The Best Potatoes in Gratin Without Cheese
Oh, hi. Do I have your attention? Are you ready to give an angry comment condemning me and my worst case? I feel you are my friend because I had the same reaction when someone told me that you don’t need cheese to bake potatoes.
To be honest, that fateful day was a real roller coaster. When this woman, whom I paid to teach me how to cook French cuisine, first told me that we would be making breaded potatoes, I was very pleased, but when she told me that we would not use cheese, I was very sad. She assured me that it would be good, even better than any casserole I have ever had. I was like “big if it’s true,” which was met with blank stares because my teacher was a sophisticated French and not an Internet-based millennial raccoon.
Anyway. Technically, “casserole” simply means “brown-crusty,” but this crust is usually made of cheese, bread crumbs, or bread crumbs with cheese. However, this recipe completely excludes cheese and consists only of potatoes, heavy cream and salt. It seems too simple, but in a word, “doping”. Potato starch is blended with cream to create the richest sauce imaginable, while the top turns into a magical layer of deeply golden, bubbly milk crust very reminiscent of, well, cheese.
It also couldn’t be easier or cheaper to assemble. Cut some potatoes into thin slices (a reddish brown will do) and place them in a baking dish, slightly overlapping the edges. Sprinkle them with salt, then pour in some cream on top until they’re just underwater. Repeat this process, alternating between potatoes, salt and cream, until the dish is full. You can of course add some cheese in there if you like – I’m not your boss – but I encourage you to enjoy this, oh, such simple iteration before you start experimenting with it. Bake it in the oven at 375 degrees until the cream is brown and the cream is corrosive. Let it cool for five minutes or so – so the sauce doesn’t spill all over the place – and place on some very lucky plates for some very lucky people.