by Julia Child
Paper towels
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Set one rack in very bottom level, and another just above it. Clarify the butter: melt it, skim off scum, and spoon the clear liquid butter off the milky residue. Peel the potatoes, trim into cylinders about 1¼ inches in diameter so that you will have uniform slices, then slice cylinders into even rounds ⅛ inch thick. You should have about 8 cups. Dry thoroughly in paper towels. (Do not wash potatoes after peeling, because you want the starch to remain in, so potatoes will mass more easily into a cake.)
2) Arranging the potatoes in the dish
A heavy cast-iron frying pan about 8 inches top diameter and 2 to 2½ inches deep, or one of the other possibilities in paragraphs preceding recipe
Salt and pepper
Pour ¼ inch of the clarified butter into the pan and set over moderate heat. When hot, start rapidly arranging the first layer of potatoes in the bottom of the pan as follows.
Arrange one potato slice in the center of the pan. Overlap a circle of potato slices around it. Overlapping in the opposite (counter-clockwise) direction rapidly arrange a second circle around the first and continue with another (clockwise) overlapping circle if necessary, to rim the edge of the pan. Pour on a spoonful of the clarified butter.
Reversing direction again, rapidly arrange an evenly overlapping layer of potatoes around circumference of pan, fill in the center with more potatoes, and baste with another spoonful of butter. Shake pan not too roughly by handle to be sure potatoes are not sticking, and sprinkle on salt and pepper.
Continue filling the pan with layers of potatoes basted with butter and seasoned with salt and pepper, always being sure that the layer around the circumference of the pan is evenly spaced. Remember, also, to shake the pan by its handle from time to time, to be sure potatoes are not sticking. Fill the pan completely, allowing potatoes to form a ¼- to ½-inch dome in the center; they will sink during cooking. You should have added enough butter so that you can see it bubbling up the sides of the pan; excess will be poured out after cooking.
3) Baking
A heavy saucepan, 7 inches bottom diameter, or whatever will fit into the potato pan
A heavy, close-fitting cover for the potato pan
A pizza tray or roasting pan to catch drippings
Butter bottom of saucepan and press it down hard on the potatoes, forcing the layers together. Butter underside of cover, place it on the potato pan set on upper of the two oven racks. Set drip pan under the potatoes, on rack below, to catch bubblings-up of butter (which could otherwise set fire to your oven).
Bake for 20 minutes. Uncover, press potatoes down hard again with bottom of saucepan, and continue baking 20 to 25 minutes more, uncovered. (If baked all the time with cover on, potatoes tend to pick up an off taste.) Press down potatoes again before end of baking. Gently draw an edge of the potatoes away from side of dish: potatoes are done if brown and crusty. Bake 5 minutes or so more if necessary.
4) Unmolding and serving
A bowl for excess butter
A flexible-blade spatula
If needed: a buttered baking sheet
A lightly buttered, hot serving dish
When potatoes are done, place cover slightly askew on pan and drain out excess butter, which may be used again in other cooking. Run spatula around edge of pan. Shake pan, and if potatoes have stuck to bottom, run spatula carefully under potatoes to loosen them, but disturb them as little as possible. If you feel it will be easier to unmold them first onto a baking sheet and slide them onto the serving dish, do so; otherwise invert the dish over the potato pan, reverse the two, and potatoes will drop onto dish. They should look like a brown cake.
Unmolding troubles: You should have no trouble, but if some potatoes do stick to pan, scrape them off and put them in place on the potato cake. If you have had trouble and potatoes look messy or pale, simply push or mound them into a reasonable shape, sprinkle with cheese or bread crumbs, drizzle on a little butter, and brown briefly under the broiler.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: After unmolding the potatoes, cover loosely with foil and set in a warming oven (120 degrees), or on an electric hot-tray, or over simmering water. They will keep nicely for half an hour at least as long as they are warm and have a little circulation of air.
VARIATIONS
Pommes de Terre Sarladaise
[Truffled Sliced Potatoes Baked in Butter]
All you need for this variation is the wherewithal for a number of sliced truffles, as many as you wish. Proceed as in the Master Recipe, but intersperse truffles with the potato slices after the first layer of potatoes has been arranged in the pan, and end with a layer of potatoes.
Galette de Pommes de Terre au Fromage
[Mold of Sliced Potatoes and Cheese Cooked in Butter]
This is a more informal method of forming pommes Anna, and you may omit the cheese if you wish. Here all the cooking is done on top of the stove, which is a convenience when your oven is in use.
For 6 people
4 to 5 Tb clarified butter
A heavy, medium-sized (10-inch) frying pan, either cast iron or no-stick
About 2½ lbs. “boiling” potatoes in round, 1¼-inch slices ⅛ inch thick, well dried
About 4 ounces (1 cup) Swiss cheese cut into 1-inch slices less than ⅛ inch thick (use slicing slot of a grater)
Salt and pepper
Small pinches of nutmeg
A cover for the frying pan
A flexible-blade spatula
A hot serving dish
Following illustrated directions in preceding Master Recipe, pour ¼ inch of butter into frying pan. Set over moderate heat and rapidly arrange an overlapping layer of potato slices in the pan, shaking pan gently from time to time to prevent sticking. Baste with a sprinkling of butter, arrange a second layer over the first, and over this second layer of potatoes arrange a layer of cheese slices. Season the third layer of potatoes with salt, pepper, and a speck of nutmeg. Continue filling the pan with potatoes, cheese, seasonings, and end with a layer of potatoes. When filled, shake pan gently again and let cook 3 to 5 minutes over moderately high heat to be sure the bottom of potatoes is crusting. Then cover pan and set over low heat for about 45 minutes, or until potatoes are tender when pierced with a small knife. (Be sure heat is not too high, or bottom of potatoes will brown too much.) Run spatula all around edge of pan and underneath to loosen potatoes, and unmold upside down on serving dish.
TOURTE LIMOUSINE
[Potato Pie with Herbs and Cream]
Another attractive way to serve potatoes is to mold them in pastry, and bake in a flan ring or false-bottomed cake pan, which comes off when the potatoes are done; the pie then stands free on a serving dish. In this excellent recipe, the sliced potatoes are seasoned with melted butter and herbs, and when they are tender inside their crust, a mixture of cream and beaten egg is poured into them through the chimney hole. The tourte can well be the main course for a lunch or supper, along with a mixed vegetable salad, possibly some cold meat, and a Riesling, Sylvaner, or rosé wine. Or serve it with steaks, hamburgers, broiled chicken, or fish. Any leftovers may be reheated, but are also good cold.
For a 9-inch pie, 8 to 12 servings
1 tsp soft butter
The mold: a 9-inch flan ring set on a baking sheet, or a round, 9-inch false-bottomed cake pan
Either ½ the recipe for pâte briseé ordinaire Formula 1;
Or a ready mix
¼ cup (not pressed down) chopped fresh parsley
Either 2 Tb minced fresh green herbs (basil and chives);
Or 1½ Tb minced shallots or scallions and ¼ tsp dried oregano or sage
4 Tb (½ stick) butter melted in a saucepan
6 cups thinly sliced all-purpose potatoes in a bowl of cold water
Salt and pepper
A pastry brush and cup of cold water
A chimney: the metal tube end of a pastry bag or a small metal funnel, buttered
1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water i
n a 1-cup measure
⅓ cup heavy cream
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Butter inside of flan ring and surface of baking sheet, or inside of cake pan. Roll ⅔ of the pastry into a circle 14 inches in diameter (so that you will have a 1½-inch overhang), and line the mold, letting overhang fall around outside rim. Stir the parsley and herbs into the butter. Drain and dry the potatoes and spread ⅓ on the bottom of the lined mold. Stirring butter and herb mixture, pour ⅓ of it over the potatoes and sprinkle potatoes with salt and pepper. Complete filling mold in same manner. Fold overhanging pastry over potatoes, and moisten top of pastry with water. Roll out remaining pastry into a circle 9½ inches in diameter, roll up on pin, and unroll over mold. Roll pin over pastry to trim it the size of the mold, then press it down with the balls of your fingers over the moistened bottom layer to seal. Make a chimney hole in top of pastry and insert funnel. Paint top of pastry with beaten egg, and make cross-hatch marks over pastry with the back of a knife or the tines of a table fork. Blend cream into remainder of beaten egg, and refrigerate for later.
Baking—about 1 hour
Immediately set tourte in lower-middle level of preheated 425-degree oven and bake for about 30 minutes, until pastry is nicely but not too deeply browned. Then turn thermostat down to 350 degrees for rest of baking; cover tourte loosely with foil or brown paper if it is browning too much. As soon as potatoes are tender when you poke them through the chimney hole, tourte is done. By spoonfuls, pour the egg and cream mixture into the pie through the chimney, tilting pie in all directions so that cream will flow all over. Bake another 5 minutes or so to set the mixture, and tourte is ready to serve; unmold and slide onto a hot serving dish.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTES: If tourte is done before you are ready to serve, keep it warm, uncovered, in a turned-off oven or 120-degree warming oven. If wait is to be more than 15 minutes, do not add egg and cream until a few minutes before serving, then reheat in a 350-degree oven.
POMMES DUCHESSE
[Mashed Potato Mixture for Borders and Other Decorations]
Even hamburgers look dressy in a fluted border of pommes duchesse, and fluted mounds of potatoes placed around a meat platter are elegant indeed. Consisting only of mashed potatoes, egg yolks, butter, and cream, pommes duchesse is a very simple mixture and perfectly delicious when you use the best ingredients, meaning live potatoes rather than dehydrated ones. Serve pommes duchesse anywhere that mashed potatoes would naturally go, such as around a platter that is to hold boeuf bourguignon or coq au vin, or piped around the creamed eggs or fish that are to be gratinéed, or with steaks, chops, or broiled fish.
TECHNICAL NOTES
You may prepare and form the potatoes in advance, and bake them just before serving; once baked and browned, however, they must be served fairly soon or they will lose their light, freshly cooked quality. We prefer egg yolks to whole eggs in the mixture because we think that egg whites have a drying-out effect, although they do give the potatoes a slight puff. If you like a puff anyway, use 1 egg and 1 yolk for each 2 cups of potatoes rather than the 3 yolks for 2 cups (6 for 4 cups) suggested here.
For 4 cups of mashed potatoes, serving 6 to 8
1) The potato mixture
2½ lbs. “baking” potatoes all of a size for even cooking (6 or 7 potatoes 4½ by 2 inches, for instance)
A heavy-bottomed saucepan
Cold water
1½ tsp salt per quart of water
A cover for the pan
A colander or sieve
A potato ricer, or a food mill with medium disk, or an electric mixer
A quart measure
A rubber spatula and a wooden spoon
6 egg yolks in a small bowl
6 Tb soft butter
4 to 6 Tb crème fraîche or heavy cream
¾ to 1 tsp salt
⅛ tsp white pepper
Pinch of nutmeg
A pan of hot but not simmering water large enough to hold potato pan
Scrub the potatoes under warm water, drop into saucepan of cold water to cover, add salt, and set over high heat. When water comes to the boil, boil slowly, partially covered, for about 25 minutes usually. Test for doneness by cutting a potato in half, taking a slice from inside the half and eating it: potato should hold its shape, but should be cooked through, tender, mealy, and ready to eat. Drain, and peel at once, holding potato on a fork. Immediately put potatoes through a ricer or food mill, or beat with electric mixer, to make a smooth, lump-free purée. Measure 4 cups into saucepan and stir over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes until potatoes film bottom of pan, indicating that most of excess moisture has evaporated. Remove from heat, beat in the egg yolks, then the butter and 4 tablespoons of the cream. Beat in a little more cream by dribbles if you think the potatoes will take it, but mixture must be fairly firm so that it will hold its shape when formed. Beat in the salt, pepper, and nutmeg; taste carefully and correct seasoning as necessary. Set potato pan in pan of hot water.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: Potatoes must be warm if you are to form them smoothly and easily. If you are not quite ready, cover pan partially and beat rather frequently with a wooden spoon. Note that warm potatoes are never covered airtight; a slight circulation of air prevents them from developing an off taste.
2) Forming a fluted border of pommes duchesse
A wooden spoon
The warm pommes duchesse mixture
A rubber spatula
A 12- to 14-inch canvas pastry bag with ¾-inch cannelated nozzle
A lightly buttered, flameproof serving platter, such as a 12- by 14-inch oval
Vigorously beat the warm potato mixture to be sure it is smooth and pliable, then scoop into pastry bag. Squeeze out into a decorative design around the edge of the platter.
Use a winding ribbon design, for instance, and add rosettes if you wish. When you have a small pastry bag and run out of potatoes rather quickly, rosettes hide breaks in the pattern.
2 to 3 Tb finely grated Swiss or Parmesan cheese
3 to 4 Tb melted butter
Sprinkle the potatoes with a dusting of cheese and dribble on melted butter. (Although egg glaze may be used and gives better over-all color, we do not like the taste and texture of egg film when it has hardened over the browned potatoes.)
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: Set aside; cover loosely when cool and refrigerate.
3) Browning and serving
Either bake in upper third of a preheated 400-degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes until lightly browned, or brown slowly for 5 minutes or so under a slow broiler. Browning under the broiler leaves a moister texture but you must watch carefully that the potatoes do not burn. Once browned, serve as soon as possible because the potatoes will taste dry and stale if cooled and reheated.
VARIATIONS
Individual Nests or Mounds of Pommes Duchesse
Using the same general method as described in the Master Recipe, flute individual nests of the potato mixture on buttered heatproof serving dishes, shells, or plates; sprinkle the potatoes with cheese and melted butter, and brown as described in Step 3. For individual mounds squeeze the potatoes out on a buttered baking sheet and proceed in the same manner, lifting them off with a spatula for serving.
Pommes Duchesse au Fromage
[Cheese Flavored Pommes Duchesse]
For cheese-flavored pommes duchesse, which you may use in any of the preceding or following suggestions, beat ⅓ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese into the finished potato mixture in Step 1 of the Master Recipe (1 tablespoon of cheese for every cup of the potato mixture). In this case, because the cheese is strong, you may use instant mashed potatoes, adding the minimum amount of liquid suggested on the package, so that you may beat in enough cream to give the potatoes flavor and interest without making them too soft to form.
Galettes de Pommes Duchesse
[Mashed Potato Pancakes from the Leftovers]
Leftover pommes duchesse is delicious when formed into cakes and sautéed in butter. This works for b
rowned pommes duchesse but is more successful with the uncooked mixture, and although you may bake rather than sauté the potatoes, which is easier to do, much the best flavor and texture comes from sautéing.
For a dozen 3-inch cakes, serving 4 to 6 people
About 2 cups of the pommes duchesse mixture, Step 1 in preceding Master Recipe
1 cup dry, not-too-fine crumbs from nonsweetened, homemade-type white bread
A sheet of waxed paper on a tray
5 to 6 Tb clarified butter (melted butter, skimmed; clear liquid butter spooned off milky residue)
A large (11-inch) frying pan, preferably no-stick
A buttered baking sheet
If the potato mixture is freshly made, let it cool. Either rolling and patting them in the lightly floured palms of your hands, or forming them on waxed paper with a wet rubber spatula, make smooth cakes of the potato mixture 3 inches in diameter and ¾ inch thick. As each is formed, place it on the bread crumbs, heap crumbs on top, pat a thin layer in place, and arrange the cakes in one layer on waxed paper.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: If you are not going to sauté them immediately, cover and refrigerate; they will keep perfectly well until the next day.