Scalloped Potatoes

Inspired by recipes in the Joy of Cooking (1995 edition) and The Boston Cooking School Cookbook (1941 edition)

by Ellen Stafford, Managing Editor, LKNConnect

Air Fryer Fail

What to do with a LOT of sliced potatoes when you don’t like the results of your first attempt at making potato chips in your brand-new air fryer.

I am an enthusiastic person who loves trying new things — especially when it involves cooking or baking. Recently, my husband Tony and I purchased a pressure cooker/air fryer combo. I can tell you that I LOVED the potato wedges I made using the air fryer part, thought using the pressure cooker part to make great hard-boiled eggs in a mere 5 minutes was terrific, and then … I tried potato chips. They were tasty when eaten immediately, but the majority of them were too crisp on the edges and nowhere near crisp in the middle. There is definitely a technique that I will have to learn, but I know when it’s time to take a break.

What I should also tell you is that I own a food processor. It makes short work of cutting potatoes into beautifully thin slices. It happens fast and is quite fun. It takes almost no time to slice 10 potatoes. Which was about 6 potatoes more than I needed for making potato chips … so, now what do I do with extra slices? 

Looking at my cookbooks for ideas old and new

I have a 1941 edition of the Boston Cooking School Cookbook that I inherited from my mother-in-law, Mary Beckerman. It has a simple, straight-forward recipe for scalloped potatoes that takes about 1.25 hours to bake. So, of course, I checked out my copy of the Joy of Cooking to see if there were any changes in the recipe in 50 years. I can tell you that “Joy” had some great suggestions for additions to the recipe like chives, onions or bacon, and seasoning suggestions like paprika or mustard. It also had a parboil method to pre-cook the potatoes that was supposed to shorten the baking time to 35 minutes which didn’t work for me, I still had to bake it for over an hour.

This is my version which is a combination of their recipes and it was delicious. I hope you try it.

Ingredients

4 to 6 potatoes (sliced thinly)

2 to 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 to 6 tablespoons butter

1 ¼ cups milk or cream (you may need a little more)

¼ cup scallions (cut with kitchen scissors or chopped)

4 slices cooked bacon (cut with kitchen scissors or chopped)

2 tablespoons cheese powder

salt, pepper to taste

½ teaspoon paprika

Instructions

Lightly butter a 9″ square glass baking dish. Place a layer of potato slices. Sprinkle with flour. Place small dots of butter on the layer. Sprinkle chopped scallions, bacon, and cheese powder. Add salt and pepper, if desired. Continue layering with the same ingredients until the dish is full. Do not place scallions on the top layer because they could burn. For top layer, place potatoes, a sprinkle of flour, dots of butter, and then sprinkle with paprika.

Pour milk (or cream) into dish until level with the top layer.

Bake at 350F for an hour. The top will be golden brown and the liquid will be bubbly and thickened. Take a toothpick or fork and check if the potatoes are tender. If not, bake another 15 to 30 minutes.

Let set for 10 minutes before cutting.

Soak the potatoes for 30 minutes up to 24 hours.

Dry slices and then layer in a lightly buttered dish.

Sprinkle with flour and dot with butter.

Add-ins: bacon, scallions, cheese powder.

First layer complete with cheese powder, bacon, and scallions.

2nd layer: flour, bacon, scallions and butter. I did add cheese powder on each layer (not shown).

3rd layer: I ran out of bacon, but still added flour, cheese, butter, and scallions.

4th layer: flour, cheese, butter, and scallions.

Top layer: flour, butter, and paprika

Add cream or milk until level with the top layer.

Cream level with top layer. Bake at 350F for an hour until liquid has thickened and top is golden brown.

Hot out of the oven!

Printable version of this recipe

In the Kitchen series – Scalloped Potatoes

Recipe preparation and photos by Ellen (EH) Stafford

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