Hi Tim,
Sorry I did not reply earlier but I’m currently out of town.
Let’s say it wasn’t an instant success but I kept on experimenting.
Served with steak or rosbeef, with some salad or ratatouille on the side.
I’ll post a more complete answer with a few pics as soon as I’m back home.
Cheers to all!
An observation: Googling recipes for pommes Anna, pretty much every recipe assumes a foil topped pan, usually CI or nonstick. Also, cooking methods and times are all over the place. Some recipes call for parboiling and drying the potatoes. Some say how many layers, some say things like full or half full. So e specify clarified butter or ghee, and some say that whole butter that has not been clarified is fine for versions done in the oven. Some start on the stove and finish in the oven, and others use one heat source or the other, all the way through. It would be nice to find at least one proven recipe using a cocotte Anna that specified all of the various and varied details. This beautiful pan seems to be disappearing from our culinary world. I can believe that making the dish in that pan is a challenge despite the ingredients, but surely when the pan was invented, the chefs of Paris mastered it. I finally found one both nice enough and priced well enough to pull the trigger. Easter dinner will be a roast leg of lamb, asparagus, pommes Anna, a carrot cake with praline filling (from Susiecakes, makers of the best carrot cake I have ever tasted), and a good California Cab or Cab blend.
Tim. I think the eGullet prep cited above may be pan-specific. But it may be the tart Tatin…
There are a still places that have them. Many who offer them say “Not in stock.” Except for Dehillerin and one other, those offering them are really jacking up the prices. They seem to have disappeared from eBay, Etsy, and the smaller resellers.
It’s a lot of copper. You’re basically buying two, pretty large pans when you think about it.
Which would make it pretty good for multitasking.
I have yet to see a Pommes Anna pan I would say is truly large. They’re generally the sizes of a S saute, maybe approaching a M. Why would they be larger than the plate or platter the cake is turned out onto.
True, but you could make a steak, a couple of pieces of chicken, fish, shellfish, or pork in one side. You could braise a few short ribs or make stew for two. You could cook asparagus or some other vegetable in the other part. And you could do a number of potato or grain dishes in it. The only thing many cooks do not seem to like it for is pommes Anna. Go figure. A 24 cm with 3mm of copper will weigh over 10 pounds.
Two tens (or smaller) beat one twelve always have always will. Home cooks cook practically everything in vessels that are too big - two most common mistakes – too little heat, too big a pot or pan. Yes there are exceptions so the “I cook paella for 30 people all the time” crowd – I hear you. No need to stroke out.
$500 or so for a PA pan doesn’t seem that exorbitant if you’re willing to use it for other stuff.
Sure, there are many uses for this shape besides PA. Basically, it comprises two nesting sautes, sans handles. I’ve often said a PA would make an ideal desert island pan. A 2-fer…
Got a 24 for under $400. Looks brand new. 3 mm copper. Weighs over 10 and 1/2 pounds. It looks like the perfect pan for braises or tagines for two to four.
Congratulations. The condition of these pans is commonly very good because they don’t get used a lot. I hope you wear yours out!
My first PA in the new pan was delicious, a fitting accompaniment to a roast leg of lamb. The learning curve has begun. Next time a little less clarified butter and a bit longer on the stove top. Also stack them a little deeper.
I think you did well.
My wife is the only cook I’ve ever met who can make a dish perfectly the first time. She surely missed her calling. All say this for myself – she’s lucky at least to be married to somebody who knows how most of them are supposed to taste.
Well who does not love crisp exterior, fluffy cloud like interior Yukon golds bathed in clarified butter, no matter what they look like? They were a perfect foil to a medium rare leg of lamb reeking of garlic, olive oil, and oregano and plenty of tender steamed asparagus. I am a huge fan of the various juices and sauces melding as you tackle the plate. A bite of anything with butter, lamb juices, and some of the lemon squeezed onto the asparagus is marvelous. I could easily have had seconds, but the PA were gone. So I resorted to a store bought carrot cake from Susiecakes, my favorite cake. Instead of filling it with the cream cheese icing they use on top, the layers are sandwiching praline, and there is a bounty of carrot shreds, walnuts, and plump raisins. I had let the wine fridge get low, and it wax either a fruit bomb Zin or a California coast PN. The PN, Bonneau, was inexpensive, very fruity for a Pinot, but quite good. I hope your Passover/Easter meals, and all Onions’, were delicious.
Sounds delicious.
We ended up going out. My youngest daughter had acolyte duties at the Easter Vigil and on Easter Day, and I didn’t feel like fitting in cooking. I’m getting old.
If you can lay hands on them, try Desiree potatoes the next time you do the dish, if for nothing else but contrast.
Will do. I pled grandchild care to get out of Easter Vigil lector duties, went to the early service the next morning, and enjoyed the relaxation of roasting, two hours of nothing to do.
Funny how the thought of sitting through 25 baptisms can change one’s plans…
