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 Schneider
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2244, Pommes de Terre Schneider, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Hot potato rounds drink in clear consommé until nearly dry, then take butter, glace de viande, and parsley: a spare classical side whose success rests entirely on patient reduction.
Side Dishes
French
Weeknight
Dinner Party
15 min
Active Time
35 min cook•50 min total
Yield4 servings
Pommes de Terre Schneider (Schneider potatoes) teaches reduction as seasoning. The one true thing to know before touching a pan is this: boiling consommé must meet potato roundels that are still hot, so the liquid reduces around them instead of cooling the pan and soaking them to paste. This is not a potato stew. It is controlled absorption followed by a buttered glaze.
The original entry assumes Pommes de Terre à la Maître-d’Hôtel (No. 2230) is station knowledge, a saucier keeps clear consommé and glace de viande (meat glaze) ready, and another pair of eyes can watch the reduction. At home, prepare the linked potato base only through its hot-roundel stage, use good low-sodium consommé and a spoonful of real glace de viande, then work in one wide pan. A separate stockpot and formal timbale are brigade scaffolding and may go. The boiling consommé, complete reduction, butter, glaze, and parsley are the dish and must stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.
When it is right, the rounds remain intact beneath a clear amber gloss, rich with meat and butter but still unmistakably potato. Keep the pan wide, the simmer steady, and the spoon out of it. That patient reduction is the step that decides the dish.
Pommes de Terre Schneider sits in the codified Parisian grand-kitchen repertory rather than a regional potato tradition. Its method branches directly from Pommes de Terre à la Maître-d’Hôtel (No. 2230): consommé stands where milk stood, while butter, glace de viande, and parsley complete the reduction. The Schneider name survives without an identified namesake in the formula, so the honest history lies in the technique rather than a tidy invention story.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
Pommes de Terre à la Maître-d’Hôtel
Quantity
1 home-scale batch Pommes de Terre à la Maître-d’Hôtel (No. 2230), from about 5 cups sliced (1.2 L / 800 g) medium waxy potatoes
stopped at the hot-roundel stage, before its milk and finishing parsley
clear beef consommé
Quantity
2 cups (480 ml / 480 g)
preferably low-sodium
finely ground white pepper
Quantity
¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 0.6 g)
fine salt (optional)
Quantity
up to ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 1.5 g)
unsalted butter
Quantity
3 tablespoons (45 ml / 42 g)
cut into small pieces
glace de viande
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 20 g)
warmed until pourable
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
3 tablespoons (45 ml / 12 g)
finely chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Pommes de Terre à la Maître-d’Hôtelstopped at the hot-roundel stage, before its milk and finishing parsley | 1 home-scale batch Pommes de Terre à la Maître-d’Hôtel (No. 2230), from about 5 cups sliced (1.2 L / 800 g) medium waxy potatoes |
| clear beef consommépreferably low-sodium | 2 cups (480 ml / 480 g) |
| finely ground white pepper | ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 0.6 g) |
| fine salt (optional) | up to ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 1.5 g) |
| unsalted buttercut into small pieces | 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 42 g) |
| glace de viandewarmed until pourable | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 20 g) |
| flat-leaf parsleyfinely chopped | 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 12 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide 30 cm (12-inch) sauté pan
- •Small 1.5 litre (1½-quart) saucepan
- •Thin flexible spatula
- •Warmed shallow serving bowl
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the potato base
Prepare the home-scale Pommes de Terre à la Maître-d’Hôtel (No. 2230) through its hot-roundel stage. Stop before adding its milk, seasoning, or finishing parsley, because the Schneider formula replaces and completes those elements itself. Keep the roundels warm and loosely covered while the consommé comes to the boil. Cold potatoes resist the liquid at first and then break before it reduces, so hot must meet hot.
Handle the cooked roundels with a thin spatula rather than tossing them with a spoon. They should remain distinct all the way to the serving bowl. - 2
Boil the consommé
Bring the consommé to a full boil in a small saucepan. Taste it before seasoning, since packaged consommé and glace de viande can carry considerable salt. Add the white pepper and only as much salt as the liquid needs. Reserve ¼ cup (60 ml / 60 g) of the boiling consommé for correcting the reduction or butter finish.
- 3
Reduce around potatoes
Arrange the warm potato roundels in a wide sauté pan, overlapping them lightly rather than piling them deeply. Pour over the remaining boiling consommé; it should nearly cover the potatoes. Return it promptly to a steady simmer and cook uncovered for 12 to 18 minutes, tilting the pan occasionally but never stirring, until no free consommé remains and an amber glaze clings to the rounds. If the pan dries before the glaze forms, add the reserved consommé one tablespoon at a time. If the potatoes begin breaking while too much liquid remains, lift them into a warm bowl, reduce the liquid alone, then return them gently. Ça se rattrape.
- 4
Finish off heat
Remove the pan from the heat while its bottom is still moist. Add the butter in three additions, tilting and swirling after each until the reduction turns glossy, then spoon in the warm glace de viande and swirl once more. Do not stir through the potatoes. If the butter separates into a greasy pool, Ça se rattrape: add a teaspoon of the reserved hot consommé or boiling water and swirl firmly until the glaze comes back together.
- 5
Dish and serve
Lift the roundels into a warmed shallow serving bowl and spoon every trace of the reduced glaze over them. Scatter the chopped parsley generously across the top, as the original directs, rather than folding it into the potatoes. Serve at once while the butter sheen is bright and the rounds are still tender. À table!
Chef Tips
- •For the book’s medium Dutch potatoes, use medium Yukon Gold or another firm, waxy yellow potato. Floury potatoes crumble during the final reduction, while a waxy potato keeps its round shape and still drinks in the consommé.
- •Good canned or boxed beef consommé is an honest home equivalent to the stockpot a classical kitchen kept ready. Choose the least salty one available, and dilute it with a little water if it tastes fully seasoned before reduction. Reduction concentrates everything.
- •Glace de viande should be a dense reduction of gelatin-rich meat stock, not gravy or a starch-thickened sauce. If none is prepared, reduce 1 cup (240 ml / 240 g) unsalted, gelatin-rich beef or veal stock to 1 tablespoon (15 ml / about 20 g) in advance.
- •These potatoes belong beside plainly roasted beef, veal, lamb, or chicken, where their concentrated glaze can catch the carving juices. Cooking well is not cooking fancy.
Advance Preparation
- •The consommé and glace de viande can be measured up to 2 days ahead and kept covered in the cold. Warm both before they meet the potatoes.
- •Complete the referenced potato preparation and the Schneider reduction in one continuous session. Chilling the sliced potatoes between stages costs the dish its clean absorption and encourages broken edges.
- •The finished dish is best served immediately. Leftovers keep for 2 days in the cold and can be rewarmed gently with a spoonful of consommé and a small piece of butter, though the roundels will be softer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 245g)
Calories
250 calories
Total Fat
9 g
Saturated Fat
6 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
3 g
Cholesterol
25 mg
Sodium
390 mg
Total Carbohydrates
36 g
Dietary Fiber
4 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
6 g
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