As featured on Recipe Club's Easter episode

Gratin Dauphinois
Jami Witek

Jami’s notes appear below in italics.

The original recipe I used for this dish comes from The Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer. I think that book is like the Bible for a lot of hesitant home cooks like me, so that was my starting point. After a few trials and some consultation with other websites, I did end up changing things up a bit. The original recipe has you cook the potatoes in milk and half-and-half, then pour everything into a baking dish and top with Gruyère. I thought the dish could use a little more flavor, so I used heavy cream; added thyme; and swapped in Comté and Parmesan. I also changed the method a bit. It’s not the prettiest dish in the world, but my very picky kids think it’s delicious.

Serves 4–6

2 C heavy cream
1 C whole milk
2 tsp salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
Pinch of freshly grated or ground nutmeg
3 sprigs thyme
2 cloves garlic, halved
1 Tbsp butter, softened
2 lbs baking potatoes, peeled and very thinly sliced
1 C grated Comté cheese
¼ C grated Parmesan

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. In a saucepan over medium heat, bring heavy cream, milk, salt, pepper, nutmeg, garlic, and thyme to a boil then turn off the heat and let steep for 45 minutes. 

3. Coat your baking dish with softened butter. I use a 3½-quart braising pan. The size of the pan matters, because you want to make sure the potatoes are mostly submerged in liquid but still poking out a bit. 

4. Combine the steeped cream and potatoes in a large mixing bowl, and toss to fully coat the potatoes.

5. Arrange a single layer of potatoes in the baking dish, then top with ⅓ of the cheese. Repeat two more times, then top with any remaining cream. 

6. Cover and bake for 45 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Uncover and continue to bake for 20 minutes until the top is bubbly and golden-brown. It will still be liquidy, so it’s important to let it rest for another 15 minutes or so before serving.