Hachis Parmentier

A potato-topped mince where the mash is made stiffer than you would ever eat on its own, so it can hold a fork-raked surface.

Beef, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains beef, beef stock, gruyère whose rennet the source does not name.

Ingredients

For the meat

• 800 g cooked beef from a braise, or 700 g minced beef
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons tomato purée
• 200 ml red wine
• 200 ml beef stock
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• salt and pepper

For the top

• 1.2 kg floury potatoes
• 200 ml béchamel, as on its own page
• 60 g butter
• 1 egg yolk
• 80 g gruyère, grated
• a grating of nutmeg

Method

1. THE MASH IS MADE STIFFER THAN YOU WOULD EVER EAT ON ITS OWN. Thick enough to stand a fork up in. A soft creamy mash slumps into the meat the moment it goes on, and the raked ridges that crisp under the grill flatten out before the dish reaches the oven. Bechamel rather than milk is what gives it that body without turning it to glue.
2. AND IT IS RICED, NOT MASHED OR BLENDED. A ricer gives a dry fluffy mash; a blender turns potato starch into wallpaper paste within about four seconds, and there is no recovering it.
3. THE MEAT MUST BE THICK AND ALMOST DRY before the potato goes on. Any loose liquid boils up through the mash in the oven, and the top goes grey and sodden from underneath. Reduce it until a spoon drawn across the pan leaves a channel.
4. LEFTOVER BRAISED MEAT IS BETTER HERE THAN FRESH MINCE, which is worth saying plainly: this dish is at its best made from yesterday's pot. Hand-chopped rather than minced, so it has texture.
5. Potatoes peeled, cut into even chunks and boiled in well-salted water 18 to 20 minutes until completely tender.
6. Meanwhile: oil in a wide pan, onions and carrots softened 10 minutes. Garlic 1 minute.
7. Tomato purée cooked 1 minute. Wine in and boiled down almost to nothing.
8. The cooked beef, hand-chopped, added with the stock. Simmered 15 to 20 minutes until THICK and almost dry. Parsley, salt, pepper.
9. Potatoes drained thoroughly and left in the colander 3 minutes to steam dry.
10. Riced into the warm pan. The butter beaten in, then the béchamel a little at a time -- stop while it is still very stiff.
11. The yolk and nutmeg beaten in. Tasted and salted properly; under-seasoned mash is the commonest fault in this dish.
12. The meat spread in a dish and levelled.
13. The mash spooned over in dollops and joined up with the back of a spoon, sealed to the edges, then RAKED along its length with a fork.
14. Gruyère scattered over and baked at 200C for 30 minutes until the ridges are brown and the edges bubbling. Rested 10 minutes.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under France · All recipes