Gratin Savoyard — Alpine Potato and Cheese Gratin

Ingredients

• 1 kg waxy potatoes, peeled, sliced 3 mm on a mandoline
• 200 g Beaufort, or Comté or Abondance; grated or thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, halved, for rubbing the dish
• 30 g unsalted butter, some for the dish, remainder dotted over the surface
• 500 ml chicken or beef stock, well-flavoured and warm when poured
• to taste fine salt and black pepper, for seasoning each layer
• to taste whole nutmeg, freshly grated over each layer

Method

1. 1
   Heat the oven to 180 °C. Rub a gratin dish vigorously with the cut garlic clove, then butter it generously. The dish is ready when the garlic scent is distinct and the butter coats the surface evenly.
2. 2
   Peel the potatoes and slice them to exactly 3 mm on a mandoline. Uniform thickness is essential: slices of uneven depth will cook at different rates. The cut surface should be smooth and translucent.
3. 3
   Layer the potatoes in the prepared dish, distributing the Beaufort evenly between every layer — not concentrated on top. Season each layer with salt, pepper, and a fresh grating of nutmeg. This is where the dish lives or dies: cheese layered throughout ensures every stratum is savoury and bound; cheese reserved for the surface alone leaves the potato layers beneath bland and dry.
4. 4
   Pour the warm stock over the layers until it reaches three-quarters of the way up the potatoes. Dot the surface with butter. The stock level should be clearly visible at the three-quarter mark — no higher, or the gratin will be soupy.
5. 5
   Bake at 180 °C for 60 to 70 minutes. The gratin is done when a knife slides through all layers without resistance, the stock has been fully absorbed, and the surface is a thick, bubbling, deeply golden-brown crust of melted cheese.
6. 6
   Remove from the oven and rest for 10 minutes before serving. When cut, distinct potato layers should be visible, each separated by a thin, savoury seam of melted cheese; the interior should be moist but not wet.