Anyone got a recipe for a potato gratin? Tried one off YouTube and it was dire.

[Séimhe]

I’m buying them in the shop for 3 - 4€ each which is a bit unnecessary given they also sell bags of spuds

GRMA

[isha]

Don't know if you would call it a recipe but this is what I do for what I think is a gratin...

Slice peeled potatoes quite thinly. Also slice up lots of garlic cloves. Then grease an oven proof dish with butter.
Put an overlapped layer of potato slices covering bottom of dish. Scatter loads of sliced garlic over that. Put in bits of butter all over the layer, I've no idea the measurement, say about 20 grams per layer, but do it by eye and taste. Then sprinkle with salt, not too much because you are going to be adding more, but enough to lightly salt.
Then repeat, potato slices, garlic slices, butter dabs, salting. Keep going to about a half inch from top of dish and finish just with a layer of sliced, salted potato.
Pour in enough milk to come over the top of potato layers just barely. You can add a layer of grated cheese now if you want. I do or don't depending, it's nice either way but I guess gratin implies cheese!

I bake at whatever, 200 I suppose, for about an hour with tin foil over it. Then take off tinfoil for another half hour or so, but you will know it's done if potatoes are cooked.
Sorry not to be precise, I just do it by eye. If you have less time or want to be sure potatoes get soft, parboil them first just a bit.

[knownunknown]

I think gratin uses precooked potatoes and dauphinois uses raw. Which brand do you buy? What does it look like?

[Séimhe]

Thanks Isha! That sounds more like it. I’ll let you know how it goes Really appreciate you taking the time to write that.

[CelticRambler]

I think gratin uses precooked potatoes and dauphinois uses raw.

Nah. That's just people pretending they've got a unique insight into the finest culinary secrets. "Dauphin(ois) potatoes" are "gratin" potatoes. The one and only reason there's a second term floating around is that the Dauphin's wife really liked pommes de terre au gratin so he asked for them a lot, and they ended up with his name. A bit like "sandwich".

My recipe (which has, literally, had guests squabbling over who gets the second helpings, coz there wasn't enough for everyone to have more ):
1-1.25kg potatoes, peeled then sliced as thin as you can get them*
250g onions, also sliced as thin as you can
4 cloves of garlic, crushed/chopped
75g grated cheese**
500ml cream
10 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 teaspoons each of salt and black pepper

* if I'm using up sub-standard potatoes, I'll chop them into rissolée sized pieces instead
** I use edam because that's what I usually have in stock, but gruyère is traditional

Mix salt, pepper, thyme, garlic and 50g of cheese together.
In a 3-litre deep Pyrex dish, or equivalent volume, larger shallow dish, place thin layers of potato, onion, seasoning mix, repeated until all ingredients have been used.
Pour the cream over the top, giving it time to percolate down through the layers.
Cover and cook for 1 hour at 240°C
Remove cover, top off with the remaining 25g of cheese
Cook (uncovered) for a further 20-30 minutes at 210°C

Choice of dish for cooking depends on who I'm cooking for. If I have (several) guests, I use the shallow dish, covered with tinfoil, as it looks more impressive and is easier to serve small portions with a crispy cheese topping. When I'm keeping it all for myself I prefer the deep dish as it has its own cover, that's more suitable for keeping the leftovers in the fridge.

Edit: "soapy" potatoes are the best variety to use - they hold their shape better during the cooking process.

[Séimhe]

My recipe (which has, literally, had guests squabbling over who gets the second helpings, coz there wasn't enough for everyone to have more ):

Starve the guests to create the illusion of appeal - tuigim anois!

Thanks, and i thínk the soapy potatoes might be part of my problem. I tend to use roosters since that’s what’s available locally. How do I know which ones are soapy in the supermarket?

[Del.Monte]

Lazy sod that I am I'll stick to ready-made in my local butcher.

[Séimhe]

I know the feeling. I bought two today But I have a kitchen mandolin to speed things.

[CelticRambler]

... i thínk the soapy potatoes might be part of my problem. I tend to use roosters since that’s what’s available locally. How do I know which ones are soapy in the supermarket?

Google ...?

I'm no longer familiar with the varieties of spud on Irish supermarket shelves, so can't really help you out there. I use Sirtema or Charlotte.

[knownunknown]

Kerr’s pink, Maris piper or those salad potatoes I’ve always called waxy(first time I’ve heard soapy!) I always used the floury ones so have something new to try next time too thanks rambler!

[Séimhe]

@CelticRambler: Google has been great for finding what they’re called in America

@KnownUnknown: they sound familiar, thanks - I’ll keep an eye out Edit: Are salad potatoes are sometimes called new potatoes too?

[CelticRambler]

Are salad potatoes are sometimes called new potatoes too?

Sorta, kinda, sometimes ...

"New potatoes" generally refers to the first harvest of the year. In Ireland, these could be either floury or waxy/soapy varieties but even the floury ones will be a bit on the waxy side on account of their high moisture content straight out of the ground. They get flourier (and so better for roasting, for example) the longer you leave them to dry.

"Salad" potatoes are small potatoes that hold their shape enough to look pretty in a salad. From a practical point of view, that means the waxy/soapy varieties are better but freshly picked - i.e. "new" - floury spuds will work just as well.

However, supermarkets and other industrial producers have a preference also for varieties that produce a lot of small, blemish-free tubers of more or less the same size. It's damnably difficult to grow anything like that in most of North-Western Europe because the soil is either to wet or too claggy or too acid or ... well, it's just easier to grow them in Africa! So back in the 80s/90s, Irish shoppers got used to buying imported potatoes early in the season and called them "new" even though they (probably) aren't; I think the term "salad potatoes" is a British thing that we imported along with a load of other Tesco brands.

[Séimhe]

We’ll, táim ag foghlaim anois! Thanks. I throigh sé cóipe grow any potato here but I learned recently we actually got them from Native Americans (via British colonizers).

[gugleguy]

Big curamach Agus Usàid kerrygold.
Prataí ailinn blasta Ansin.