Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes (No Fail Recipe!) - The Chunky Chef (2024)

FAQs

What is the one trick Michael Symon uses to make perfect scalloped potatoes? ›

Surprisingly, aluminum foil is his secret weapon. After beautifully shingling the potatoes (he's got a genius trick for doing this quickly, too) he covers the dish in foil before hitting the oven.

Milk curdling is also tied to how much fat your dairy contains. If you are baking scalloped potatoes, you need to go all in and use whole milk, cream, or half-and-half; anything less, and your taste buds will be experiencing lumps and bumps.

The difference comes down to cheese. Scalloped potato recipes are usually baked in a basic cream sauce until soft and tender, with no cheese topping. Potatoes au gratin are a bit more decadent. They are made with lots of cheese sprinkled in between the layers of potatoes and also on top of the casserole.

What is the difference between au gratin potatoes and scalloped potatoes? Au Gratin potatoes contain cheese, whereas Scalloped Potatoes do not. Scalloped potatoes typically contain cream but can also contain flavorful stock instead of dairy.

If raw, once the potato is cut you can store in the refrigerator, covered with water for 12-24 hours. Be sure to keep submerged in water to prevent slices from turning gray or brown. Add a tablespoon of white wine vinegar or concentrated lemon juice to a gallon of water to help keep the potatoes from turning dark.

Use enough salt, pepper, herbs, or spices. This will keep the scalloped potatoes from being bland. Use a mixture of cheeses. Experiment with combining different cheeses, such as cheddar, Gruyère, Parmesan, or blue cheese.

The best potatoes to use for a homemade scalloped potato recipes like this one are baking/frying potatoes, either russet or Idaho. They have dry, light, and fluffy interiors that hold their shape when cooked. The starch in the potatoes helps to thicken the sauce while the casserole bakes.

The curdling is caused by high heat, which is hard to avoid in an oven. So to keep the sauce together, tackle it before the dish goes in the oven. Instead of simply layering grated cheese and milk or cream with the potatoes, you need to make a smooth cheese sauce.

The best way to prevent curdling in scalloped potatoes is to start with high starch potatoes, such as Russets, that will help to thicken the sauce, use very fresh cream or half-and-half rather than whole or low-fat milk, and thicken the cream with flour or corn starch to make a sauce rather than topping the ingredients ...

Therefore, the best spuds for scalloped potatoes are high-starch varieties like Russet, Yukon gold, or Idaho. To further lower the risk of curdling, you can add extra starch in the form of flour or cornstarch. Just a teaspoon or two is enough to stabilize the dairy, as well as to give you a lusciously thick sauce.

Why are scalloped potatoes called funeral potatoes? ›

Why are they called funeral potatoes? Funeral potatoes get their unique name from being a crowd-pleasing casserole served as a side dish at after-funeral luncheons (particularly in the culture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints).

Once you've chosen the right potatoes, grab a sharp chef's knife (or a mandoline, if you have one) and carefully slice them as thinly and evenly as possible—ideally one-fourth to one-eighth-inch thick. Potatoes that are too thick or thin will bake up unevenly, and you want the layers to cook up tender.

The vessel best suited for most au gratin dishes is, simply enough, an au gratin pan. It can be round, oval or rectangular, and most commonly it is about an inch and a half deep. The material can be copper, stainless steel, enameled iron, aluminum, glass.

Other ingredients can keep scalloped potatoes from curdling

Therefore, the best spuds for scalloped potatoes are high-starch varieties like Russet, Yukon gold, or Idaho. To further lower the risk of curdling, you can add extra starch in the form of flour or cornstarch.

Poke the potatoes with a fork just enough to pierce the skin so the potato won't burst when baking, especially in the microwave. Four or five times should be plenty. A potato is composed mainly of water, so poking them helps release steam as it cooks.

The two most common examples when you would need to poke them are, in the microwave (we always recommend pricking the potato with a fork so steam can dissipate into the oven cavity) or if a potato goes from refrigeration and is cold when placed into a hot 400 degrees F oven.