I’ve Been Making Julia Child’s 4-Ingredient Potatoes for 10 Years—My Grandma Loved Them, Too

I was lucky to inherit an amazing recipe collection from my grandmother. Some recipes are in her own handwriting; some are from her friends, written on the back of postcards. Many are clippings from The Boston Globe food section, and some are in a few of her very favorite cookbooks.

One such book is the classic, The French Chef Cookbook by culinary icon Julia Child. My grandmother was an excellent, albeit simple cook. I can tell by the look of the pages which recipes were her favorites. It seems she glossed over the complicated cassoulet and homemade croissants, but revisited one recipe often: Gratin Dauphinois, or scalloped potatoes au gratin.

Why I Love Julia Child’s Potatoes au Gratin

This potato dish is one I’ve been eating almost every holiday for as long as I can remember. It requires just four ingredients, comes together quickly, and goes with a variety of entrees. I love it with fish, roast beef, ham, and even grilled chicken or steak.

Like many French classics, this recipe’s beauty is in its simplicity. Potatoes are sliced thinly and cooked in milk, garlic, salt, and pepper. The end result is a potato that tastes just as a potato should—creamy, slightly earthy, and perfectly seasoned.  

Unlike the potato casseroles you may have tried before, this one doesn’t have much of a sauce. The potatoes absorb the milk, which gives them a bit of richness without overwhelming the delicate potato flavor. In most potato applications, I’m all for adding a hefty amount of cheese, but once you taste Julia’s, you’ll never go back to the cheesy American version again.

How To Make Julia Child’s Perfect Potatoes au Gratin

In Julia’s version of this dish, you simply heat milk and smashed garlic in an oven-safe gratin dish until it reaches a simmer. After seasoning the milk generously, a mountain of thinly sliced russet potatoes are added. After dolloping lots of butter on top, you bake the casserole for about 25 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender and the top has browned.

As for slicing the potatoes, I always use a mandoline. However, I recall watching an old episode of Julia’s TV Show, “The French Chef,” in which she points out that you can also use the side of a box grater, which frankly blew my mind—I’d never known what that side of the grater was for!

Once the potatoes are sliced, a quick soak in ice-cold keeps them from browning and removes excess starch. Once drained, you add them to the simmering milk and begin to question everything you know about cooking. It will absolutely not look right, but in Julia we trust.

It will seem as if there is not nearly enough milk to cook all of the potatoes, but like magic, each slice of potato will be perfectly cooked when the pan comes out of the oven.

I sometimes put the pan under the broiler for a minute or two to make sure the top is browned, but that’s a matter of preference. To serve, I sprinkle a little flaky salt on top and garnish the potato masterpiece with fresh snipped chives.