22 Golden-Topped Gratin Recipes with Squash, Pasta, Potatoes, and More (2024)

FAQs

What does the term au gratin mean when it comes to cooking? ›

What Does “Au Gratin” Mean? A “gratin” is any dish that is topped with cheese or breadcrumbs mixed with butter, then heated in the oven or under the broiler until brown and crispy, according to The Food Lover's Companion. The term au gratin or gratinée just refers to anything prepared in that manner.

I don't recommend soaking the potatoes in water ahead of time for our potatoes au gratin (as some recipes call for). Soaking them will cause them to lose some of their starch, which helps to keep this dish creamy.

A gratin is a dish that is topped with cheese, or bread crumbs mixed with bits of butter, then heated in the oven or under the grill until brown and crisp. The terms au gratin or gratinée refer to any dish prepared in such a manner.

The etymology of gratin is from the French language words gratter, meaning "to scrape" (from having to scrape the food out of the dish it was cooked in). The technique predates the current name, which did not appear in English until 1846 (OED, s.v. "gratin").

The difference comes down to cheese. Scalloped potato recipes are usually baked in a basic cream sauce until soft and tender, with no cheese topping. Potatoes au gratin are a bit more decadent. They are made with lots of cheese sprinkled in between the layers of potatoes and also on top of the casserole.

One serving of this creamy potato side dish will provide you with half your daily value of vitamin C, almost a quarter of your daily value of fiber, and some calcium and iron.

The starch in potatoes is held together by pectin. When that pectin breaks down too quickly in the boiling process, mushy potatoes result. Adding vinegar to the water fixes that problem because, as López-Alt explains, “pectin breaks down much more slowly in acidic environments.”

Surprisingly, aluminum foil is his secret weapon. After beautifully shingling the potatoes (he's got a genius trick for doing this quickly, too) he covers the dish in foil before hitting the oven.

My scalloped potatoes are bland

They are also in need of serious seasoning to ensure deliciousness. Make sure your sauce is well-seasoned, but also, season each layer of potatoes with salt and pepper before adding the sauce, to make sure they are as flavorful as you want them!

Butter a gratin dish (which should be long and large and about 5 cm (2 in) deep) and sprinkle 2 chopped garlic slices on the bottom, a pinch of salt and pepper and more nutmeg.

What do you eat with gratins? ›

Au Gratin potatoes are rich. Serve them with leaner proteins such as beef tenderloin, grilled or roasted chicken, and pan-seared fish.

Try checking your oven temperature. If it reads too low that would do it. Try using russets. Some potatoes, like Yukon Gold, have more water in them.

Meaning of dauphinois in English

a dish made with thin slices of potato, or sometimes another root vegetable, cooked in milk or cream in the oven, sometimes with cheese or onion added: The dauphinois come out perfectly, the potatoes rich and crispy on top.

Potatoes au gratin are slices of pre-cooked (usually boiled) potato cooked in cream and topped with cheese which makes the gratin. Gratin Dauphinoise, on the other hand, is a dish made of thinly-sliced (not pre-cooked) potatoes that cook in cream. Dauphinoise traditionally does not contain any cheese.

This "gratin style potatoes" as North Americans call it has been a traditional French dish since the 18th century even though its origins date back to the 16th century and the appearance of the tuber in Europe.

A gratin dish is typically shallow and oval-shaped, with handles on each side for easy transport from the oven to the table. But it isn't your only option: "Even though a classic gratin dish is beautiful and useful, you can make a gratin in pretty much any dish that is ovenproof, such as glass, enamel, or earthenware.

Both are baked in the oven, but a gratin is a special form of a casserole. When cooking it, you will layer the ingredients instead of just adding them all together. In most cases, a gratin is also served as a side dish, not a main, and it has a signature crust that has to be, well, gratinated.

The vessel best suited for most au gratin dishes is, simply enough, an au gratin pan. It can be round, oval or rectangular, and most commonly it is about an inch and a half deep.