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Potatoes and Cheese (Every one likes this)
Every one likes this nourishing dish, and it is a cheap one. Peel some potatoes and cut them in rounds. In a fireproof dish put a layer of these, sprinkle them with flour, grated cheese, pepper, salt, a few pats of butter. Then some more potatoes, and so on till the dish is full. Beat the yolks of two eggs in a pint of milk, add pepper and salt and pour it over the dish. Leave it on the top of the stove for five minutes, then cook it for half-an-hour in a moderate oven. Less time may be required if the dish is small, but the potatoes must be thoroughly cooked. The original recipe directs Gruyere cheese, but red or pale Canadian Cheddar could be used.
A gratin of sliced potatoes in a custard of egg yolk and milk, with the quantities left almost entirely to the cook. Two things need attention: the thickness of the slices and the honesty of the half-hour.
- Moderate ovenRead this as 350F. The dish benefits from being covered for the first two-thirds of the baking and uncovered at the end to brown.
- Slice thin, or the timing failsHalf an hour at 350F will cook potatoes cut about 1/8 inch thick, and then only in a shallow dish; thicker slices will need appreciably longer. Cut them on a mandoline or with a steady hand. The recipe's own warning stands above everything else in it: the potatoes must be thoroughly cooked, and a knife should meet no resistance before the dish leaves the oven.
- The pint of milkAn English pint of 20 fl oz, this being a London book of 1915. Use 2 1/2 cups, and enough to come just to the top layer of potatoes rather than flooding them.
- Fireproof dishA shallow earthenware or enamelled gratin dish that can go from burner to oven. If yours cannot take direct heat, warm the milk and yolks in a saucepan instead and pour it over hot; the five minutes on the top of the stove appears to do no more than take the chill off the custard.
- Flour and cheeseNo quantities given. About a teaspoon of flour and a generous handful of grated cheese per layer is right; the flour is there to thicken the milk, not to make a sauce, so keep it light or the finished dish turns pasty.
- Cheese choiceGruyere as directed, and it is the better answer because it melts smoothly and does not go oily. Aged Cheddar gives more bite but can break; grate it fine and it behaves. Roughly 6 to 8 oz for a family-sized dish.
- Egg yolksTwo yolks in 2 1/2 cups of milk set very softly, which is the intention: this is a moistened gratin, not a quiche. It will still be a little loose when hot and firms as it stands. Give it ten minutes out of the oven before serving.
- YieldAbout 2 lb of potatoes serves four as a main course with a salad, six as a side; use a shallow dish small enough that the pint of milk comes up to the top layer.
The Belgian Cook Book was compiled by Mrs. Brian Luck in 1915 from recipes gathered from Belgian refugees who had fled the German invasion, and sold in aid of relief funds; the note that Canadian Cheddar could stand in for Gruyere is the editor's, added for wartime British kitchens. The headnote insists that the dish is cheap and nourishing, the two qualities most wanted in 1915. Layered potato gratins of this kind are common across the French-speaking regions of Belgium and eastern France.