How to Make the Best Creamy & Cheesy Potatoes Au Gratin Step by Step in 2023.

Potatoes Au Gratin
The Classic Side Dish from France

It’s a taste of Paris in the kitchen tonight… We’re making potatoes au gratin, the classic side dish from France. 

Our mise en place is (for two people)

5 Medium Sized Yukon Gold Potatoes
1 large clove Garlic
2 Tablespoons of Unsalted Butter
1 Cup of Heavy Whipping Cream
4oz of Freshly Grated Cheddar Cheese
4oz of Freshly Grated Gouda Cheese
4oz Freshly Grated Parmesan Reggiano Cheese
2 Egg Yolks
Salt & Pepper
¼ Teaspoon of White Pepper
1/8 Teaspoon of Nutmeg

One note about the cheeses used; the true French version of this recipe uses gruyere cheese; we didn’t have that tonight so we used cheddar; you can actually use any cheese that you want, but for the sake of authenticity I wanted to mention that gruyere is the cheese used in the French version that they make in France.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

In preparation of our dish tonight, I recommend that you grate your cheese yourself. Although you can buy cheese already shredded and grated at the store, some store-bought shredded cheeses have preservatives and anti-caking additives in them.  Same principle applies with the garlic; chop and mince it yourself;

Add salt to a pot of boiling water. Slice the potatoes into ¼ inch slices and add them to the pot of water. We don’t want to fully cook the potatoes; just par boil them for about 15 minutes.

Next we’ll start working on the cheese sauce. Add the heavy cream to a small pot on the stove and heat it up slowly stirring often to ensure that the cream doesn’t scorch. In a medium sized bowl add in the egg yolks and begin to whisk in the heavy cream a little at a time; we need to temper the eggs with the hot cream; if you pour it all in at once the eggs will scramble; so do it slowly and whisk in all of the cream into the egg yolks.

Add the minced garlic to the bowl and whisk it in. Then add in the salt, pepper, and nutmeg and whisk it in too.

Drain the potatoes and put them onto a cookie sheet with a towel to absorb the excess moisture.

Coat the entire pan with the butter and begin to layer the potatoes into the pan.  The reason that we’re using a tall bread pan instead of a shallower glass dish is because we’re going to use a cutting ring to plate the finished product onto our plate; the cutting ring gives the potatoes au gratin a nice professional look which you’ll see later.  

Next add a layer of the shredded cheese, and then add about 1/3 of the cream sauce and submerge the potatoes and cheese so that the sauce covers the top of the potatoes and cheese layer.

Repeat the layering process with the potatoes, cheese, and cream sauce until the pan is full.    We had about three layers of each in our pan. Make sure that the final layer is with the shredded cheddar cheese; we want the top of the potatoes au gratin to have a nice layer of browned cheese on it so save a little of the shredded cheddar cheese for the top layer.

Next we’ll wrap the pan of potatoes au gratin with a sheet of aluminum foil. We’re going to bake the potatoes for an hour an a half in the oven with the foil.  After the hour and a half has passed, remove the aluminum foil, add a pinch of paprika over the top of the potatoes, and put the potatoes back in the oven for 20 more minutes uncovered. This will help the top to get browned.  You could also put them under a broiler for a few minutes too, but the way that we’re doing it in the oven ensures proper cooking while browning at the same time.

Allow the potatoes to cool for about 30 minutes before serving; this will help them to stay together. We’re using a stainless-steel cutting ring and a fork here to portion out our potatoes. The cutting ring helps to give the potatoes au gratin a nice plate presentation. Look how nice and browned the top came out! That extra 20 minutes uncovered in the oven gives us the perfect look.

I want to thank our friends at International Tableware Incorporated in Toledo Ohio for providing us with the plate for tonight’s presentation. This plate comes from their Luna collection featuring Earthern colors and unique shapes.

And there it is! Potatoes Au Gratin, the classic side dish from France.  Yukon gold potatoes with butter, garlic, egg yolks, heavy cream, cheddar cheese, gouda cheese and Parmesan Reggiano cheese, seasoned with salt, white pepper, nutmeg and garnished with paprika and fresh parsley.  It was a Taste of Paris in the kitchen tonight.

It was delicious!

Until next time,
Bon appetit.
Ciao,
Mark