Some casserole recipes call for par boiling. I had a bad experience recently (my fault). I didn’t realize the potatoes were too wet so it affected the potato texture and the cheese sauce integrity.
I was thinking about steaming instead. Among other things, I’m wonder if steaming 3-5 lbs. potatoes might be awkward, and would it be advisable for scalloped?
there are a number of potato dishes where one must “pre-cook” - boiling/steaming/mw’ing/whatever . . . because when the dish is assembled and baked . . . raw potatoes simply don’t cook thru.
doing the ‘pre-cook’ in advance is very helpful - mostly because hot potato slices are a bit ‘fragile’ and will break up easily. plus, letting them cool also lets them dry and eliminate the sopping wet situation.
I guess that depends on how you usually prepare your scalloped potatoes / potato casserole.
When I make my potatoes au gratin, I slice them very thinly on the mandolin, so no pre- or parboiling is required. They’re in the oven for 45 min at 375, maybe a bit longer if I’m not happy with the top yet, but they always come out fork tender.
Depending on how long you steam yours, cutting them into thinner slices might be awkward, too.
I use the mandolin. About 1/8" see thru thickness. Perhaps they were in the 1/4" range before. That wont happen again.
That’s why I am curious about the steaming method, for the already scalloped sliced potatoes.
Lately, I’ve been battling potato texture. I’ll be using white potatoes this time, but I want similar results with the russets as well. Just the right waxy/creaminess for the respective potato variety. Without the slightest hint of crunch, if that makes sense, for lack of a better term.
Maybe 'm being overly cautious, but I don’t want to be disappointed again. 3-5 lbs of potatoes sound like a mountain in a dutch oven.
Steaming them first seems like unnecessary fuss for both mashed and scalloped. For roasted there’s at least a rationale for crisper outsides.
I par-cook the slices in milk, which will thicken from the potato starch during the process. Transfer to the baking dish, dot with butter, and finish in the oven. (If you’re not fussed about serving, you can use a pan that goes directly into the oven and skip the transfer.)
You can use cream if you prefer – I use whole milk and it’s rich enough for me.
one point Thomas Joseph makes is . . . using the starch from the potatoes to (help) thicken the sauce.
the starch comes off in the milk used to simmer, and then (some) of the milk becomes part of the sauce.
if you steam them, you’ll lose that element.
steaming a big pile of potato slices . . . the middle of the pile will not be cooked, as the steam does not circulate thru the heap of slices…
if you do steam them, the video show how he checks for “done” with a knife point.
are you doing mashed potatoes or potato casserole?
I cited the mashed potato stuff because I wanted to apply their steam method. I was planning to make a spicy cheese sauce, which will be combined with the potatoes after steaming,
However, that mashed potato recipe uses potato chunks, and I was concerned those scalloped slices might not be the perfect candidate, precisely for the type of reasoning you offered, which, in my interpretation, takes into account that you are creating a dense pile, unlike the cubes where the steam will be free to circulate, which also led to my curiosity about whether the heat level for steaming was significant.
If I don’t steam, I go the milk route. I was just hoping to get over these mistakes I make that leave the potatoes lacking in flavor absorption and and less than ideal texture.
