Laura the Gastronaut > Julia Child > Vegetables > Gratin Dauphinois

Gratin Dauphinois & Pan-Broiled Steak

April 13, 2019 | Updated August 25, 2023 | Laura

✽ Recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I | Julia Child ✽

Julia Child Recipes 6-9 | 430 recipes to go!

✽ Broiled Mushroom Caps [Champignons Grilles], p. 512
✽ Scalloped Potatoes with Milk, Cheese, and a Pinch of Garlic [Gratin Dauphinois], p. 523
✽ Parsley Butter [Beurre Maitre d'Hotel], p. 102
✽ Pan-broiled Steak [Bifteck Saute au Beurre], p. 292

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✽ Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I was written by Julia Child who co-authored with Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle and was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1961.

✽ You can buy Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I which contains these recipes here. (affiliate link)

The purpose of this Julia Child section of my blog is to document my journey of learning how to cook. To show my successes, my failures, and what I learned along the way.

Since I didn't create these recipes (if only!), I do not post exact amounts of ingredients or word-for-word instructions. If any of these recipes spark your interest, I highly recommend you buy Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking (affiliate link). It's a great investment and learning tool and contains hundreds of classic recipes.

I hope that you enjoy reading my thoughts, learn something new, and leave inspired to try a new recipe. Bon appétit!

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✽ Butter Count: +17.5 TB

✽ Cost: $30.55 [~5.09 per serving]

- Broiled Mushrooms Caps with Parsley Butter= $3.76 [1/2 pounds of mushrooms]
- Scalloped Potatoes with Milk, Cheese, and a Pinch of Garlic= $6.28 [6 servings]
- Pan-broiled Steak= $20.52 [4-6 servings]

Check out the total Julia Child butter count & cost here!

→ Looking for a different Julia Child recipe? Here's a list of all of the completed and pending Mastering the Art of French Cooking recipes!

A meal made for my boyfriend, Brian, and it did not disappoint! This was not only my first steak recipe out of the book, but my first steak to cook on the stove, well, ever. I usually let Brian cook the steaks. He’s good at it so why mess with perfection?

This meal truly was excellent. The steak is simple but cooked to perfection and covered with a delicious wine sauce. The potatoes are the perfect side- creamy, rich, and cheesy. The perfectly cooked mushrooms paired so well with the steak as did the parsley butter!

Looking for more Julia Child potato recipes to read about?

→ Check out all of the vegetable recipes that I've completed so far!

✽ Step 1: Cook Steak

This was just a simple pan-broiled steak and a very good “starter” steak for me. The steak is simply cooked in very hot butter and oil.

The hardest part is knowing when to take the meat off the heat. Julia has a lovely description of when to stop cooking. It goes something like this, “the steak is done to a medium rare the moment you observe a little pearling of red juice beginning to ooze at the surface of the steak.” You’re thinking, “Yeah right, Julia- a little pearling of red juice? Not going to happen.” Then all of the sudden- IT HAPPENS and her words come to life. Cooking never ceases to amaze me.

The steak is removed from the heat and seasoned.

✽ Step 2: Make Sauce

The sauce is also very simple to make. In the same skillet, white wine is added and the pan is deglazed. Make sure you scrabe up all that deliciousness stuck to the bottom of the pan!

Once the liquid has reduced to a syrup-like consistency, softened butter is added in, and the sauce is poured over the steak.

Alongside the steak, we had scalloped potatoes which were absolutely delicious (maybe my favorite recipe so far). My favorite thing about this recipe was the garlic. Instead of chopping the garlic and throwing into the potato mixture, you just cut a bulb of garlic in half and rub it on the dish you’re using. We didn’t think we would be able to even taste the garlic, but we were wrong yet again.

After prepping the dish, the rest of the ingredients are layered- potatoes, salt, pepper, Swiss cheese, butter, and repeat. Boiling milk is poured in, and it all bakes until the potatoes are tender and milk has been absorbed.

Five stars!

Lastly, I broiled mushroom caps. Julia teaches how to shop for all the vegetables to ensure that you are buying the freshest produce. For mushrooms, it is best to NOT see the gills of the mushroom. If you see gills, the mushrooms are not fresh. Also popping stems off the mushroom is extremely satisfying. Try for yourself!

These mushrooms are also easy to make. Once prepped, they are brushed with melted butter and seasoned. Then the mushrooms go underneath the broiled for a few minutes until lightly browned.

I went a step further and filled the caps with parsley butter.

This compound butter could not be any easier! Once the butter is creamed, lemon juice, parsley, and seasonings are beaten into it.

If you are looking for a meal to impress your significant other then look no more!

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Edit: These pictures are.. not great. I apologize. When making these early recipes I was working in an extremely tiny kitchen that had pratically zero counter space and very poor lighting. My only saving grace was that somebody once had one of those pull-out cutting boards installed. What a life saver.

I was also in pharmacy school, getting minimal sleep, working for free, completely broke, didn't know the first thing about taking photos, and knew practically nothing about French cooking (or cooking in general for that matter).

I've debated taking these old posts down but decided to keep them up because they are all a part of my journey. These photos and my written struggles remind me how far I've come. I can pretty much make some of these base recipes in my sleep now!

You don't need fancy equipment or the finest ingredients to enjoy cooking and make good food. As one of my favorite cartoon characters, Ms. Frizzle, says, "Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!"

*This blog, Laura the Gastronaut, and this post were/are not endorsed or supported by Julia Child or The Julia Child Foundation.

Category: Julia Child, Vegetables, Meat, Sauces Cuisine: French
Keywords: julia child gratin dauphinois, gratin dauphinois recipe, julia child's scalloped potatoes, julia child steak recipe

✽ Did you make this recipe too?
→ Let me know by leaving a comment below and sharing on Instagram. Tag @laurathegastronaut and hashtag it #laurathegastronaut.

More Potato Recipes:

✽ Gratin Jurassien (scalloped potatoes made with heavy cream and cheese)
✽ Gratin Savoyard (scalloped potatoes made with meat stock and cheese)
✽ Garlic Mashed Potatoes (delicious creamy potatoes made with lots of garlic)
→ Check out all of the completed Julia Child vegetable recipes!

✽ You can find this recipe and all the other Julia Child recipes I make in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I (affiliate link). Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I was written by Julia Child who co-authored with Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle and was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1961.

✽ Check out my Julia Child Recipe Checklist to see a list of all my completed and pending recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking!

Bon appétit!

April 13, 2019 by Laura Ehlers

*This Gratin Dauphinois blog post may contain Amazon affiliate links. These link to products that I personally use and recommend. If you purchase anything using my links, it will not cost you anything. It will though give laurathegastronaut.com some financial support which helps me keep this blog running. Thank you for reading my blogs and your continued support.