This is the best potato gratin ever
You know those classics that never get boring. Like potato gratin. We previously tipped you off about a delicious dish of potato gratin with green asparagus, but this really is our all-time favorite potato gratin recipe.
Potato gratin is the ultimate crowdpleaser. Who on earth could resist a perfectly executed, creamy gratin dauphinois? Exactly: no one! Delicious with a grilled fish and a baguette on the side for mopping up all that cream from the baking dish.
How to make the best potato gratin ever
- Preheat the oven to 160 °C.
- Peel the potatoes. Cut into 2-millimeter-thick slices (definitely not too thick). If desired, use a food processor or mandoline.
- Rub a shallow baking dish with a halved garlic clove. Grease the dish with half of the butter.
- Put the heavy cream, milk and remaining half garlic clove in a pan with plenty of pepper and salt. Add the potato slices and bring to a boil, stirring. Cook over low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring carefully. Taste to check whether the cooking liquid is well seasoned. Remove the pan from the heat and remove the garlic.
- Spread the gratin mixture evenly in the baking dish. The potatoes should be just covered. Divide the remaining cold butter into pieces and distribute them over the gratin.
- Place the dish in the oven. After approximately one and a half hours, increase the temperature to 200 °C until the potatoes have a golden-brown crust. The potatoes should have absorbed all the cream mixture and be soft inside. Remove the gratin from the oven and serve in the baking dish.
Tip: cool it first
Don’t wash the potatoes, otherwise you’ll remove the starch you need to bind the gratin. The gratin is easier to cut if you let it cool and set first. Cut the cold gratin, then reheat it just before serving.
Wine tip: Principe de Viana Chardonnay Barrel Fermented, 2022
Of course, there are Chardonnays that aren’t for everyone. Big, heavily oaked versions—you have to be into them. But fresh Chardonnays with a little oak aging to give them an extra edge—who could say no to that? And it’s precisely that slight richness in this Chardonnay that provides the perfect counterbalance to the creamy potato gratin. What a heavenly combination.
Also read:
- Bizarre: you can cook your food in the dishwasher
- 5 tips for truly crispy sweet potato fries
- Forget the cheese board, here comes the fries board
