The potato galette is the most underrated dish in French cuisine. No need for complex techniques, no need for exotic ingredients — just a few tubers, a hot pan, and a little patience. And yet, most people fail at making them.
Ingredients :
- The potatoes — Choose a waxy variety: Charlotte, Amandine, Belle de Fontenay. Floury potatoes like Bintje absorb too much oil and result in soft, greasy galettes. Charlotte, in particular, holds up well during cooking and has just enough starch to keep everything together without sticking.
- The onion — One is enough for 1 kg of potatoes. Grate it directly into the bowl with the rest — it melts during cooking, disappears into the galette, and leaves only its flavor. No need to sauté it beforehand, contrary to what you sometimes read.
- Eggs and flour — These are your binders. Two eggs and two tablespoons of flour so the galettes don’t fall apart in the pan. No more, otherwise it turns into pancake batter. Some people only use eggs — the flour provides a bit more hold, which I prefer.
- Cooking oil — Use a neutral oil with a high smoke point: sunflower or grapeseed. Olive oil adds too much flavor and burns too quickly on sustained medium heat. You need enough so that the edges of the galettes are in good contact with the oil — this contact is what creates the crust.
