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Potatoes Au Gratin

A baked dish of thinly sliced boiled potatoes in a creamy cheese sauce, topped with breadcrumbs and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Potatoes Au Gratin

Why it works: Potato and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,052 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Potatoes Au Gratin

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the sauce

  1. Melt the butter in a frying pan.

  2. Add the flour and stir until smooth.

  3. Stir in the stock (or beef extract), water, and cream, and heat until boiling.

  4. Add the grated cheese and egg yolks, then season with salt and cayenne.

Bake and serve

  1. Transfer to a baking dish, sprinkle with bread crumbs and dot with butter.

  2. Bake for 10 minutes at 400°F (200°C).

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. Potato + beeftop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  3. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 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
Form the bulk of the dish and absorb the sauce as it bakes.
Flour
Thickens the butter and stock into a smooth, stable sauce.
Cream
Adds richness and a silky texture to the sauce.
Grated cheese
Adds savory flavor and helps the topping brown when baked.
Egg yolks
Enrich the sauce and help it set with a creamy body.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolks. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if the sauce is too hot when they go in. Remove the pan from direct heat or add them gradually so the sauce stays smooth and thick.

Swap the potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, beef, cream, cheese, egg, pepper. 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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