I believe true gratin dauphinois doesn't have any cheese---in any case, my grandmother, who was from Dijon, made it with nothing but potatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, milk, and a few dabs of butter. Slice the potatoes as thin as you can and blot them with paper towels (don't skip this step---the dish essentially replaces the water in the potatoes with milk; if you leave the water in, you'll have watery gratin). Cut the garlic into thin slices, and layer everything into a baking dish. (Potatoes, then salt, pepper, 3 dots of butter, a clove's worth of garlic slices, repeat. Finish with potatoes, 1/4 or so below the top of the dish.) Pour milk over it to cover and cook for a very long time in a slow oven, until the potatoes are soft (340ish, 2+ hours. Your goal is to keep the milk from boiling; if you preheat the milk and/or the baking dish you can save some time). Top off the milk every half hour or so, and for an extra treat switch to cream towards the end. The layers of potato melt into each other and a delicious brown crust forms on top.
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