Pommes de Terre Gratinées

Pommes de terre gratinées (potato purée beneath a browned cheese crust) teach the true purpose of a gratin: the potatoes are cooked before the final fierce heat. The oven doesn't cook them twice. It forms a quick, savoury crown while the purée remains soft beneath it. Begin with hot, thoroughly dried potatoes. That is the one true thing to know before touching the pan.

The source assumed a service kitchen where purée could be passed through a drum sieve, a fierce oven never lost heat, and a salamander waited to colour the surface at the last moment. At home, a potato ricer replaces the sieve, an upper oven rack and a brief broiler finish replace the salamander, and the brigade batch becomes four generous portions. Equipment and quantity changed. The smooth purée, grated cheese mixed with fine bread raspings, melted butter, and immediate service remain, because those steps are the dish. One cook, one stove, one evening.

Choose the buttered gratin dish for weeknight ease, or refill the baked half-shells when you want each person to receive a crisp-edged portion. Both forms depend on the same point: dry the cooked potatoes before adding the milk and butter. Get that right and the purée stays light beneath its bronzed crust.