The recipe for such an amazing dish (as historians say) comes from distant Catherine’s times. The great Catherine regaled this dish of one of her beloved count. French culinary recipe in many sources is attributed to her. Then for some time the dish was undeservedly forgotten. And already in our modern world, it was able to regain a second life. The most delicious French fries, cooked with a soul, has become versatile and not too difficult to prepare.
Noble potato
Why, then, exactly in French, is this dish prepared in France? No, of course, in this country, meat under a potato layer, covered with a delicious crispy flavorful cheese crust, is not popular. But you must admit how elegant it sounds! And it’s not embarrassing to pronounce the name in front of dear guests; serving at the table is not at all shameful. Let's not delve into the past and look for the real or fictitious historical roots of this roast. Let's just learn how to cook potatoes in French. Because at the festive dinner, praise will not be given to Catherine and the French, but to a smart and beautiful hostess of the house who is preparing such a wonderful dish.
Treat yourself to this gourmet dish.
Before serving this delicious and aromatic roast, you need to traditionally prepare a dish some time before you put it to the praise of your guests and home. That is, prepare several options for this casserole and choose the best one for your case. French-style potato recipes in the oven may have slight variations regarding the ingredients in the dish. Maybe you will like the option with tomatoes or with the addition of fragrant garlic. Maybe instead of pork you would prefer a chicken recipe.
Timeless classic
Let's first look at the most common French fries. A step-by-step recipe allows you to watch out for nothing. You might want to add something to the recipe after the first tasting of this roast.
Popular Holiday Casserole Recipe
Products are given in small proportions. This is exactly what you need for a “pen test”:
- Potatoes - approximately 7 pcs.
- A slice of butter (1/5 pack in 200 g). You can feel free to replace it with vegetable. This oil is used to lubricate the mold. If you decide to use vegetable oil, then it will be about a third of a glass.
- Pork loin - 25-400 gr.
- One tremendous onion. Or two medium sizes.
- Mayonnaise - do not be greedy, put a decent amount of mayonnaise to make the dish more tender. 250-400 gr. Vary this quantity as you wish.
- Hard cheese - 250-300 gr. If you really like molten crisp, you can put cheese on your own, that is - more.
- Ground red pepper or the same black - to taste.
- Salt - at least 1-2 teaspoons. But with salt, as usual, there is a purely individual choice. Someone who likes a more salty version, and someone may not tolerate salt in such proportions.
French fries
Pre-wash the pork pulp and dry it with paper towels. Cut with a sharp knife into plastics of such a size that in the finished form they freely separated and did not pull another half of the dish with them. 10 x 10 cm is probably the most convenient cut size. The thickness of the pork slices is 1 cm.
Next, place the sliced ​​slices in a clean bag. Having spread out in one plane and tying it, beat the meat through the bag. The package is needed so that the meat in French does not fly around the kitchen at the initial stage of cooking. Onion, previously peeled, cut into half rings. Try to cut very thinly and accurately. Now it’s the turn of preparing potatoes. Peel the vegetable and rinse in cold water. Connect the oven so that it has time to preheat well while you are putting the dishes into shape.
In the meantime, remove a good, non-stick form of suitable volume from the cabinet. Oil it without sparing it. If you use a plant-based version, then the remains can be poured to the bottom of the form. There will be about 2 tbsp. spoons. Potatoes cut into thin slices 3-4 mm. lay the bottom of the mold. Salt a little and pepper the layer.
Now cover the potato layer with chopped meat. The meat should completely hide the potatoes. This layer again should be salted and sprinkled with pepper. Place the onion half rings on the meat base and cover them again with the potato slices. With the potato layer, perform the salting ritual again and this time thoroughly grease it with a thick layer of mayonnaise. Place the dish in a hot oven, in which the temperature is about 180 degrees. Set a timer for 40 minutes and you can go about your business all this time.
Gorgeous cheese crust
Rub the whole piece of hard cheese through a grater of any fraction. Do you like finely grated? Rub on shallow. If you want a fatter cheese crust, then rub on medium or large.
After 40 minutes, remove the mold from the hot oven and sprinkle the grated cheese with a generous hand. Now the finishing touch! Put the mold for 5-10 minutes in the oven to make the cheese beautiful and delicious. Voila! Our French fries are ready to conquer the stomachs and hearts! Bon Appetit!
Additional cooking variations
Enterprising hostesses sometimes add some additional ingredients to the classic version of the recipe. Or even replace something in the recipe. I must say that French only benefits from this. It is well known that how many people on the planet have so many tastes with preferences. So recipes with the replacement of pork with chicken meat were spread. Everything else is done without departing from the preset canons of the recipe.
With tomatoes
Sometimes, especially in the season, tomatoes cut into plastic or slices are placed in the upper final layer after the potato. Such tomatoes are covered with a thick mayonnaise layer, showered with fragrant seasonings and a lot of grated cheese is added over a layer of tomatoes. The dish is made in a pleasant sunny shade and beckons with its aroma.
Student option
Garlic is also added to French potatoes. Lovers of spicy notes in the dishes add even a lot of garlic, pouring them every layer when laying in the form. Moreover, the presence of this element does not mean that the onion is not here. Onions are in addition to fragrant garlic. It happens that instead of ordinary meat, sliced ​​in layers, any mincemeat is used. And students in general can cook this dish with sausage or sausages. Students are resourceful and funny people. They do not need to serve such a "French fries" on the table.