Gratin Dauphinois
Thin potato slices simmered in cream before they go anywhere near the oven. No cheese, no stock, nothing to hide behind.
- Prep
- 20m
- Cook
- 1h 15m
- Waiting
- 15m
- Total
- 1h 50m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Moderate
Method
Skip the stovetop stage entirely — cold cream over raw slices, a longer bake, slightly looser result.
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 1.2 kg | Slice 2 to 3 mm thick and do not rinse them 10m Rinsing washes off the starch that thickens the whole dish. | Simmer the slices in the cream until it visibly thickens 12m Potato starch leaches into the cream here and turns it into a sauce. | Bake at 150°C / 300°F until a knife meets no resistance 1h 15m Low and slow. Above about 170°C the cream splits and beads oil on top. | Rest 15 minutes out of the oven before serving 15m Straight from the oven the cream is loose. It sets as it cools. | |
| 400 ml | |||||
| 300 ml | |||||
| 2 cloves | |||||
| a scrape | |||||
| 2 tsp | |||||
| 1/2 tsp | |||||
| 1 | Rub the dish with a cut garlic clove and butter it well 3m | ||||
| 20 g | |||||
| 50 g | |||||
-
Slice 2 to 3 mm thick and do not rinse them
10m- floury potatoes 1.2 kg
Rinsing washes off the starch that thickens the whole dish.
-
Simmer the slices in the cream until it visibly thickens
12m- from 1 Slice 2 to 3 mm thick and do not rinse them
- double cream 400 ml
- whole milk 300 ml
- garlic 2 cloves
- nutmeg a scrape
- salt 2 tsp
- white pepper 1/2 tsp
Potato starch leaches into the cream here and turns it into a sauce.
-
Rub the dish with a cut garlic clove and butter it well
3m- garlic 1
- butter 20 g
-
Bake at 150°C / 300°F until a knife meets no resistance
1h 15m- from 2 Simmer the slices in the cream until it visibly thickens
- from 3 Rub the dish with a cut garlic clove and butter it well
Low and slow. Above about 170°C the cream splits and beads oil on top.
-
Rest 15 minutes out of the oven before serving
15m- from 4 Bake at 150°C / 300°F until a knife meets no resistance
- gruyère (optional) 50 g
Straight from the oven the cream is loose. It sets as it cools.
| 1.2 kg | Layer the slices in a buttered dish and pour the cream over 15m Press the layers down so the liquid comes level with the top. | Bake covered at 160°C / 325°F for 60 minutes, then uncovered for 35 1h 35m The foil traps steam so the potato cooks through before the top sets. | |
| 350 ml | |||
| 250 ml | |||
| 2 cloves | |||
| 2 tsp | |||
| a scrape | |||
| 20 g |
-
Layer the slices in a buttered dish and pour the cream over
15m- floury potatoes 1.2 kg
- double cream 350 ml
- whole milk 250 ml
- garlic 2 cloves
- salt 2 tsp
- nutmeg a scrape
- butter 20 g
Press the layers down so the liquid comes level with the top.
-
Bake covered at 160°C / 325°F for 60 minutes, then uncovered for 35
1h 35m- from 1 Layer the slices in a buttered dish and pour the cream over
The foil traps steam so the potato cooks through before the top sets.
Why the pre-simmer earns its pan
Potato starch granules only swell and burst above about 60°C. Doing that on the hob, in the cream, means the sauce thickens under your eye and you can judge it — and the slices go into the dish already half-cooked, so the oven only has to finish them rather than drive heat through raw potato in a cold liquid. That is what lets you bake gently at 150°C, which keeps the dairy from breaking.
Notes
- Waxy potatoes stay in discrete slices and never bind. Floury is the whole point.
- A shallow dish beats a deep one. More surface, more browned top, faster through the middle.
- Made a day ahead and reheated at 150°C it is arguably better, and it cuts into clean squares.