French meat with potatoes for a large company
Guests on the way and don't have time to cook the main dish? Make French Meat with Potatoes! A great option for both festive and everyday table.
A bit of history
The dish was first served on the table in the 19th century. The creator is the chef Urbain Dubois. A Frenchman, who served at that time to Count Alexei Orlov, for whom a treat was invented.
The cooking principle has remained unchanged. These are still layers of different products, necessarily including meat and potatoes in the seed. Over time, the recipe has undergone some changes, various variations have appeared. The main feature has been preserved - gratin (gratin). This is the topmost layer, the golden crust of the cheese, which distinguishes baked meat from French-style meat with potatoes.
It is interesting that earlier gratin was considered a delight. Shortly after the “opening” of the cheese crust, it was specially separated from the main course and served separately as a delicacy.
The original French meat recipe with potatoes
The original recipe is called "Orlovski Veal" and is somewhat different from the classic one.
Ingredients:
- veal - 1 kg;
- medium-sized potatoes - 6-7 pcs.;
- medium-sized onions - 4-5 pcs.;
- hard, well-melting cheese - 200-250 g;
- sivki - 200 ml, 22% fat or fat milk;
- butter - 50 g;
- flour (wheat or any other) - 2 tbsp. spoons;
- Champignon - 300 g;
- seasonings (salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste).
Wash the meat, pat dry with paper towels, leave to dry. At this time, the béchamel sauce is prepared in a small saucepan. 
To do this, butter is heated over low heat, flour is added, and mixed. Milk or cream is gradually poured in.
The liquid must be poured in slowly, stirring constantly with a whisk.
Bring to a boil, add spices, remove from heat after 5 minutes.
Cut the meat into slices. Season with salt and pepper to taste and lay the form with sides. The pan can be greased with butter or lined with baking paper.
Cut the onion into slices, put on the meat. Slice the potatoes in slices, put on top.
Wash and dry the champignons. Cut into slices, put on potatoes.
Each layer can be salted and pepper to taste.
Pour the sauce gently over the contents of the form. Cover with foil. Put to bake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees.
After 30-35 minutes, take out the dish, remove the foil, sprinkle with cheese and send back to the oven for 15-20 minutes.
You don't have to rush to get the meat in French with potatoes and mushrooms, but leave it in the oven so that the dishes will "come through". Serve hot. Cut like lasagna - into pieces without losing integrity.
Classic cooking recipe
The recipe for meat in French with potatoes, familiar to everyone, is quite a bit different from the original, but it is also easy to prepare.
Ingredients:
- 1 kg of pork;
- fatty mayonnaise (purchased or homemade) - 8-9 tbsp. l .;
- middle potatoes - 10 pieces.;
- onions (medium onions) - 3-4 pcs.;
- cheese - 300 g;
- feta cheese - 100 g;
spices (salt, pepper to taste).
Preparation:
- Cut the meat into slices at least 2 cm thick.
- Beat off pieces of meat with a hammer until the thickness decreases and becomes 1-1.5 cm.In order not to get dirty, it is recommended to cover the slices with cling film. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Cut the onions into small cubes.
- Peel the potatoes, wash, cut into slices. Place in a bowl, add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Mix onions and mayonnaise in a separate bowl. About ¼ cheese is added. To make it easier to stir, you can add a little water.
- Grease a baking sheet with butter or cover with parchment paper. Unlike Oryol-style veal, in French-style meat with potatoes in the oven, the first layer is potatoes.
- Grate feta cheese.
- Beaten meat must be fried in a pan. Not for long, about a minute on each side until a characteristic golden crust forms.
- Place on a baking sheet on top of the potatoes.
- Put the mayonnaise-onion-cheese mixture on top of the meat in a thick layer.
- Bake the dish for 40-45 minutes at a temperature of 200 degrees. In 15-20 minutes, you need to take out the container, sprinkle with the remaining cheese (grated).
When the cheese is browned, you can leave the dish for another 10 minutes in the turned off oven.
French meat with potatoes and tomatoes
Another popular variation of the dish is French meat with potatoes and tomatoes. Tomatoes provide extra juice, which permeates potatoes with meat, adding tenderness.
Ingredients:
- meat (pork) - 700 g;
- cheese - 150-200 g;
- fatty (homemade or purchased) mayonnaise - 250 g;
- medium-sized tomatoes - 3-4 pcs.;
- medium-sized potatoes - 5-6 pcs.;
- onions - 1 pc .;
- salt and pepper to taste.
Wash the meat, cut into slices about 2 cm thick. For convenience, you can beat off each piece a little. Season with spices and place on a baking sheet greased with sunflower oil. Chop the onion, put on top of the meat.
Then cut the potatoes, put on top of the onion, grease with mayonnaise on top.
In order for the dish to bake well, it is recommended to cut French-style meat potatoes into slices 0.5-1 cm thick.
Cut the tomatoes, lay out and brush again with mayonnaise. Sprinkle everything with about half of the grated cheese.
Bake for 30-35 minutes in the oven at 180-200 degrees.
As with other variations of the recipe, 10 minutes before ready to take out the baking sheet, sprinkle with the remaining cheese and put back until fully cooked.
In order to slightly reduce the calorie content of the dish, you can use chicken fillet instead of veal or pork. And replace mayonnaise or béchamel with Greek yogurt, kefir or sour cream with a low percentage of fat.
The exact baking time is determined based on the power of the oven. On average, this is 30-35 minutes, but it may take longer.
The beauty of cooking meat French in the oven is that the recipe can be played up in many ways, by changing or adding new ingredients. Experiment!