Pommes Anna

 

Below is an article about the dish known as Pommes Anna:



POMMES ANNA

One of the more classic dishes known to professional chefs and cooks is the French classic, Pommes Anna. The latter is a dish that consists of sliced, layered potatoes that are cooked in a very large amount of melted butter. And nothing else.

Many attribute the creation of Pommes Anna to Adolphe Dugléré, a pupil of the iconic chef Marie-Antoine Carême. Dugléré was head chef at the Café Anglais, the leading Paris restaurant during the reign of Napoleon III, where he may have created the dish. He had reputedly named the dish after one of the grandes cocottes of the period. However, there was a dispute over which beauty the dish was named after - actress Dame Judic (aka Anna Damiens) or Anna Deslions.

As I had stated earlier, Pommes Anna only required two basic ingredients - firm-fleshed potatoes and clarified butter. The potatoes are peeled and sliced very thin. The sliced potatoes are seasoned with salt and pepper before being layered in a pan. The potatoes are usually cooked in a special double baking dish made of copper called la cocotte à pommes Anna. It is still manufactured in France for this dish's preparation. It consists of upper and lower halves which fit into each other so that the whole vessel with its contents can be inverted during cooking.

After being layered into the pan, the potatoes are generously doused with clarified butter, and baked or fried until they form a cake. Then the cake is flipped every ten minutes until the outside is golden and crisp. At the end of the cooking period, the dish is molded into a cake that is 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) in diameter and about 2 inches (5.1 cm) high. It is then cut in wedges and served immediately on a hot plate as a side dish for roasted meat.

Below is a recipe for Pommes Anna at the Cooking.nytimes.com website:


Pommes Anna

Ingredients

3 large russet potatoes, washed but not peeled
Butter
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Well seasoned slope sided iron or non-stick pan, 8-10 inches wide (an omelette pan is ideal).


Preparation

Step 1 - Heat large knob of butter with a healthy drizzle of olive oil over medium low heat until butter melts and just starts to foam. Shut off heat under pan.

Step 2 - Using a sharp and stable Japanese mandolin — or the real French metal one if you’re lucky enough to have one — slice the potatoes into very thin but not paper-thin slices.

Step 3 - Arrange the slices tightly, careful shingling around the pan in concentric circles starting at the outer edge of the pan and working your way into the center. Season the first layer with a little salt. Repeat with each potato until you achieve three tight and gorgeous layers.

Step 4 - Turn the heat back on under the pan at medium. Drizzle the potatoes with a generous pour of olive oil and dot a few more pats of butter around the pan of potatoes. Season with salt. As the pan starts to sizzle, you will see the fat bubbling up and spitting a bit. Put a lid on the pan and seal tightly for a minute or two, giving the potatoes a little steam bath, helping to soften and cook the flesh. Remove the lid and swirl the pan with a little muscle to see if the potatoes are binding together as their starch begins to heat up. If they slip loosely all around the pan, tuck the slices back into the tight circle using a heat-proof rubber spatula and allow to sizzle and cook longer uncovered. Bump up the flame a little if the cooking sounds and looks listless — you want to hear sizzle. When you start to smell the potatoes turning golden and crisp — like the smell of toast — swirl the pan again to confirm that the potato layers have formed a cake, and then flip the pommes Anna and cook on the other side also until golden and crispy. Slide onto serving plate or cutting board, season with salt, and cut into wedges.