Every holiday season, you wait with anticipation when the bubbling, pan of scalloped potatoes is put on the table, salivating at the thought of those creamy, cheesy potatoes to come. You giddily lift a forkful to your mouth and take a bite — only to realize with utter disappointment that the potatoes are still tough. Unfortunately, that’s a common mishap that’s befallen almost everyone who’s made that beloved dish at one time or another. Now, comes Sous Vide to the rescue. Never again will your scalloped potatoes be anything but perfectly tender, and cooked through and through. Cooking the slices of potatoes in a vacuum-sealed bag in a precision cooker also results in a more pronounced earthy, potato flavor. As much as we love all that cream and cheese, we also want to taste the actual potato, right? And if you vacuum-seal the bag with a few of the leftover potato peels inside — a trick I learned from a chef — you’ll end up with an even deeper tuber flavor. Just remove the peels before completing the dish. Best yet? Because the potatoes are already cooked before you assemble the dish and put it into the oven to bake, you need far less cream. I’ve made other scalloped potato recipes that use as much as 3 1/2 cups of heavy cream. My sous vide version? It uses just 1 cup. If that’s not an excuse to indulge in dessert afterward, I don’t know what is.
Carolyn Jung
Carolyn Jung is a James Beard Award-winning Bay Area food journalist, whose work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Every Day with Rachael Ray, Coastal Living, Via magazine, Food Arts, Edible Silicon Valley, Wine Spectator and other publications. She is the former staff food writer for the San Jose Mercury News. Her debut cookbook "San Francisco Chef's Table'' published in December 2013. She is also the creator of the acclaimed blog, FoodGal.com.