It all started last Friday. I walked around the Albert Heijn (yes) and accidentally ended up on the shelf with long-life milk. It struck me how many different kinds of vegetable cream there were. Soy, of course, but also oat, coconut and rice cream. When I think of cream, I immediately think of potato gratin. Maybe it’s the combinations of potato, cream and lots and lots of butter, or pure nostalgia when thinking about my mother’s recipe. Creamy, flavorful and so comforting… It makes me hungry right away.
Anyway, there I walked in the path with vegetable cream varieties. I knew what I had to do: try to make a vegan potato gratin and couldn’t wait to get into the kitchen. I made two variants, one with soy cream (the most traditional choice, if I saw the offer that way) and one with oat cream (seemed to taste better than coconut or rice). In both cases I followed the first steps of the recipe below and let the seasonings infuse into the cream. I made two mini versions of the gratin, each with a different kind of cream, and the result was below.
vegan potato gratin
Picking a winner was not the easiest choice. Although you might think differently at first glance.
The soy cream provided the most realistic potato gratin, although during cooking in the oven the soy cream had acquired a kind of skin on the potato gratin. Very distasteful, if you ask me. But once you take the top off, this variant almost looks real.
The oat cream looked good at first glance. A crispy and golden brown potato gratin on top. It lacked the texture of the cream between the potato layers, but tasted good. Almost real, and no ‘cardboard’ taste. yippee.
The winner? Maybe just real full-fat cow cream (phew, I know). The vegetable version does not come close in terms of taste and looks. Even though I’ve only tested the recipe a few times, so what do I really know? Maybe your vegan recipe is fantastic (if that is the case, let us know). For now I’ll just keep it cream, and veganize my other meals. Coconut yogurt for breakfast, hummus on the sandwich and tofu in the wok, it can be that good and I don’t have to compromise on taste. That’s what you want.