Tonight in #CookingForLieutenants, we cook scalloped potatoes, one of those hearty dishes that has a soft spot in my Gen X heart. My first introduction to it was the Betty Crocker box, which my mom would would make after work, & spruce up with Spam or hot dogs.
The disclaimer I add for each of these threads: this is a 101 level course, foodies looking for some molecular gastronomy thing please look elsewhere. I’m just trying to teach good food to those who aren’t culinarily inclined.
Ingredients:
4-5 medium sized potatoes
1 medium yellow onion
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp all purpose flour
1 cup whole milk or half & half
Salt, pepper, & herbs to taste
The beauty of this dish is its simplicity.
4-5 medium sized potatoes
1 medium yellow onion
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp all purpose flour
1 cup whole milk or half & half
Salt, pepper, & herbs to taste
The beauty of this dish is its simplicity.
Sorry. Forgot the cheese. I used a pre-sliced pack of organic cheddar that I crumbled, but a bag of pre-shredded cheddar works just as well.
Chop the stems off the onion, cut in half, then cut in half again. Set aside for later. Cut thin slices perpendicular to the first cut. Set aside for later. 
Roux is magical, but it isn’t sorcery. It’s the basic thickener for every sauce in classic French cooking. In a small sauce pot, melt the butter over low heat. Add the flour & whisk until it’s completely incorporated. The desired result is yellow sludge.
Slowly add the half & half - this is what I use, feel free to add something with a lower fat content like low-fat milk. Whisk over medium heat until the cream is completely mixed into the roux.
While still whisking over medium heat, slowly add all of the cheese. In my case, 3 slices of cheddar. Or 2/3 of the bag of pre-shredded cheese. Bring to a simmer & this is your desired consistency. Season with salt, pepper, & herbs to taste.
Remove the pot from heat as soon as you’ve achieved this consistency. Congratulations, you’ve made béchamel. Set it aside for now. Please don’t over-salt at this stage, since you’ve also added a salty cheese.
Peel your potatoes. At this stage, you can use a mandolin to cut 1/4” slices, or trust your knife skills, but I’ve been doing this for a while now & can’t remember the last time I used a mandolin.
Use cooking spray to coat a (preferably ceramic or glass) baking pan. I’ve seen recipes that use either butter or lard, but my EVOO spray seems to work best. Line the bottom with potatoes. Then top with a layer of onions.
Your oven should be pre-heated to 375° by now. Add half the béchamel. Then another layer of potatoes & onions. Then the rest of the béchamel. Cover with foil & bake for 1 hour.
After 1 hour, remove the foil, add one last layer of cheese on top, then return the baking pan to the oven for another 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes, I usually crank up the heat to broil, just to caramelize the cheese on top.
Et voilá. Remove from the oven & let it sit for about 10-15 minutes. This will allow for any excess liquid to boil off, & for everything in the pan to bind.
Hopefully, you’ve got enough leftovers for a few days, unless you’re like me & have a tween with an appetite that is somehow never sated. Or, you doubled the recipe because you are feeding a tween or teen. 🤷🏻♂️
Regardless, this is what it looks like when plated.
As ever, my two toughest critics approved.
Here endeth the lesson.
Suggestions for the next #CookingForLieutenants? Mind you, it has to satisfy not just a single person in their 20s (like the actual lieutenants for whom I initially created this thread), but also the discerning 11 & 8 year old children of a chef.
Yeah, they hated it.
