Pommes what?

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FRENCH CLASSIC SLICED POTATO DISHES

Pommes Anna? Boulangere? Lyonnaise? They're all starting to blur into one for me, and I still mix them up, no matter how long I cook. Recipes for each are plentiful on the internet - first, slice your potato, etc. - but I find myself having to look up the different versions each time before deciding what I want.

So here's a quick guide to the main classic sliced potato dishes in a single place. I've listed them in order of the number of ingredients.

	Pommes Anna. The simplest of all sliced potato dishes, because it's just potatoes and butter. Lots and lots of butter. Recipes vary, but commonly the potatoes are sliced and fried gently in butter. They are then layered in an oven dish, with each layer getting a good seasoning and another coating of clarified butter. Baked until soft, the dish should, traditionally, be set firmly. They are sliced into potato cakes (almost like a tortilla Espagnol) and served with roasted meats. Consider their popularity and use similar to that of our roast potatoes. Beware variations on this recipe: pommes anna are valued for their simple beauty, un-garnished and unadulterated.
Pommes Boulangere. "Baker's potatoes" apparently, seemingly because the dish was baked in a cooling bread oven. Well perhaps. Either way, they're delicious and next up the line in terms of ingredients and complexity. Boulangere is sliced potatoes, seasoned and layered in a baking dish, covered in hot chicken stock and cooked in the oven. I've taken to: greasing the dish with a little butter first and topping off with a little duck fat for extra richness; using a shallow, wide dish to avoid it turning into potato soup; and reducing the temperature and increasing the cooking time so that the potatoes cook more gently and evenly. Recipes often call for the layers of potatoes to be alternated with layers of sliced onions - and they are right for a good dish does it make. However, if we are sticking to the classic recipe, leave the onions out.
	Pommes Lyonnaise. Very similar to boulangere potatoes, but (and like the variant suggested at the end) they must be cooked with onions to be Lyonnaise. The name, which obviously comes from the city of Lyon, can be applied to several dishes that are cooked with onions, but is most traditionally reserved for that of sliced potatoes. This time, the potatoes should be sauted along with the onions in clarified butter. They shouldn't go anywhere near the oven, but you may find that the potatoes require the lightest par-boil in advance to get the best results. Season and serve and that is it.
Pommes Sarladaises. A slightly more complex variant in that the ingredient list has moved up to four: sliced potatoes, duck fat, garlic and parsley. Despite the claim of some recipes, this is not pommes anna with the butter exchanged for duck fat. The method is not even close, and the results very different. Slice the potatoes, of course, and fry them in duck fat, turning the potatoes to lightly colour them all over. But when coloured, they stay in the pan with the heat turned down, are covered with a lid and cooked very gently, poaching them almost, until they are soft and delicious. Seasoning is in the form of very finely chopped parsley and garlic, which, along with salt, should be gently stirred into the potatoes before serving. From the Dordogne department of France - particularly around the town of Sarlat, from which they apparently draw their name - sarladaise potatoes are often served with duck confit.
	Pommes Dauphinoise. The most ubiquitous of all the pommes dishes, but also the most complex. Butter and oven dish and rub a cut garlic clove all over it - actual garlic in the dish can overpower it. Slice the potatoes and layer them with seasoning in the dish. Cover with heated cream, or, if you're feeling in the mood for something a bit lighter, milk and cream, and bake in the oven until the potatoes are cooked and the top golden. Traditionally not topped with cheese, but feel free. Gruyere is probably the best bet.
Pommes Savoyarde. OK, so it's more often know as tartiflette, but that wouldn't have fitted with the "pommes" theme. It's also got the most ingredients of any of these dishes - potatoes, cream, lardons, cheese and sometimes onions as well - and is well on the way to being a stand-alone dish rather than an accompaniment. Saute some lardons first, with sliced onions if you wish (although originally not), and then slice your potatoes. Layer the potatoes in a buttered baking dish, seasoning each, and scattering them with lardons and cubed Reblochon cheese. It should be Reblochon because the dish was invented relatively recently by the Reblochon producers' cooperative to promote their product. Thoughts of keeping the dish true to the "traditional" recipe can be happily dismissed therefore. But don't be put off: this is firmly established dish the Savoie-specialist restaurants of Paris and will no doubt become a classic in time.

Don't buy it!

A BRIEF GUIDE TO A HOME COOK'S EQUIPMENT

To cook, first I must shop, right?

No, don’t do it! It might be shiny, it might look good in the Heal's catalogue, but believe me: you are not going to use that seven-tier electric steamer. I promise you, your yogurt maker will – after a few forays into the happy world of runny, white goo – will be boxed up and left untouched for ever more.

OK, I’ll let you have the melon baller. It’s only small and can be hidden in your utensils drawer. But beware the insidious market in kitchen paraphernalia:

• Your kitchen work-surfaces are for work, not enough electrical goods to shame a branch of Comet. Keep them clear of all but the most essential equipment (which for me, is a coffee machine and a wine rack and nothing else).
• Cupboards, similarly, are for cups. OK, not just cups: we’ll extend the definition to: pans, cooking dishes, crockery, and – unless you’re blessed with an actual larder – ingredients. We won’t extend the definition to: anything that comes with a main’s plug and advertises itself as “labour-saving”.
• “Gadget” is a code word. It’s shorthand for something you think you need, but actually don’t. Save yourself an eBay auction in two years’ time and leave it alone.

Instead, let’s look at a short list of things you might actually need:

Wusthof's range of classic German knives	A razor sharp knife. You can't do anything without a decent knife, I'm afraid. So put that bread knife that you've been using to chop onions back in the drawer and get something designed for the job. Try Stellar's good, but affordable range if you don’t have much cash; Wusthof if you do. If you can afford a selection (cook’s knife, paring knife, serrated knife, filleting knife) great. If not, get a medium sized, multi-purpose cook’s knife. Not a sword that’s going to take your fingers off if you have to turn some potatoes; but neither the kind of penknife that’s defeated by a particularly firm carrot.
Something to keep it sharp. Get a sharpener from the same maker as your knife. Try a sharpening steel if you like an element of danger and are not massively attached to your fingers. If not, one of those plastic things with the sharpening steel’s enclosed. In case anyone tells you different: the sharper the knife, the safer it is.		And here's Wusthof's matching sharpener
T&G do a nice line in end grain boards	A heavy, large, wooden chopping board. Not glass (imagine the noise!) and not plastic (imagine the scratches!), but wood. Wash, clean and dry it after every use and it will last for a very long time. You can try just a plain, flat board that's basically planks of wood glued together. If you can, though, try to find the sort pictured: this is an "end grain" board by T&G, which means that the wood is cut across the grain. It's stronger, resistent to warping, and can be sanded down if it becomes too scratched.
A heavy sauté pan and a cast iron casserole dish. Yes, save the money you were going to spend on the sorbet machine and buy some decent cookware instead! Le Creuset stuff is widely available and has a last-a-lifetime kind of feel about it. Their pans - made of heavy, cast iron - get very hot on a low heat, and keep that heat well. You can use them on the stove and in the oven as well for added versitility. While you’re at it, pick up a wooden spoon to use with them as well!		Lot's of fun stuff to be had at Le Creuset This is their large sauté pan in tasteful black
	A metal sieve. Believe or not, this is the only thing you need to make decent pastry and pasta. You can do without a rolling pin (sub with a wine bottle) or a pastry cutter (cup and knife), but you can’t do without sieved flour. It is also irreplaceable when it comes to straining pasta, vegetables, stocks and sauces. Where to buy one? Almost everywhere sells metal sieves, and it doesn't have to be a fancy chef one. Just make sure it's sturdy enough to survive some heavy pressing.
A digital probe thermometer. But surely it’s a gadget isn’t it?! Well maybe, but it will make a surprising difference to the accuracy of your cooking. Doing a roast chicken? Shove the thermometer into the leg to know when it’s cooked, but not dry. Steak? Perfectly rare at 45oC every time. Confiting, making caramel, deep-fat frying, cooking meringue – they’re never going to be right until you use an accurate, digital thermometer. Mine’s a Thermapen, and it is just perfect.		I adore my Thermapen and do use it almost every day

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