Potatoes « boulangère » (baker style)

Originally, "à la boulangère" dishes consisted of a large piece of meat or fish, with potatoes and onions. They were baked in the baker's oven. Hence the name.

Potatoes boulangère are an ideal accompaniment to roast meats, such as my perfect rosbif (roast beef), roast chicken, lamb shoulder. They can also constitute the main course, accompanied by a green salad. I have tested many variations. This one is definitely the tastiest, the most unctuous, and what does not damage anything, the most attractive to present to the guests. I adapted it from the recipe described on p 508 in Le Grand Cour de Cuisine de l'Ecole Ferrandi, the prestigious French cooking school.

It is a massive book, full of beautiful pictures that show step-by-step techniques and gestures that are elementary and essential in a kitchen. In this respect, it brings a lot to amateur cooks like me. On the other hand, some recipes are sometimes difficult or even impossible to replicate at home without adapting them. Or, as here, basic information is missing, such as temperature and cooking time, which is quite annoying. I therefore undertake to test, approve and propose an adaptation that is easy to carry out.

For 4 to 6 people

Ingredients

• 1 kg of potatoes
• 2 nice slices of non-smoked bacon, in the chest or better still on the belly. Ask your butcher to cut them thick enough to cut lardons. He's used to it. That's about 200g.=
• 1 litre of beef broth
• 50g of butter + 15g+ 15g + 25g
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 sprigs of thyme
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• - 1 bay leaf
• 5 berry pepper

Equipment

1 oven dish, oval if possible

1 saucepan

1 frying pan

1 large pan

1 colander

Oven

Skill

Time frame

2h15. 1 hour of preparation, 1h15 of cooking.

Price per person

1,5 €

Recipe

Start with the bacon. Cut the rind if it is still there: the hard layer on top. Then slice the bacon into a few pieces across the width, about fifteen. Remove cartilage if any.

Blanch the bacon: put the pieces in a saucepan, cover them with water at height, and boil the water. As soon as the water boils, a thick white foam appears. Turn off the heat immediately, drain the pieces of meat in a colander and rinse them with cold water. This operation removes superfluous salt.

Heat a pan over high heat. When it is hot, put the pieces of bacon in it, without fat: the bacon brings its own. Brown the pieces, one minute on each side, no more. Set aside in a plate covered with two layers of absorbent paper to remove excess grease.

Let's get to the potatoes. Peel them, cut them into thick slices. Rinse them in a colander to remove the starch. Put 15 grams of butter in the large pan you used for the bacon. Foam the butter over medium-high heat. As soon as it foams, put some of the potato slices in the pan, in one single layer. They must not overlap. Brown the slices, without burning them, then turn them over and brown the other side. It takes a few minutes on each side. Do it on the sight. The picture below shows the ideal colouring.

To save time, I advise you to put on two fires at the same time the pan and the frying pan that you will use later for the onions (so with 15g of butter more to put in the frying pan). You will have to brown all the potato slices in several stages. It's a little long and tedious, especially if you only use one pan, but it's worth it. For the last slices, feel free to add a little butter to the bottom of the pan if it starts to run out. Set aside the slices as you go along in a large plate covered with several layers of absorbent paper to remove the cooking butter.

Now, onions! Peel, degerm and chop the garlic clove. Degerminating it is essential, the germ gives a very bitter taste. Cut the onions in half, peel and degerm them, then chop them into thin slices. Degerminating them is not necessary, but I prefer it. A personal pest that you don't have to follow. Put 50g of butter in the frying pan and foam it over low heat. When the butter foams (not before... patience!) put the chopped onions. Add chopped garlic, thyme, rosemary and bay leaf. Gently brown the onion for 8 minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. By leaving the heat low (not more) and stirring it, you will give the onion a beautiful blond colour and let it confit in the butter, without it browning or burning, which would make it change taste, very badly.

After 8 minutes, pour the onion into a large plate covered with several layers of absorbent paper to remove excess butter.

Preheat your oven to 210°. Lay the onions at the bottom of your oven dish. With the herbs! They will keep perfuming the dish.

Then, place the potato slices vertically on top of the onion layer. Place the pieces of bacon here and there vertically between them.

Pour the beef broth into the dish at ¾ of potato height. It is possible that you have a little too much broth. In that case, freeze it in ice cube trays. You can use it a few days later, for example by adding one or more of these frozen broth cubes to the water of your rice or pasta.

Sprinkle 25 grams of butter on small pieces. I realize that caught in the making of the dish, I forgot to take a picture of this step. However, you will see in the last picture of this article what it looks like, and I will add an image of this step the next time I make this recipe.

Put the dish in the oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. The potatoes will absorb the broth and the flavour of the onions. The top of the potatoes should be golden brown, not black. If, near the end of cooking, the tops of the potatoes start to burn, simply place an aluminum foil on top. It depends on the ovens.

Take the dish out of the oven. Pepper the surface. Do not put salt, there is already a lot of it in the bacon, and too much in the broth.

Take the dish as it stands on the table, its appearance will delight the guests. All you have to do is serve them with a large spoon.