baking dish. The more I realize how interesting French cuisine is, all the more I find reasons to love it.
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Gratin Dauphinois is one of the most common of gratins. The ingredients composing this typical gratin recipe are thinly sliced and layered potatoes with milk and cream cooked in a buttered dish rubbed with garlic.

Gratin Dauphinois, for my 7th recipe challenge was utterly irresistible. With its simple recipe yet oozing flavour and wonderful aroma, it is nearly the perfect potato side dish for me. An exceptionally good of its kind recipe created by man sure to become an entertaining staple and a holiday favorite. Although its ingredients are straightforward, I still made sure that I used quality ingredients to ensure success.

While I had the enjoyment of cooking and entertaining, I thought of hosting a simple French dinner party for few good friends one Saturday evening. To make Gratin Dauphinois, alongside Roti de Porc and Ratatouille Niçoise was of anticipation to my friends as they felt a great awe when I invited them over for dinner. To my delight, they accepted. What a great way to showcase my French cooking!

Potato is the feature ingredient in this dish. I picked fresh medium yellow potatoes, no black and green spots, firm and almost smooth, peeled and sliced into thin  slices, about 1/8 inch thick. For the Swiss cheese, I picked good quality Gruyère from Santi’s, grated and yielded about 2 cups. For the cream, I chose heavy cream, also called double cream or whipping cream. It has a butterfat content of between 36-40 percent. Light cream is between 18-30 percent. I learned that the lower the butterfat content, the more likely cream is to separate or curdle when used for cooking.

A good Gratin Dauphinois should be crispy and golden brown on the top and bottom and have a rich creamy texture in the middle. The perfect thickness of the potato slices, the way they are layered up in a gratin or baking dish and the thickness of the milk with cream are essential to a good end result. The gratin dish should be 14-inch long, 9-inch wide and 2-inch deep.

I started to cook the Ratatouille Niçoise in the morning of that day as it had the most tedious preparation of all 3 recipes. Then I marinated the Roti de Porc for 5 hours, perfect enough to roast it at least 2 hours before my guests arrived. I found an hour and a half to rest in front of the TV with my afternoon tea and a sandwich. It was a good break, I felt recharged.

I sorted, washed and readied all the ingredients of Gratin Dauphinois recipe. It was nearly 6 in the afternoon.

I preheated the oven to 180 ºC. Peel the potatoes and sliced them. Rinsed in cold water. Drained and dried in a clean towel. Put them in a basin of cold milk with salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg and let them sit for about 10 minutes.

Then I prepared the gratin dish. I rubbed inside of the gratin dish with the cut garlic and greased well with butter. I crushed the used cloves and added it to the basin of milk. Then I layered up half of the sliced potatoes evenly in the dish and added half of the cream and grated gruyere cheese to the layer. Put the remaining half of the potatoes and spread the rest of the cream and cheese. Then dotted cold pieces of butter over on top.

I heated up a bit the milk with salt, pepper, nutmeg and garlic in a saucepan. Then I slowly poured the heated milk into the layered potatoes and cream in the gratin dish. Then I placed the gratin dish in the oven and baked for 30 minutes until potatoes were tender, milk had been slightly absorbed and the top was nicely golden.

Then I stopped the initial cooking, for about half an hour while I attended to my guests. Few arrived on time and so we started with a platter of charcuterie (jambon, sausages, pâté) brought by one couple and few glasses of Pastis, while waiting for the others to arrive.

Shortly before serving the Gratin Dauphinois, I dotted again the top with few pieces of cold butter, put back to 180 ºC oven and reheated it for 15 minutes more. Then I served it warm and crispy in its gratin dish, along with the Roti de Porc and Ratatouille Niçoise.

Gratin Dauphinois was creamy and savoury. It tasted absolutely divine! My guests couldn’t stop raving about it. I don’t remember if there was leftover for me to relish the next day.

I will prepare this dish again in an instant!

See you next time for my next recipe challenge! à bientot!

Gratin Dauphinois

Prep Time: 30mins

Cooking Time: 1hr

Ingredients

1.5 k yellow medium potatoes

2 cups whole milk

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

Pinch of nutmeg

2 cloves garlic

4 tablespoons cold butter

1 cup heavy cream

2 cups freshly grated Swiss cheese