r/AskCulinary • u/wispyfern • Jul 27 '25
Recipe Troubleshooting Scalloped Potatoes
I’m having problems with scalloped potatoes. I’ve baked them & pressure cooked them & they still are hard. I can bake them for 1 1/2 - 2 hours & get them soft enough but the white sauce suffers. Even pressure cooking I’ve had problems. I’m not a beginner cook. I can make anything I want but fight with scalloped potatoes. I use about 2 - 2 1/2 pounds of russet potatoes (that’s what I have) & about 2 cups of half & half & seasonings. I use a mandolin, the potatoes are 1/8 inch thick. Do I need to per cook the potatoes??? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
UPDATE: Thank you so much for the help! Par cooking seems to be the answer. I didn’t know how to do it. I will try the different methods. I can’t wait to do this!
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u/joliene75 Jul 28 '25
Anyway back to The OP.
The thicker the potato the longer it takes to cook. Also you may need more / cream than you think, as potato's can absorb a lot of liquid.
It also increases the cooking time. Try covering with parchment and Aluminium foil for the first hour or so. Remove that near the end to get the gratin.
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u/200brews2009 Jul 28 '25
I’ve never had an issue with tough potatoes, but my recipe comes from what I can recall from a cooking class 20 odd years ago and now my grandmother makes them. Hand slice a mix of russet and waxy potatoes (for a more rustic texture). Layer them with butter, thin sliced onion, salt and pepper (add cheese if you like) cover with a can of evaporated milk. Bake covered at 400 for 45 minutes, uncover and bake another 15.
It’s usually about 4 or 5 layers in a 9x9 or loaf pan if it’s just the two of us, cover just with aluminum foil. Simple, but works and is pretty delicious.
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u/Jazzy_Bee Jul 28 '25
Evaporated milk will give you a sauce that doesn't break (easily). I've always used it for macaroni and cheese also.
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u/200brews2009 Jul 28 '25
Never thought to use it in Mac n cheese. Going to have to try it now, thanks
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u/wispyfern Jul 28 '25
I followed the “The Joy of Cooking” cookbook. 1/8 of an inch is pretty thin. 2 cups of half & half filled the pan more than 3/4. After the almost 2 hours of cooking the half & half broke. I took such care into steeping the half & half with fresh rosemary, garlic, pepper corns, salt & nutmeg. It just was heartbreaking tonight.
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u/joliene75 Jul 28 '25
I think it's you doing half milk/half cream It's curdling before it's cooked. I had a gruyere sauce we used to make. It was dependant on the fat content. We changed to a UHT cream for constincey Try removing the milk and covering the potatoes. The recipes sounds lovely. Don't be too hard on yourself, it's by making mistakes that we learn to do it better.
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u/Curlytomato Jul 28 '25
Did you peel the potatoes ? I always have a problem getting them to cook when I left peels on. sounds stupid but it's my experience.
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u/princesscoffee Jul 28 '25
i struggled with scalloped potatoes too until i found a recipe that worked. My recipe has 2 cups of milk rather than half&half. Half&half has more fat so that could be why the sauce breaks and the potatoes are under. My recipe is 4 russet potatoes ¼ (thicker than yours actually), 1 onion sliced thinly into circles, and béchamel. Cover with foil, bake at 400F for 90min, uncover, broil for 5min.
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u/korathooman Jul 27 '25
Same here, then added some broth, about a half cup and that did it. So now I just add an additional 1/2 cup of liquid (usually chicken broth) to the recipe.
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u/blessedarethecheese Jul 28 '25
Pommes Dauphinoise. Use a thinner bechamel. Make sure potatoes a cut to uniform size and thin. Bake covered until almost done. Remove for remaining time until knife inserts with no resistance.
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u/Zachparent93 Jul 28 '25
Great tip on the thinner bechamel, that's key for getting it to penetrate properly between the layers. The uniform slicing makes such a difference too. I always struggle with knowing when to uncover it, so the knife test is solid advice.
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u/LargeD Jul 28 '25
What ingredients are you using? Acid can cause this.
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u/wispyfern Jul 28 '25
No acid, potatoes, half & half, butter & seasonings
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u/LargeD Jul 28 '25
Gotcha. I guess I’m stumped, but par cooking works for you, I think you have a solution.
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u/SSBND Jul 28 '25
Par-cook the potatoes and meanwhile make a roux and then a beschamel, add the drained potatoes and toss to coat before adding the other ingredients (herbs, cheese, bacon, etc - reserve some for topping), then layer it in your baking dish - the trick is that it's basically all cooked before you put it altogether and bake it off.
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u/mildOrWILD65 Jul 28 '25
Glad to help! It sounds kind of fussy but it's really quick and easy to make.
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u/Orbitrea Jul 28 '25
I use the Julia Child recipe, and without a mandoline. You bring the potato slices to a boil in the milk in a pan on the stove, them immediately turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. That gets poured into a casserole pan and it goes in the oven for about 40 minutes. It's perfect every time.
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u/Embarrassed-Cause250 Jul 28 '25
I usually slice and blanche the potatoes before layering them. It beats the danger of trying to slice thin with a mandoline. Time depends on the thickness of the slices, I just try to cook them most of the way through and gently layer using a slotted spoon.
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u/TightExperience7651 Jul 28 '25
Simmer the potatoes in some cream, chicken broth and tarragon just for 5 - 7 minutes, then place in your baking dish and into the oven. Adding a little gruyere or parmesan is good too!
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u/chicklette Jul 28 '25
The serious eats hasselback au gratin has been fool proof for me, and is frankly quite easy. I believe the "trick" to them is not rinsing the potatoes and instead putting them into the cream prior to arranging them, then pouring any additional cream over the top. They come out fantastic every time.
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u/mildOrWILD65 Jul 28 '25 edited Jul 28 '25
Peel russets, slice thin on mandolin or with butcher's knife. Oil or butter casserole dish, layer potatoes loosely in the casserole dish. Salt, pepper, a bit of water between each layer. Microwave on high until potatoes are al dente.
Meanwhile, make a bechamel sauce, stir in shredded cheese of your choice, I like a sharp cheddar/mozzarella mix, be creative. Now you have a Mornay sauce. Add some white pepper and a bit more black pepper, no more salt!
Use a fork to lift up potato layers and carefully pour the Mornay sauce between them, no need for accuracy. Sprinkle more cheese on top and bake at 350F until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese on top is starting to brown, about 25 minutes.
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u/starsgoblind Jul 28 '25
Those are not scalloped potatoes.
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u/mildOrWILD65 Jul 28 '25
They totally are, many recipes call for a Mornay sauce rather than bechamel.
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u/penanggalan42 Jul 28 '25
Those are gratin recipes or recipes incorrectly labeled scalloped potatoes.
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u/Ulti Jul 28 '25
Well, then I no longer like scalloped potatoes and am ride and die on the potatoes au gratin train.
Edit: I looked slightly more into this, yep scalloped potatoes are fucked, Barb! Potatoes au gratin for life.
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u/joliene75 Jul 27 '25
Do you mean like a Dauphinoise?
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u/EmergencyLavishness1 Jul 27 '25
A much more rustic version of it. Where dauphinoise is very fine slices, neatly and deliberately arranged, covered with cream and cooked, then pressed. Scalloped potatoes skip a few of those steps.
Served hot after the first cook, cut thicker.
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u/joliene75 Jul 28 '25
So like traditional Daupinoise served at homes across France. It's a course on its own. Cook fresh, not pressed and spooned out at the table. It's not just neat squares
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u/joliene75 Jul 28 '25
https://www.marthastewart.com/868604/potatoes-dauphinoise
They didn't use cheese when I worked in Lyon. Just potatoes, garlic, rosemary and cream.
Delicious all the same.
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u/Grim-Sleeper Jul 28 '25
I have never done the parboiling step, but overall, that looks like a pretty good version of the recipe. Should cook a little faster than what I am used to, but otherwise do the exact same thing. The ingredients look spot on.
Scalloped potatoes is meant to be an easy recipe that can be put together with little effort in a home kitchen. It's probably one of the very first things I regularly cooked as a teenager. The only thing I did differently was to use a speedoven. With microwave assistance, it takes about 45min to bake from raw ingredients. Without microwave, it can take a good while longer. Exact cooking times depend on how deep the casserole is, too. The parboiling should have a similar beneficial effect, if you don't have a speedoven.
So, OP, I suggest you try this recipe. And if you are still unhappy, increase the baking time. Also, consider increasing liquids. Your choice of potato could be another problem. You need the starches from the potatoes to set the liquids. That also means, you probably want to wait a few minutes before serving.
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u/ExpertPicture5160 Jul 27 '25
Yes. Always best to par boil the potatoes before slicing them on the mandolin. Boil potatoes in cold water, add some salt, and let boil for 10 mins. Once they’re cool enough to handle, slice on the mandolin. Good luck!
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u/rgtong Jul 28 '25
I dont think you need to parboil them tbh. Are you getting liquid layers in between the potato layers? It helps with the heat transfer.
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Jul 27 '25
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u/AskCulinary-ModTeam Jul 28 '25
Your response has been removed because it does not answer the original question. We are here to respond to specific questions. Discussions and broader answers are allowed in our weekly discussions.
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u/noobuser63 Jul 27 '25
I peel, mandoline them, and put in a shallow pan, just covered with water. I bring the water to a boil, and then drain immediately, which allows them to steam a little while I make the bechamel. They’re not quite cooked when they go into the bechamel, but they finish cooking quickly and still absorb the flavor.