Old Fashion Scalloped Potatoes

This is one of those great older recipes that is easy and absolutely delicious. I love a classic recipe. They are usually easy and almost always present a unmatched wholesome taste with simple ingredients.

My wife has mentioned scalloped potatoes several times in the last month and I can eventually take a hint. I'm in the habit of not telling her what I'm cooking. I just call her for dinner. Sometimes she loves her surprise and sometimes not so much. This brought the biggest smile in a long time. A definite "Wifo" comfort food.

I based this on a food.com recipe that has a 5 star rating and came for the 1971 Florence Junior League cookbook. I didn't do much to the recipe. 4 cups of sliced potatoes became 6 medium potatoes. I used pre-shredded  not grated cheese for ease. But mostly I expanded on the instructions to simplify and make them less intimidating.

Rating

Excellent old fashion taste. Good enough that my wife dug the recipe out of my "to post" file and made a version with ham two days ago. Yep... she loves it.

Notes
What is Scalloped vs. Au Gratin? Scalloped is anything baked in a casserole with sauce that could be cheese or any other sauce. Au Gratin means "with cheese".  So this recipe could be called Scalloped or Au Gratin or Scalloped Au Gratin. Take the cheese out and just use a white sauce and you have Scalloped but not Au Gratin. Now you know.

A note on the baking dish. The thicker the dish, the longer the baking time. I used a backing dish that was 1 inch deep and it went well.

Preheat oven to 350 not convection.

Slice 5-6 medium russet potatoes about 1/8 inch. If you have crazy ninja knife skills you can do this by hand but a mandolin is a good thing here. The setting on mine for this is "thin".

Start the sauce with 3 T butter over medium heat. When melted, add 3 T flour and whisk for a few minutes. Add 1 1/2 cup milk. Frequently whisk for a couple of minutes and add 1 t salt and 1/8 t cayenne pepper. Bring to a light boil and this will start to thicken in a few more minutes.

Reduce heat to low and add 1 cup of cheese. I used sharp cheddar. Whisk until smooth and remove from heat.

Layer half of the potatoes into a casserole dish that has been sprayed with PAM. Put them in individually so they are not stuck together. Do not just dump them in.

Pour half the cheese sauce over the first half of the potatoes.

Add the second half of the potatoes, then rest of the cheese sauce. Now top with 1/2 cup of cheese. Give a light sprinkle of paprika.

Bake until potatoes are "fork tender". This will be about an hour or a little more.

Old Fashion Scalloped Potatoes

by DrDan at 101 Cooking for Two January-19-2013

This is one of those great older recipes that is easy and absolutely delicious. I love a classic recipe. They are usually easy and almost always present a unmatched wholesome taste with simple ingredients.

Ingredients

• 6 medium russet potatoes
• 3 T butter
• 3 T AP flour
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 1 t salt
• 1/8 t cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 cup chedder cheese
• a sprinkle paprika

Instructions

1) Preheat oven to 350 not convection.2) Slice 5-6 medium russet potatoes about 1/8 inch. If you have crazy ninja knife skills you can do this by hand but a mandolin is a good thing here. The setting on mine for this is "thin".3) Start the sauce with 3 T butter over medium heat. When melted, add 3 T flour and whisk for a few minutes. Add 1 1/2 cup milk. Frequently whisk for a couple of minutes and add 1 t salt and 1/8 t cayenne pepper. Bring to a light boil and this will start to thicken in a few more minutes.4) Reduce heat to low and add 1 cup of cheese. I used sharp cheddar. Whisk until smooth and remove from heat.5) Layer half of the potatoes into a casserole dish that has been sprayed with PAM. Put them in individually so they are not stuck together. Do not just dump them in.6) Pour half the cheese sauce over the first half of the potatoes. 7) Add the second half of the potatoes, then rest of the cheese sauce. Now top with 1/2 cup of cheese. Give a light sprinkle of paprika.8) Bake until potatoes are "fork tender". This will be about an hour or a little more.

Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 1 hour Total time: 1 hour 20 mins Yield: 8 serving

Updated

January 18 2013

DrDan