Are potato dauphinois easy to do?

[Stillmonday]

Anyone tried doing them? Any tips? Or anything I can do in advance (few hours earlier) to make things easier?

Yes

I think you could make in advance and then gently reheat so they don’t split. Or do the potato slicing first and leave in water...

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/apr/11/how-cook-perfect-gratin-dauphinois

Yes easy, having a mandolin to slice makes things easier but no biggie!

Yes. It's time consumming but easy to do. You'll save time if you have a food processor that can slice the potatoes for you. I make mine with lots of cream, nutmeg and garlic. It's so delicious. It takes a long time to bake so factor that into your timings. And I've never tried but I'm sure you can assemble it in advance and start baking nearer the time you need to serve it.

Dont slice the potatoes early and leave them in water - you'll rinse the starch out of them. You need the starch to "glue" the whole thing together. Prepare the whole dish (sliced potatoes, cream, seasoning etc and then bake straight away. If you leave it before baking, the potatoes will start to go black (like spuds do once they've been cut).
I do pop-up dining and potato dauphinoise is one of my "go to" side dishes; I've made them A LOT in the last year! Slice the potatoes as thinly as you can. Make sure the bottom layer and the top layer the potato slices are as neatly overlapping as possible (the middle layers don't matter as much). When you put it in the oven you need to firmly press down with a fish slice or similar every 8-10 mins; this gets the potatoes to release starch which gets everything to set neatly together. Use the tip of a sharp knife to test when they are done (it should slide in easily). Once cooked if you then allow to cool completely in the tray you can turn them out and cut into neat portions. Takes only 12 mins or so to reheat. That's what I do. They are always very popular and worth the effort in advance.

very very simple to do.it just layering potato slices cheese sauce salt pepper nutmeg.once you mastered it its a great dih to add to and do variants of from bacon to cauliflower or other veg.ots a lovely dish.also works well with stock whe you want a ligther touch.
id cook it then reheat if you wanted to do it in advance.

Really easy if you buy for Tesco ready done... otherwise pain

It is quite easy to make but all the slicing is a real pain unless you have a machine to do it for you. Although I love it, and enjoy cooking, I rarely make it because I don’t enjoy the preparation. Amber I should get a machine, but it’s so unhealthy I don’t want to encourage myself to make it more!

Very easy, but make sure you allow enough time to cook it properly- around 1 hour 15 min. Slicing the potatoes could be time consuming if you are cooking for a lot of people, but you could probably slice them, mix with cream and garlic and then keep in the fridge for an hour or two before cooking, if need be.

I'm taking note of your tips Daisy- my Dauphinois tastes good but I've never managed to slice it into neat squares like I've seen in restaurants!

Please do not cook in advance and reheat. Horrid.
Prepare fresh. If you have a microwave, blitz for 5 minutes then finish off in the oven.

pommes anna might be a better bet if you want to prep in advance, you can do one big one, or individual like this recipe here

cut with cookie cutters

Daisy I did as per your instructions and they were perfect - thank you!!