Top 5 steps for the best dauphinoise potato

1 - Start with the best potatoes. The desiree potatoes which come out of my friend's garden are the best, as seen in a dish last year. King edwards are next in line, then estima. Desiree seem to have a distinctive flavour, and a creamy texture.

2 - Use a mandolin to slice your potato - so you get even thin slices without cutting your thumb while slicing with a knife.

3 - Use the guard for the mandolin as you want to slice the potato, not your fingers. I have seen some very nasty accidents with people using madolins - the worse thing is when you get complacent, start thinking of the next thing you have to do, or someone calls you while you're slicing, you look round, and suddenly you're on your way to casualty.
In one particular incident at Claridges we sent one chef off to sit down when he felt a little faint after a nasty mandolin cut, blood dripping through the gauze he held to his finger. When the first aider took a look it, the end of the finger was missing. After careful inspection by his co-worker it was found next to the pile of cucumber he had been cutting on the mandolin. Luckily they were able to sew it back on at casualty.

The moral? use the guard, and keep paying attention.

4 - Before you start slicing the potato you have put your double cream on simmer to reduce. By the time you have finished slicing it should have reduced by half. Now mix the potatoes in thoroughly and allow to cook on low heat for 5 minutes turning frequently. This produces firmer dauphinoise which you can cut out with a cutter. If you want softer dauphinoise you just add more cream.

5 - Mix in some cheese and allow to melt. You could also mix in grain mustard, chorizo, dried onions or a number of other items for different flavours, though I prefer to kee it plain.

At Claridges we would used gruyere cheese for dauphinoise, but in the Cotswolds I like to use St. Kennelm from the nearby award winning Gorsehill Abbey Farm.