Pommes Dauphine

Equal weights of choux paste and very dry mashed potato, deep fried, which is what makes them hollow rather than solid.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter), dairy (whole milk).

Ingredients

• 600 g floury potatoes
• 1 batch choux pastry, as on its own page, made with water and no sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• a good grating of nutmeg
• salt and white pepper
• oil for deep frying

Method

1. IT IS EQUAL WEIGHTS OF CHOUX PASTE AND DRY MASHED POTATO, and the choux is the whole reason these are not croquettes. In the oil the paste puffs on its own steam and the inside goes hollow and light while the outside crisps. Potato alone gives a solid fried ball -- perfectly nice, and a different thing. Weigh both; eyeballing it gives a mixture that either will not hold or will not puff.
2. THE POTATO MUST BE VERY DRY. Baked in their skins rather than boiled, or boiled whole and then dried out in the pan over a low heat for several minutes until it stops steaming. Wet mash makes a slack mixture that falls apart in the oil, and water in hot oil is dangerous.
3. AND IT IS RICED OR SIEVED, NEVER MASHED WITH A MASHER AND NEVER BLENDED. A masher leaves lumps that break the surface in the fryer; a blender develops the starch into glue.
4. THE OIL IS 180C AND THEY GO IN IN SMALL BATCHES. Cooler, they absorb oil before they puff; crowded, the temperature falls and the same thing happens. Six at a time.
5. Potatoes baked at 200C for 1 hour until completely soft, then halved and the flesh scooped out while hot.
6. Passed through a ricer or a sieve into a bowl, and WEIGHED. You want about 400 g.
7. Spread in a pan over a low heat for 3 or 4 minutes, stirred, until it stops giving off steam.
8. Choux pastry made as on its own page, with water in place of the water and milk and no sugar. Weighed to match the potato.
9. The two combined with the egg yolk, nutmeg, salt and white pepper, beaten until smooth and stiff.
10. CHILLED 1 HOUR, which firms it enough to shape.
11. Rolled into walnut-sized balls with lightly oiled hands, or shaped with two spoons.
12. Oil heated to 180C. Six at a time, lowered in, 4 to 5 minutes until deep gold and risen.
13. Lifted onto kitchen paper, salted at once, and kept in a low oven while the rest fry. Served immediately -- they deflate and soften within about ten minutes and nothing brings them back.

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