Pommes de Terre à la Savoyarde

Pommes de Terre à la Savoyarde (Savoy-style potato gratin) teaches one true thing: when consommé replaces milk, the potato must provide the body. The liquid will look loose when it enters the oven. Don't drain it or thicken it with flour. The unwashed potato starch and beaten egg bind it as it bakes, while Gruyère makes the bronzed crust.

The book sends the cook to Gratin de Pommes de Terre à la Dauphinoise (No. 2222) and changes one thing, milk becomes consommé. A brigade could rely on a saucier, a stockpot never off the fire, several earthenware service dishes, and a salamander waiting to color the top. At home, use a good clear consommé, one shallow gratin dish, and the broiler only if the oven leaves the crown pale. The original two pounds of potatoes already make four generous side portions, so there is no sense halving an egg and disturbing the ratio. One cook, one stove, one evening.

The written cross-reference and multiple service dishes are brigade scaffolding. They can go. Even slices, unwashed starch, hot consommé, thorough mixing, and a full bake are the dish, and they stay. Before touching a pan, slice the potatoes evenly and do not rinse them. That starch decides whether the center becomes succulent or soupy.