Well, first of all, what IS a shredded potato gratin? It’s a dish first created by renowned French chef, Julia Child. Straight from the pages of MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH COOKING, it’s a beautiful combination of potatoes au gratin and rösti. Like rösti, the potatoes are peeled and coarsely grated.

Then, like potatoes au gratin, the potatoes are baked in a luxurious sauce made with onion, cheese, eggs, cream, and the herbs of your choice. After 30 minutes in the oven, you’ve got a beautiful dish that tastes as good as it looks and smells.

I first learned about this exquisite recipe from recipe developer and dietician, Sara Haas. She says it’s a simple recipe, perfectly written, but a few things might help with your success. First, get organized. You’ll have to sauté onions before adding them to the sauce. You can get them started right away. Keep the heat low and stir them occasionally so they don’t brown.

As for the other sauce ingredients, have them prepped and ready to go (aka mise en place) before you start making the recipe. This will make it easier to just grab and dump. Sara says she found that her potatoes needed a bit more than a quarter teaspoon of salt, so she scattered another quarter teaspoon across the top before serving. And since she wanted her potatoes more golden brown, she kept them in the oven for 40 minutes total. I would do the same.

Let’s talk a minute about this recipe needing “a bit more than a quarter teaspoon of salt.” Back when MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH COOKING was published (64 years ago—1961), folks weren’t as habituated to fast food as we are today.

And what does that little incidental mean? Palates weren’t conditioned to want extra salt then, as they are now. So a quarter of a teaspoon of salt in 1961was just fine for this recipe. But according to research, 6 decades of regular fast-food dining has changed our taste buds. The high sodium content of these food-like substances (a term Michael Pollan, author of FOOD RULES and THE CARNIVORE’S DILEMMA, coined) has conditioned us to want more salt—and then even more. Tone down the salt, and good luck pleasing your family diners.

Maybe, though, toning it down is what we ought to do. Studies show today’s high-sodium diets pose significant health risks, as they can lead to high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, and kidney damage. This is because excess sodium causes the body to retain water, increasing blood volume and pressure on blood vessels. Regularly consuming these diets also increases the risk for other issues like dehydration, swelling, acid reflux, and may negatively affect memory and long-term health.

It's just “food for thought;” I’ll get off my soapbox now and close with Julia’s recipe for her Shredded Potatoes Gratin. But I do so with this suggestion: how about making it with just that “quarter teaspoon of salt” as a way to start weening ourselves off this tasty but risky ingredient? More “food for thought.”

Julia's Potato Gratin

Ingredients:

1/2 cup minced onions
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
5 tablespoons butter divided
4 large eggs
1 clove garlic crushed
2 tablespoons minced parsley
2/3 cup grated Swiss cheese
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 pinch black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 medium-sized russet potatoes

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.

2. Sauté onion in olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter in a medium skillet over medium-low heat for 5 minutes or so, until tender but not browned.

3. Beat eggs in mixing bowl with garlic, parsley, cheese, cream, pepper, and salt.

4. Stir the softened onions into the egg mixture.

5. Peel potatoes and grate them on the large holes of a box grater. A handful at a time, squeeze out any excess water from the potatoes. Stir the potatoes into the egg mixture.

6. Place 2 tablespoons butter in an 11- to 12-inch baking dish or skillet and put the dish in the oven until the butter is melted. Pour the potato-egg mixture into the baking dish and dot with a final 1 tablespoon butter cut into pea-sized pieces.

7. Set the baking dish in the upper third of the oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the top is nicely browned.

Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.