Gratin Dauphinois

Recipe by: Leslie Brenner

There are few dishes as luscious, crave-worthy and dramatic as a traditional Gratin Dauphinois — French potatoes au gratin.

You will notice — right away, I’m guessing — that this recipe does not include cheese. For context, let’s turn to the late, great English food writer Elizabeth David, who was famous for meticulously researching traditional recipes. In her 1960 book (updated in 1977 and 1983) French Provincial Cooking, she wrote:

“Gratin dauphinois is a rich and filling regional dish from the Dauphiné. Some recipes, Escoffier’s and Austin de Croze’s among them, include cheese and eggs, making it very similar to a gratin savoyard, but other regional authorities declare that the authentic gratin dauphinois is made only with potatoes and thick fresh cream.”

Nearly every French expert I turned up takes the no-cheese position; Escoffier and de Croze seem to be outliers.

As long as you have a mandolin…