Why You Should Try Brining Your Scalloped Potatoes

The trick for tender, flavorful scalloped potatoes may be simpler than you think. To achieve a restaurant-quality side dish, K.C. Gulbro, owner of FoxFire and chef ambassador for Angus Beef, says all you need is a nice, cold brine and a couple of hours.

"After slicing the potatoes, brine the slices lightly for 1-2 hours," Gulbro tells us. "This technique significantly enhances the flavor of your scalloped potatoes. A cold brine not only reduces starchiness but also results in a tender texture and improves the overall taste." While the best spuds for tender scalloped potatoes contain ample amounts of starch, too much can over-thicken your sauce and ruin its creaminess. A quick brine to reduce your potatoes' starch to the perfect level leaves plenty of room for the starch in your sauce to thicken.

Seasoning in stages and looking for any opportunity to improve the flavor and texture of your ingredients is what separates a cook from a chef. If you don't improve your potatoes before adding them to the baking dish, you're neglecting the opportunity to add flavor to the vegetables themselves and have to rely entirely on whatever sauce you choose. After you've elevated your potatoes with a quick brine, then it's time to move on to the sauce.

Brining your sliced potatoes improves the base of your dish, but what about the sauce? It should be rich in flavor, fat, and dairy if you want the creamiest results possible. "For the best baking results, use a rich cheese béchamel," Gulbro says.

"If you opt for just milk or cream without the béchamel, the potatoes may turn greasy as the cheese won't blend properly with the milk," Gulbro explains. If you've ever noticed that the milk in your scalloped potatoes is curdling, it's because you don't have enough fat in the dish. A béchamel provides that fat to prevent curdling and plenty of starch to blend all of your dairy ingredients together.

To improve the flavor, the ingredient you need for next-level béchamel sauce is mustard. In small quantities, it adds just a bit of acidity to liven up the heavier flavors of potato, milk, and cheese, pairing well with Gulbro's other suggestions. "I recommend combining Gruyère, American, and cheddar cheeses for optimal flavor," he says. "For added fun, incorporate a bit of bacon into the mixture."