Rouxbe

Does sour cream work as a substitute to the heavy cream? Thanks!

I make it everytime I have guests over and get compliments every time!

I don't think that sour cream will work in this recipe as you need to cover the potatoes in liquid and I'm pretty sure the sour cream will split. Whipping cream is required. Sorry for the delayed response Renata.

Is powdered parmesan the same as grated ?

Yes they are interchangeable for this recipe as long as it's fresh powdered parmesan.

I have made this recipe 3 times and it is special no doubt rich and fulling. But sometimes the potatoes don't quite get soft not sure why Joe can you help with this?

If there was only one thing that we could teach here at Rouxbe, it would be to ignore the times on recipes and learn to cook until things are done by knowing what done looks and feels like. Think about potatoes... there are small ones, medium one, etc.. Think about ovens, electric, mine is gas, convection, some hold the right temperature, others are off by 100 degrees.

So focus on learning to cook until things are done. For this dish, I never uncover the potatoes until I can push a fork easily through the potatoes (with very slight resistance). You can of course take off the aluminum foil to check, but seal it back up tight if not done (and watch out for the steam when opening up). Only when they are almost fully cooked can you take off the cover for the final browning. Then, let them sit for at least 20 minutes before serving. These potatoes can even sit for up to an hour and they will be delicious.

I should have read the comments before trying the recipe. My potatoes took much longer to cook. Also when I removed the foil and tuned oven temp up to 375 degrees my cream mixture curdled. I believe this was because of the increase in temp. There was a lot of water in the base of the pan around the curdled sauce. However, the taste of the sauce and the potatoes was delicious! I think I will try to adapt this recipe to my Scalloped Potato recipe.
Bettye V.

Roughly how much is 4 medium to large potatoes, 1lb, 11/2 lbs etc. Also I wondering if I could mix in some swiss or cheddar cheese along with the parmesan cheese topping.

4 medium to large potatoes is about 3 pounds.
I just weighed them :-)
As for other cheeses, I would maybe add them only in the last 10 minutes of cooking, as the Swiss or cheddar may slip on you otherwise.

I made this tonight with lamb, this is the best.
But, I really need a lesson on lamb.
I may just mess with my family, and make these wonderful potatoes for Thanksgiving! Oh no, where are the mashed potatoes!!!

Talk about comfort food, this is the definition.