TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
Hachis ParmentierFrench Beef and Potato Gratin
- Total
- 4 hr 35 min
- Difficulty
- ★★☆☆☆
- Serves
- 4 servings
- Prep 1 hr 10 min
- Cook 3 hr 25 min
Finely chopped cooked beef shank and aromatic vegetables are bound with sauce, topped with potato purée finished with butter and milk, then browned in the oven. Chop the beef with a knife rather than grinding it.
AUTHENTICITY SCORE
Authenticity Score
This is the standard recipe, exactly as it’s made where it comes from — the highest Authenticity Score possible. Substituting ingredients changes this score; the app shows exactly how, ingredient by ingredient.
Ingredients (4 servings)
100Authenticity- Raw boneless beef shank800 gUse a raw boneless shank piece suitable for simmering whole; confirm the cut with the butcher. Expected cooked trimmed yield: about 450–500 g.
- Water3000 ml1.5L for simmering beef and 1.5L for boiling potatoes.
- Onion for the stock100 gHalve.
- Carrot100 gFor the stock; halve lengthwise.
- Bay leaf1 leafFor the stock.
- Fresh thyme2 sprigsFor the stock.
- Black peppercorns6 peppercornsFor the stock.
- Fine salt23 g10g for the beef water, 8g for potato water, 3g for the sauce and 2g for the purée.
- Onions for the sauce300 g3 medium onions; mince.
- Unsalted butter130 g25g for the sauce, 75g for the purée, 20g to finish and 10g for the baking dish.
- Plain cake flour12 g1 heaping tablespoon. Use plain soft-wheat cake flour without added starch or leavening.
- Ground black pepper0.5 gFor the sauce.
- Russet potatoes750 g750 g peeled, about 850 g unpeeled. Cut into 4 wedges. Use floury russet potatoes; peel and weigh as directed.
- Whole milk150 mlFor the purée; bring to a boil before adding.
- Fine dried plain breadcrumbs20 gFor the topping. Use fine dry plain breadcrumbs; grind or sieve coarser crumbs before weighing.
Method
Start the beef and aromatics in cold water
- 1 Put 1.5L water, 800g beef shank, 100g halved onion, 100g carrot halved lengthwise, 1 bay leaf, 2 thyme sprigs, 6 peppercorns and 10g salt in a pot over high heat.
- 2 Once boiling, skim off the scum, reduce to low and maintain only a gentle movement at the surface.
Ready when
Continue when no more scum rises and the liquid moves gently.
Simmer the beef for 2 hours 30 minutes until tender
- 1 Simmer over low heat for 2 hours 30 minutes. If the liquid falls below the beef, add boiling water to keep it covered.
Ready when
Continue when a skewer enters easily and the sinew is translucent and tender.
Reserve stock and chop the cooked beef
- 1 Lift the beef onto a tray and allow to cool a little.
- 2 Strain the cooking liquid and reserve 200ml as stock.
- 3 Remove fat and tough sinew and cut the beef into 5mm cubes or chop coarsely with a knife, yielding 450–500g.
Ready when
Continue when the beef is in 5mm cubes or coarsely chopped and 200ml stock is reserved.
Tips
Grinding in a food processor removes the texture of knife-chopped meat.
Make onion sauce, cool it and mix with beef
- 1 Mince the 300g sauce onions.
- 2 Melt 25g unsalted butter over medium heat and cook the onions for 8 minutes until lightly colored.
- 3 Sprinkle in 12g cake flour and cook for 1 minute. Gradually stir in the reserved 200ml stock and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes.
- 4 Turn off the heat and leave for 10 minutes to cool, then mix in the chopped beef, 3g salt and 0.5g black pepper.
Ready when
Continue when the sauce clings to the meat and no liquid runs off a spoonful.
Caution
Boiling after adding the beef firms up the cooked meat.
Boil and strain the potatoes; finish the purée with butter and milk
- 1 Cut 750g peeled potatoes into 4 wedges each, put in a pot with 1.5L water and 8g salt over medium heat, and boil for 20 minutes after it reaches a boil.
- 2 Drain, return to the pot and shake over low heat for 1 minute to evaporate moisture.
- 3 Press through a fine potato sieve while hot.
- 4 Mix in 75g unsalted butter with a wooden spatula, gradually add 150ml boiled milk and season with 2g salt.
- 5 Meanwhile(While boiling the potatoes) Preheat the oven to 250°C.
Ready when
Continue when the purée is smooth and falls slowly from the spatula.
Layer the meat and purée; add breadcrumbs and butter
- 1 Butter an ovenproof dish about 22×28cm, holding at least 2L and at least 5cm deep, with 10g unsalted butter. Spread the meat mixture evenly.
- 2 Cover with the purée, spreading level right to the edges with an offset spatula.
- 3 Sprinkle 20g breadcrumbs evenly over the surface.
- 4 Melt 20g unsalted butter in a small saucepan and drizzle over the whole surface.
Ready when
Continue when the purée covers the meat without gaps up to the edges and the breadcrumbs are evenly distributed.
Brown at 250°C and heat through the center
- 1 Bake on the middle rack at 250°C for 15–20 minutes.
- 2 If the surface becomes dark before the center is hot, loosely cover with foil and bake in additional 5-minute intervals.
Ready when
The gratin is ready when the breadcrumbs are golden and the center is hot enough to release steam.
About this dish
Potatoes were known in France before the army pharmacist Antoine Parmentier, but were regarded as food for livestock or the poor. In 1772, the Academy of Besançon offered a prize for plants that could supplement food during famine. Parmentier advocated potatoes and won the following year.
In 1786, he was given a field on the plain of Sablons west of Paris to plant potatoes, and later planted them on the plain of Grenelle, at what is now the Champ de Mars. Soldiers guarded the fields by day, leading people to think the crop valuable; those who came to steal it at night are said to have helped spread the new vegetable.
His name gradually became attached to potato dishes. In Escoffier’s early-20th-century cookery book, hachis Parmentier consisted of baked potatoes hollowed out and filled with chopped meat. Meat covered with purée and baked was called à la bonne grand-mère, “grandmother’s style.”
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