One More Potato Passion!
Is there anyone that doesn’t love potatoes? Along with eating them, I like reading about and writing about them. It’s a potato passion.
This time, the passion is scalloped potatoes. Not to be confused with au gratin potatoes. The key difference between scalloped potatoes and potatoes au gratin is whether or not cheese is used. Potatoes au gratin uses grated cheese. Scalloped potatoes do not, they use heavy cream or milk. Also, the slices in scalloped potato tend to be thicker than in au gratin.
OK, scalloped: Spuds baked in a creamy sauce with a topping of crumbs are a perfect side dish. They can be scalloped in various kinds of sauces or broths, but most often it’s a milk, cream, or white sauce (aka roux) that’s used. The vegetables are layered in a casserole, covered with sauce, topped with bread or cracker crumbs, and heated through in the oven.
For scalloping spuds that retain their shape and texture when sliced and baked. Starchy bakers (think Russet) tend to fall apart during cooking, so you want an all-purpose potato for scalloping. As a general guideline, all-purpose varieties such as Yukon Gold (a good all-purpose potato), and Norland Red (a good waxy potato) are perfect for this purpose.
You can go crazy with the flavorings. Scalloped potatoes do wonderfully well with onions, bell peppers, or pimiento. We’ve even used fresh dill. Some recipes suggest adding diced leftover ham, which creates a full-meal deal—otherwise known as a casserole.
To avoid problems with curdled milk when baking scalloped potatoes, check the following:
Don’t rinse the slices before adding them to the dish. When you rinse potatoes, you rinse away their starch — and you want that! A potato’s natural starch is its thickening power. When the potatoes are warmed in the recipe’s milk or cream, it extracts this starch, which eliminates the need to add flour to the sauce. It also encourages the potatoes to cook evenly.
Be sure to bake in a shallow baking dish. Shallow baking dishes are the best choice for scalloped potatoes. A trusty glass or ceramic baking dish works well if you don’t have an actual gratin dish.
And let the them rest and cool after baking, for at least 20 minutes, preferably 30, before serving. Their texture and flavor improve as they cool. Resting allows them to firm up enough to be served neatly (rather than running all over the plate—perfect scalloped potatoes are creamy, not juicy). Finally, serving them warm rather than piping hot also makes it easier to perceive and appreciate their subtle flavors and silky texture.
Finally, when just a hint of flavor is wanted, rub the inside of the baking dish with a couple cut cloves of garlic. Allow enough time for the garlic juice to dry before buttering your dish.
I’ll close with a winning scallop potatoes recipe from www.thekitchn.com. Last year their pros did a taste test with scalloped potatoes recipes from four famous cooks: Tyler Florence, Chrissy Teigen, Pioneer Woman, and Martha Stewart. Martha was the unanimous winner (9.5 out of 10). Kitchn’s testers said, “This recipe was easy to follow and trust-worthy. It yielded…delicious, flavorful, melt-in-your-mouth scalloped potatoes…If you’ve never made scalloped potatoes, here is your go-to recipe…Scalloped potato purists might argue that this is a gratin because it includes cheese. But we predict they’ll stop talking when their mouths are full of this fantastic dish.”
And BTW: if you are a purist, you can easily omit the cheese. It’s that good!
3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes peeled, and sliced paper thin (parboiling is an option)
3 cups whole milk
1 clove garlic
3 teaspoons unsalted butter softened
kosher salt to taste
freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup heavy cream
5 ounces gruyére cheese grated
Directions:
Add Recipe to Cook'n
This time, the passion is scalloped potatoes. Not to be confused with au gratin potatoes. The key difference between scalloped potatoes and potatoes au gratin is whether or not cheese is used. Potatoes au gratin uses grated cheese. Scalloped potatoes do not, they use heavy cream or milk. Also, the slices in scalloped potato tend to be thicker than in au gratin.
OK, scalloped: Spuds baked in a creamy sauce with a topping of crumbs are a perfect side dish. They can be scalloped in various kinds of sauces or broths, but most often it’s a milk, cream, or white sauce (aka roux) that’s used. The vegetables are layered in a casserole, covered with sauce, topped with bread or cracker crumbs, and heated through in the oven.
For scalloping spuds that retain their shape and texture when sliced and baked. Starchy bakers (think Russet) tend to fall apart during cooking, so you want an all-purpose potato for scalloping. As a general guideline, all-purpose varieties such as Yukon Gold (a good all-purpose potato), and Norland Red (a good waxy potato) are perfect for this purpose.
You can go crazy with the flavorings. Scalloped potatoes do wonderfully well with onions, bell peppers, or pimiento. We’ve even used fresh dill. Some recipes suggest adding diced leftover ham, which creates a full-meal deal—otherwise known as a casserole.
To avoid problems with curdled milk when baking scalloped potatoes, check the following:
- Oven temperature: be sure it’s no higher than 375°F.
- Baking time: don’t bake too long. Parboil potatoes before slicing them into your baking dish allows them to need no more than 30 to 35 minutes in the oven.
- Binding; you’ll need one. If you’re using acidic ingredients such as onion, parsley, and pimiento, bind all ingredients together with a flour-thickened sauce instead of simply covering them with milk or cream.
Don’t rinse the slices before adding them to the dish. When you rinse potatoes, you rinse away their starch — and you want that! A potato’s natural starch is its thickening power. When the potatoes are warmed in the recipe’s milk or cream, it extracts this starch, which eliminates the need to add flour to the sauce. It also encourages the potatoes to cook evenly.
Be sure to bake in a shallow baking dish. Shallow baking dishes are the best choice for scalloped potatoes. A trusty glass or ceramic baking dish works well if you don’t have an actual gratin dish.
And let the them rest and cool after baking, for at least 20 minutes, preferably 30, before serving. Their texture and flavor improve as they cool. Resting allows them to firm up enough to be served neatly (rather than running all over the plate—perfect scalloped potatoes are creamy, not juicy). Finally, serving them warm rather than piping hot also makes it easier to perceive and appreciate their subtle flavors and silky texture.
Finally, when just a hint of flavor is wanted, rub the inside of the baking dish with a couple cut cloves of garlic. Allow enough time for the garlic juice to dry before buttering your dish.
I’ll close with a winning scallop potatoes recipe from www.thekitchn.com. Last year their pros did a taste test with scalloped potatoes recipes from four famous cooks: Tyler Florence, Chrissy Teigen, Pioneer Woman, and Martha Stewart. Martha was the unanimous winner (9.5 out of 10). Kitchn’s testers said, “This recipe was easy to follow and trust-worthy. It yielded…delicious, flavorful, melt-in-your-mouth scalloped potatoes…If you’ve never made scalloped potatoes, here is your go-to recipe…Scalloped potato purists might argue that this is a gratin because it includes cheese. But we predict they’ll stop talking when their mouths are full of this fantastic dish.”
And BTW: if you are a purist, you can easily omit the cheese. It’s that good!
Martha Stewart's Creamy Scalloped Potatoes
Ingredients:
3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes peeled, and sliced paper thin (parboiling is an option)
3 cups whole milk
1 clove garlic
3 teaspoons unsalted butter softened
kosher salt to taste
freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup heavy cream
5 ounces gruyére cheese grated
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees with a rack set in the lower third of oven. Combine sliced potatoes and milk in a large saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil, and immediately reduce heat to low; cover and simmer until potatoes are just tender, about 3 minutes.
2. Place a colander over a large bowl and drain potatoes, reserving milk. You should have 2 cups of thick, starchy milk. If potatoes have absorbed more than 1 cup of milk, add enough milk to bring the reserved milk volume to 2 cups.
3. Rub a 3 1/2-quart oval baking dish with garlic and butter. Arrange sliced potatoes in the baking dish; season with salt and pepper. Dot with remaining butter and pour over reserved cooking milk and cream. Sprinkle cheese over top.
4. Transfer baking dish to oven and bake until cheese becomes deep golden brown and milk has reduced and thickened, 80 to 90 minutes (if you didn’t parboil the potatoes first) or 30 to 35 minutes if using parboiled potatoes. Remove from oven; let potatoes rest 20 minutes and serve.
2. Place a colander over a large bowl and drain potatoes, reserving milk. You should have 2 cups of thick, starchy milk. If potatoes have absorbed more than 1 cup of milk, add enough milk to bring the reserved milk volume to 2 cups.
3. Rub a 3 1/2-quart oval baking dish with garlic and butter. Arrange sliced potatoes in the baking dish; season with salt and pepper. Dot with remaining butter and pour over reserved cooking milk and cream. Sprinkle cheese over top.
4. Transfer baking dish to oven and bake until cheese becomes deep golden brown and milk has reduced and thickened, 80 to 90 minutes (if you didn’t parboil the potatoes first) or 30 to 35 minutes if using parboiled potatoes. Remove from oven; let potatoes rest 20 minutes and serve.
Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.
Sources:
www.thekitchn.com
www.foodnetwork.com
www.pinterest.com
www.cutco.com
www.marthastewart.com
Alice Osborne
Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2006
Email the author! alice@dvo.com
