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Potatoes Au Gratin

A baked dish of sliced potatoes layered with cheese, cream sauce, and fried bread crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Potatoes Au Gratin

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Potatoes Au Gratin

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Boil potatoes with skins on until tender. Let them cool, then peel and dice.

  2. Grate cheese and sprinkle with paprika.

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, combine milk, butter, and salt. Heat gently, avoiding burning.

  2. Once the milk scalds, mix in flour smoothed with butter. Stir until thickened, then remove from heat and add beaten egg.

Assemble and bake

  1. Butter a baking dish and layer diced potatoes. Season with salt and pepper, then add a layer of cheese.

  2. Repeat with another layer of potatoes and top with cheese and fried bread crumbs.

  3. Pour cream sauce over top and bake at 400°F (200°C) for at least 25 minutes until golden brown.

  4. Serve hot.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Forms the bulk of the dish, softening as it bakes and holding the layers together.
American cheese
Melts into the layers and browns on top, adding savoury flavour and richness.
Sweet milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, which thickens and moistens the potatoes as they bake.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce, giving it body that clings to the potatoes.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour, and smoothed onto the flour it helps prevent lumps.

The step that matters

Thickening the sauce. Stir the flour and butter mixture into the scalded milk constantly until it thickens. Stirring prevents lumps, and the starch must thicken fully before the sauce is removed from heat so it coats the potatoes evenly.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, milk, egg, butter, flour, pepper, bread):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Chivefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, milk, egg, butter, flour, pepper, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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