Kicking Butt at Scalloped Potatoes

Pulling off some tasty scalloped potatoes. A recipe so easy anyone can do it. 

Of all the time consuming and kitchen messing potato dishes you can make, Scalloped potatoes are probably the most time consuming, and messy. There are more than a handful of steps, and a few pots and pans needed to pull it off, but when you do - people will talk about it.  Just about everyone loves a good scalloped potato, so take a look at this recipe that is sure to impress. 

These scalloped potatoes make an excellent side dish for the fall and winter, especially with roasts, and daring mid-winter barbecues. 

read on for the recipe!

You Need: 

• Cream, 35% is best
• Milk, 2% or anything else works
• Potatoes, Good old Russets work perfectly
• Garlic
• Onion
• Cheese - a variety helps, but cheddar at the very least
• Salt and Pepper
• Butter
• Tobasco or other hot sauce
• Worscestershire Sauce
• Cheddar Cheese
• Grated Parmesean or Romano
• More cheese to taste, 

The Process:

1. With a bowl of cold water, slice your potatoes across the short length and place them in the water to prevent oxidization.  I normally do 1 potato per person, but in this case, it's hard to do a small batch, and people will come back for seconds. Allow one and a half large potatoes, or two medium ones per person. 
2. Thickness of your potato slices should be about two dvds thick.  Remember, the thicker you slice the potatoes, the more cook time you'll need. 
3. Start a non reactive pot on the stove, large enough to hold the potatoes in your bowl of water. 
4. Chop your onions nice and small, can even mince, but it isn't necessary. 
5. On a medium to low heat, sweat your onions and garlic in a bit of butter. That means no browning. If it browns, its too hot. 
6. Add cream, and milk.  Do about 2 parts cream to one part milk.  You'll need enough just to cover your potatoes when they are in the pot.  If you have too much, we can work around that later, but aim for just enough. 
7. Slowly warm your creamy mixture, don't let the bottom brown and stick to the pot.  Season with pepper and salt.  Some professional chefs will tell you to use white pepper in a dish with white cream, but I like the taste of black pepper a lot more. 
8. Season the creamy mixture now with a dash of hot sauce, and some worcestershire.  The hot sauce won't make it spicy, it will just help your taste buds get excited when its eating time.  The worcestershire will help the flavour tie in a little better to a meat dish you're having it with. 
9. Taste your mixture. It shouldn't taste completely bland at this point, more like a simple alfredo sauce.  If its bland, add more garlic, salt, and anything else you really love. 
10. The mixture should be hot now. Mix in some shredded cheddar cheese, some grated parmesan or romano cheese goes a long way here - even the cheap stuff.  Other possible additions are some nice snow goat cheese because its very smooth, and melts nicely and adds a nice richness, and even good old Philadelphia Cream Cheese also blends really nicely. 
11. Start stirring consistently now, once your cheese is in the mixture, it will be very easy to burn and stick to the pot bottom. 
12. Start straining your potatoes from the water, allowing too much water in will dilute the flavours you've worked hard to build. 
13. Add the potatoes to the hot creamy mixture, stir constantly, keeping too many slices from staying stuck together. You want the cheesy saucy goodness to touch every side of every piece of potato. 
14. Still on low to medium low heat, heat your mixture.  When it's hot, you're ready for the next step. 
15. Using a casserole dish, glass tends to be best here because you can just grease it with some oil or butter. If you're using metals, you may want to try a sheet of parchment on it. 
16. With tongs, pull out the potato slices and place in the casserole dish. Don't have to be neat about it, just make them all sit flat. Avoid leaving big gaps anywhere. 
17. With your cheesy creamy sauce remaining in the pot, pour it over your casserole dish until its about 2/3 as high as the potatoes - thats where the glass casserole dish is also useful.  Top the potatoes with more shredded cheeses to make the nice crusty top everyone loves. 
18. All of the hard work is done now!  Into the oven you go with the casserole dish. 350F is a good temperature. If its a really large pan, go lower like 330F.  We don't want to brown or burn anything, we just want the potatoes to cook. 
19. I like to allow 1.5 to 2 hours of cooking (based on the pan size shown above). The last half hour of which, I raise the heat of the oven so we make the cheesy top layer nice and browned, or gratin'ed if you will.  You can also use your ovens broiler to brown the top instead, but be careful, it will burn fast. Broilers with power settings are useful, if you do it on a low broil at the end you can really fine tune a nice crispy brown crust with no burnt spots. 
20. If you think you're done, take a fork or a tooth pick and stick it into the centre of the dish. Leave it for just a second or two. Now touch that part of the fork to your lip.  If it feels hot to your lip, then the potatoes are done and you're ready to go. 
21. Pull your finished potatoes out of the oven and allow to sit. If you try to serve now, they will be a goopy mess falling apart on the plate because of how hot it is. Allowing it to cool will give it more 'structural integrity' and also you won't burn anyone with hot cheesy sauces this way. 

Enjoy with your meal! 

I used a lot of steps so it may seem overly complicated, but its really not at all. There are just a few key things to look out for, and when you do that, you almost can't fail.  Be careful who you make these for - they'll probably start expecting them a lot more often!