A Gratin Dish
Surprisingly, It’s Not That Easy to Find a Good One, But Here’s a Source
WHEN I FOUND FEWER choices than I expected for gratin dishes, I began to wonder whether fewer cooks are making them. But gratins are timeless, really delicious, and they belong to any season. In some parts of the world in the past, where not everyone had an oven, you might have brought your gratin to the baker to go into his oven. For the dish itself, the container, there are glass and metal options, but ceramic dishes have the strongest tie to the purpose, having themselves been fired in an oven. Earthenware, the oldest and softest material, is vulnerable but even-heating. Stoneware, between earthenware and porcelain, is more practical — high-fired, dense, and durable. When you pick it up, you feel the weight. Porcelain is also practical, high-fired, and durable, from inexpensive brands to pricey French ones.
I use large gratin dishes, which ideally have at least minimal handles or a wide edge to help you carry them full from the oven. Squares and rectangles overcook a little in the corners. An oval solves that, and to me it has generosity. Compared with a round dish, an oval is also easier to fit into a cabinet or side-by-side with something else in the oven, and it can hold a whole fish (a chicken, a leg of lamb on a bed of potatoes) without leaving empty space on either side to burn. (An oval sauté pan with a handle at one end is good for flipping potatoes.) But I like round, too, the oldest shape.