Chef Juliette
Suet Dumpling
Boulettes au suif, poached beside salt beef, turn equal weights of flour and finely chopped suet into tender, rich dumplings. Keep the beef liquor at a bare tremble and the old garnish works beautifully at home.
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Pommes de Terre à la Boulangère
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2206, Pommes de Terre à la Boulangère, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Pommes de Terre à la Boulangère turn lamb fat, onions, and thick potato rounds into one generous roasting-dish garnish, bronzed at the edges and tender beneath, served beside the joint that seasons them.
Side Dishes
French
Comfort Food
One Pot
Holiday
20 min
Active Time
50 min cook•1 hr 10 min total
Yield4 generous side-dish servings
Pommes de Terre à la Boulangère (baker's-style potatoes) teach the cleanest lesson in roast cookery: the garnish should drink from the joint. Thick potato rounds and onions enter the dish only after the lamb is two-thirds cooked, then its running fat seasons them while their edges bronze. The one true thing to know before touching a pan is timing. Add them at the start and the onions scorch before the meat is ready; add them too late and the potatoes remain stubborn.
The book's method lives inside Gigot à la Boulangère (No. 1307). It assumes a full joint already browned in earthenware, a generous roasting dish, and enough rendered lamb fat to moisten eight potatoes and four onions. A saucier, a stockpot kept on the fire, and a salamander contribute nothing here; the roast is the sauce, the oven does the browning, and the dish comes straight to the table. For one cook, one stove, one evening, the garnish is halved to four potatoes and two onions, keeping the book's one-to-two onion-to-potato count exactly.
The brigade-sized quantity is scaffolding and can go. The brief toss of onions in real butter, the half-inch potato roundels, the lamb fat, and the late addition around the joint are the dish, so they stay. If the lamb is ready first, lift it out and let the vegetables finish alone. Ça se rattrape. The step that decides the dish is adding the garnish only when the joint has its final third of cooking left.
Pommes de terre à la boulangère belong to France's household and cuisine bourgeoise tables, and their name points to the village baker's oven, where families sent dishes to cook after the loaves came out. The method moved naturally into home roasting dishes: potatoes and onions sat beneath or around a joint and absorbed what ran from it. Stand-alone versions often use stock, but the gigot form represented here is defined by lamb fat, not broth.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
Gigot à la Boulangère
Quantity
1 home-scale Gigot à la Boulangère (No. 1307)
browned and cooked until one-third of its cooking remains, with its rendered fat kept in the dish
large yellow onions
Quantity
2 large (about 4 cups / 600 g)
sliced 1/4 inch (6 mm) thick
large yellow-fleshed potatoes
Quantity
4 large (about 8 cups / 1.2 kg)
peeled and cut into 1/2-inch (1.25 cm) roundels
unsalted butter
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g)
fine sea salt
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 ml / 9 g)
divided
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml / 1 g)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Gigot à la Boulangèrebrowned and cooked until one-third of its cooking remains, with its rendered fat kept in the dish | 1 home-scale Gigot à la Boulangère (No. 1307) |
| large yellow onionssliced 1/4 inch (6 mm) thick | 2 large (about 4 cups / 600 g) |
| large yellow-fleshed potatoespeeled and cut into 1/2-inch (1.25 cm) roundels | 4 large (about 8 cups / 1.2 kg) |
| unsalted butter | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) |
| fine sea saltdivided | 1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 ml / 9 g) |
| freshly ground black pepper | 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml / 1 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •Shallow 13 x 9-inch (33 x 23 cm) earthenware or metal roasting dish, large enough for the referenced gigot and garnish
- •12-inch (30 cm) skillet
- •Sharp slicing knife or mandoline with hand guard
- •Basting spoon
Instructions
- 1
Reach the garnish stage
Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C), with a rack in the lower-middle position. Have the Gigot à la Boulangère (No. 1307) ready at its garnish stage, browned on both sides and cooked until roughly one-third of its cooking remains. Keep the joint in its hot roasting dish and retain every spoonful of rendered fat; that fat is the preparation's cooking medium and seasoning.
The roasting dish should hold the joint and vegetables without burying the potatoes in deep layers. Broad and shallow gives the fat room to coat them and the oven room to colour them. - 2
Toss the onions
Melt the butter in a 12-inch (30 cm) skillet over medium heat. Add the onions with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and toss them for 5 to 7 minutes, until they soften slightly and acquire a few pale golden edges. Stop there. This is not a caramelization; the onions still have a final roast ahead of them, and taking them dark now leaves them bitter later.
- 3
Cut even roundels
Peel the potatoes and cut them crosswise into roundels exactly 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) thick. Check the first slice against a ruler, then use it as your guide. Even thickness matters more than speed because every round must become tender at the same moment. Season the potatoes with the remaining salt and the pepper.
- 4
Build the garnish
Spread the buttered onions around the joint, scraping their butter into the roasting dish. Settle the potato roundels over and among them in a loose, slightly overlapping ring, preferably no more than two layers deep. Spoon the hot lamb fat from the dish over every exposed potato. If the joint has yielded very little, use every trace of butter from the onion pan to carry what fat there is; do not add stock, because in this preparation the joint itself moistens the garnish.
- 5
Finish the roast
Return the dish to the oven. After 25 minutes, rotate it and baste the potatoes with the fat gathered at the bottom. Continue roasting for 10 to 20 minutes, until a knife enters the centre of a potato without resistance, the exposed faces are deep butter-gold, and the onions are amber at their edges. If the lamb reaches its proper doneness first, lift it to a board and let the potatoes finish in the dish. If the potatoes colour before their centres soften, lower the oven to 375°F (190°C), cover the dish loosely for 10 minutes, then uncover it for the final 5 minutes. Ça se rattrape.
- 6
Serve from the dish
Rest the lamb as its preparation directs, then return it to the centre of the roasting dish if it was removed. Spoon away only an excessive pool of clear fat, leaving the potatoes properly glazed, and taste one for salt. Carry the same dish to the table, including every bronzed onion caught along its edges. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Choose a yellow-fleshed, all-purpose potato such as Yukon Gold. It becomes creamy inside while keeping the roundels intact; a very floury potato can collapse before the dish reaches the table.
- •Keep the full half-inch thickness given by the book. Thin slices cook faster, certainly, but they become a different garnish, crisp and fragile rather than substantial enough to receive the lamb fat.
- •Serve the potatoes in their roasting dish. Transferring them leaves the best browned onions and concentrated juices behind, which is a rather elaborate way to discard the point of the preparation.
- •Leftovers keep for up to three days in the refrigerator. Reheat them uncovered at 400°F (200°C) until the edges regain their colour and the fat shines again.
Advance Preparation
- •The onions may be sliced, tossed in butter, cooled, and refrigerated up to four hours ahead. Bring them near room temperature before adding them to the hot roasting dish.
- •The potatoes are best cut shortly before roasting. If they must be prepared earlier, hold them in cold water for up to four hours, then drain and dry them thoroughly so water does not hinder browning.
- •Time this preparation from the garnish stage of the referenced gigot. The potatoes need about 35 to 45 minutes after they enter the roasting dish.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 380g)
Calories
435 calories
Total Fat
17 g
Saturated Fat
9 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
7 g
Cholesterol
27 mg
Sodium
915 mg
Total Carbohydrates
67 g
Dietary Fiber
9 g
Sugars
10 g
Protein
8 g
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