The Classic French Comfort Dish You Can Make With Ground Beef And Potatoes

Few ingredient pairings lend a rustic charm quite like beef and potatoes. Whether it's a tender pot roast with soft boiled spuds or good ol' steak and potatoes, the tried-and-true duo comes with a timeless appeal. For another such old-fashioned recipe with a distinctly French touch, look no further than hachis Parmentier. The meal is reminiscent of shepherd's or cottage pie, but with its own Gallic flair.

The casserole calls for ground beef seared with regional aromatics, topped with a rich Gruyère-flavored mash, and baked until mouthwateringly bubbling and golden brown. The flavors are oh-so-French, with an earthy medley of herbes de Provence seasoning the beef alongside the classic aromatic foundation of carrots, onion, and garlic. Seared until browned, hachis Parmentier's beef component is often rounded out with a pour of red wine, savory beef stock, and a dash of tangy mustard.

The spud component, which serves as a topping, is crafted to be a touch more decadent than your standard mashed potato recipe. The potatoes are boiled and mashed, then made extra rich with ingredients like egg yolks, heavy cream, and parmesan. The meat is then spread out in a casserole dish, with the potatoes spooned on top and finished with a layer of shredded Gruyère cheese. Baked in a hot oven — around 425 degrees Fahrenheit — for half an hour, the result is a comforting hachis Parmentier that retains its meat-and-potatoes essence.

Hachis Parmentier has roots in French traditions of repurposing leftover meat, particularly from pot-au-feu. Today, chefs continue to craft renditions with different cuts of beef, substituting rich-tasting roast cuts like ribeye or the more budget-friendly chuck for ground beef. You could also give the dish a lighter, modern spin by using ground turkey, or opt for bison over beef, which lends a sweeter, more delicate flavor. Want an extra-decadent rendition? Make the meat layer with duck confit. Hachis Parmentier started as a pragmatic method of using up meat, but now welcomes riffs both everyday and luxurious.

The dish's potato element traces back to when the tubers became popular in France. The root vegetable hails from the New World, and until the late 18th century, French cooks didn't often use the ingredient. An agronomist named Antoine-Augustin Parmentier advocated for potato consumption, and the eponymous hachis Parmentier eventually arose. As a result, keep in mind that the starchy spud is a centerpiece of the dish. Yukon Gold potatoes are an excellent choice for a rich, creamy mash, but floury varieties like russets also work well, producing a lighter, fluffier texture.

What ingredients go into the potato mixture is open to interpretation. Some add milk, others cream, and the quantity of butter is variable, too. You can make it extra fragrant with grated nutmeg or herbaceous with chopped parsley. Hachis Parmentier is a time-tested template, open to a variety of comforting interpretations.