Gratin Dauphinois

1 hour 30 minutes

Serves 3-4. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see questions Lindsey has answered on this recipe

Vegetarian

This recipe is from Delia's Complete Cookery Course.

Home-made, straight from the oven, it is truly one of the great classics.

I know it does seem extravagant to use 5 fl oz (150 ml) cream for 1 lb (450 g) potatoes, but I would forego a pudding with cream once in a while in order to justify it. And although cheese is sometimes added to this, I think it masks the potato flavour too much.

The Delia Online Cookery School: Watch how to make Perfect Mashed Potatoes. Press here to play

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Dauphinoise without cream!

Asked by: Kate Brennan

Hi Lindsey On Delias recipie for Dauphonios potatoes. Is it possible to substitute the cream with more milk. I don't like cream Thank you

Answered by Lindsey: Hello, Dauphinoise needs cream to be a Dauphinoise. Have you considered Boulangeres?

Making Dauphinois for 16 and getting ahead

Asked by: Eleanor Shutie

Hi I am making gratin Dauphinoise potatoes for 16 people. Can I make this the night before? It is for lunch. Do I need to quadruple the recipe and if using two large dishes how Long should I cook it for? What size dishes do you recommend? Can you advise please? Many thanks Eleanor

Answered by Lindsey: Hello Eleanor, Yes do 4 times the recipe. About 28cm oval dishes. I think it may need 10 – 15 extra minutes in the oven. I would not make it the day before but to get ahead I would… Peel, slice and rinse the potatoes and then keep them submerged in water in a lidded container in the fridge. Crush the garlic and mix with the milk, cream and seasoning and keep in a lidded container in the fridge. Butter the dish and cover it and leave in a cool place. Then on the day, give the cream mixture a good stir and then drain, dry and layer up the potatoes with the cream in the dish, and bake, perhaps as I said allowing an extra 10 – 15 minutes. Kind regards Lindsey

Different cooking times and temperatures

Asked by: Babbith

Plan to cook Beef Wellington tonight, and Gratin Dauphinois. However they cook at different temperatures. Should I cook the potatoes say for about an hour, then turn up the oven remove the potatoes, cook the beef, then put the potatoes back in the oven for the last 10 minutes of the beef, and its resting time? Please advise

Answered by Lindsey: Hello, I would put the potatoes in for the full cooking time before you cook the beef. If you cover the potatoes loosely with foil, they will reheat in 10 minutes whilst you rest the beef. Kind regards Lindsey

Method

First, peel the potatoes and slice them very, very thinly (a wooden mandolin is excellent for this operation, if you have one), then plunge the potato slices into a bowl of cold water and swill them round and round to get rid of some of the starch.

Now dry them very thoroughly in a clean tea cloth. Then in the gratin dish arrange a layer of potato slices, a sprinkling of crushed garlic, pepper and salt and then another layer of potatoes and seasoning. Now mix the cream and milk together, pour it over the potatoes, sprinkle with a little freshly grated nutmeg, then add the butter in flecks over the surface and bake on the highest shelf in the oven for 1½ hours.

For Perfect Mashed Potatoes, watch Delia's Cookery School Video on this page