I did a trial run and it was a huge success. Potatoes were fully cooked and the sauce was delicious and not soupy at all!

I mainly followed:

https://themodernproper.com/scalloped-potatoes

My only tweak was that I thickened up the white sauce with another tablespoon of flour. Turned out that was really too thick, so I'll go back down the recipe amount for Christmas dinner.

Thanks for the help here!

Use heavy whipping cream.

The recipe in the new samin nosrat book is perfection. I have also struggled with this recipe

Just add less liquid. I used to use a recipe for my potato gratin, but just eyeball it now. First I add garlic and nutmeg infused hot milk to the potatoes to cover by about 1/2. Cover and bake for ~40 minutes. Then add cream till about 75% covered. Dot w/ butter. Uncover and bake another 45 minutes or so. You can add grated gruyere or other cheese to the top if you want, but I often don't.

I can't find it online, but our family (which includes melted cheese and cheesy casserole haters) likes the one from the America's Test Kitchen cookbook, which requires precooking the potatoes in the sauce.

Per my German cookbook - very easy and foolproof.

Peel and slice 2ish lbs potatoes 1/8 inch thick and layer in 9x15 baking pan. Heat 1.5 cups cream with nutmeg, garlic, salt, and pepper to boil, then simmer for 1 minute. Pour cream over potatoes and cook at 350 for 60 minutes. Remove and sprinkle with hard cheese, preferably gruyere or appenzeller, but cheddar works, too. Return to bake for 10-15 minutes.

Anonymous wrote:Two tips-
1. My family recipe always included a can of evaporated milk. Very creamy.
2. As a PP said, you can't rely on the potato starch as your only thickener- so start thinking white sauce or bechamel. If you have runny, have a pack of instant potato flakes ready. They blend right in and save the day!

My mom always used evaporated milk and they were delicious - just the right level of creamy w good substance

I can do bechamel sauce. Some recipes call for it while others don't. The Julia Child recipe above just uses cream. I like the idea of the white sauce mixed with cream cheese. I think you're right that making a cream sauce will prevent the soupiness I dislike. Going for a trial run this week

I think Gruyere is going to be too tangy for my relatively simple group of diners--I plan to grate my own cheddar.

Two tips-
1. My family recipe always included a can of evaporated milk. Very creamy.
2. As a PP said, you can't rely on the potato starch as your only thickener- so start thinking white sauce or bechamel. If you have runny, have a pack of instant potato flakes ready. They blend right in and save the day!

Martha Stewart's scalloped potatoes with gruyere and leeks are always a hit. I add a bit more leeks and gruyere than suggested but that is personal preference.

Can’t go wrong with these!
https://www.recipetineats.com/potatoes-au-gratin/

How are you making them? Are you making a bechamel sauce or something and adding it to the potatoes or are you just putting the liquid in with the potatoes and cooking it all in the oven? If making the sauce before, be sure you've made it properly. If you aren't making the sauce on the stove you can add a bit of cream cheese or instant mashed potatoes if it's too watery. And use starchier potatoes. And don't rinse them after slicing, you need the starch.

Find a recipe for dauphenoise potatoes - there are many - and realize that they need to cook for close to an hour in the oven to be good

Soupy and *unappetizing

I have tried to make scalloped potatoes a few times but they always seem soupy and an appetizing. Does someone have a recipe for thick and creamy scalloped potatoes? I think I’d like to finish them au gratin but I’m open to suggestions.