Probably there is no hostess who does not know what constitutes meat in French. This dish is often found at ceremonial banquets and is well known to most of us. Usually, at home, the housewives spread all the ingredients of this hearty treat in layers and generously pour it with ordinary mayonnaise. However, in reality it is this component that spoils the true taste of the dish and, by the way, it is completely unsuitable for baking. Yes, and the traditional recipe looks very different. In fact, this famous dish is called captain’s meat and is prepared with the gentle creamy Bechamel sauce.
Description
Such a treat turns out to be unusually tasty and nutritious. In addition, meat is easily prepared in a captain’s way and always turns out to be very tender. Yes, and this dish is suitable for almost all occasions: for a festive event, and for a quiet family dinner. So the captain’s meat recipe will certainly not be redundant in your cookbook.
Another advantage of this delicacy is that it serves as a main dish and side dish at the same time. Potatoes and pork are baked together, so there is simply no need to spend a lot of time on cooking some additional treats.
Features
Each hostess probably has their own recipe for captain's meat in the oven using their favorite foods. For example, some add tomatoes to the dish, others are cooked with carrots and bell peppers. However, the cheese cap always remains an invariable component of this treat.
Another indispensable ingredient in the dish is onion. It is cut into half rings and serves as the first layer of casserole. Then follows meat and potatoes, which can be boiled until half cooked or put in raw form. Among other things, for spice in this dish you can also put tomatoes, garlic, mushrooms, sweet peppers and all kinds of spices.
Before proceeding with the direct preparation of delicacies, check out some of the recommendations of experienced chefs.
- You can add absolutely any meat to a potato casserole. It can be beef, and turkey, and pork, and chicken, and even lamb. Here you can safely rely on your own taste.
- To give the dish the greatest piquancy and unique flavor, it is advisable to marinate the meat in advance, leaving it for a couple of hours in spices and juices.
- Many chefs pickle not only pork, but also potatoes. To do this, you can use sour cream or mayonnaise in combination with seasonings. This trick makes it possible to protect potatoes from darkening and give it an unusual taste.
- If you complement your dish with onions, then it should also be pickled in advance in a mixture of water and vinegar. Thus, you can easily get rid of unpleasant bitterness and make your treat as juicy and delicious as possible. By the way, you can use any vinegar: apple, table or wine. Each variety is able to give the delicacy a special taste accent.
- Do not make the top layer of cheese too thick. And if you are faced with a situation where the top of the dish is already fried, and the vegetables inside are raw, do not panic ahead of time. This is easy to fix: grease the casserole with sour cream and sprinkle with a little cheese. So the dish will remain juicy and will not burn.
Structure
Baking captain's meat in the oven is best in small forms. The delicacy turns out to be so harmonious and gentle that it simply makes no sense to change the recipe. Potatoes, cheese, meat, onions and sauce - this is all that is needed to prepare a delicious dish.
Incredibly tasty, mouth-watering and truly festive, we get captain’s meat with the classic Bechamel sauce. By the way, despite such an intricate name, it is done very easily, literally in a matter of minutes. To make Bechamel sauce, you need butter, milk and water. As you can see, the ingredients are completely simple, they are in every home. So be sure to try baking pork with this sauce - the result will pleasantly surprise you.
To prepare classic captain’s meat with potatoes in the oven you will also need:
- 0.5 kg of pork;
- large onion;
- 800 g of potatoes;
- 200 g of hard cheese;
- 70 g butter;
- 0.3 l of milk;
- 2 tablespoons of wheat flour;
- 20 g of vegetable oil;
- a small bunch of greenery;
- salt and other spices to your taste.
Cooking casseroles step by step
First, wash the potatoes thoroughly, boil it in a peel. True, cooking it to the end is not worth it - just 10 minutes after boiling water is enough.
Rinse the meat, dry with paper towels and cut into small slices. Carefully beat it with a kitchen hammer, before wrapping it in polyethylene. This is necessary so that the meat does not tear, and its pieces are not scattered throughout the kitchen. Then grate the pork with salt and seasonings, leave to marinate for a while.
Peel the potatoes that have cooled by this time and peel them into small rings. Chop the onions in circles and pickle, leaving for 10 minutes. To do this, mix water and vinegar in equal proportions.
Now it’s the turn of the famous Bechamel sauce. Put the butter in a saucepan or a small saucepan, melt it and add the sifted flour in a thin stream. Boil the mixture without stopping stirring. Then add a few tablespoons of milk here, mix well and only then pour in the rest. Salt the sauce and, without ceasing to stir, bring it to a boil. Now you can remove it from the fire.
Cooking and Serving
Grease a baking sheet or baking dish with vegetable oil and lay the pickled onions in the first layer. Do not forget to squeeze it out well. Captain’s meat with potatoes is traditionally prepared in portions - in small tins or pans. For convenience, you can bake the whole dish on a baking sheet.
The meat itself is laid in a second layer, and then the potatoes. Now salt the products and fill them with the prepared sauce. Finally, sprinkle everything with chopped cheese using a fine grater. Place the pan in the oven for half an hour at 200 ° C.
As a result, the potato should become rosy, and the cheese should be covered with a golden crust. After taking the dish out of the oven, let it cool slightly so that the sauce finally thickens and holds the layers together. Then cut the casserole into portions. Garnish cooked meat with sprigs of herbs and serve hot.
Second option
A dish with tomatoes and boiled potatoes is considered very popular among housewives. This recipe uses pork chops, so the meat should be chopped. Try to choose tight tomatoes so that they can be easily cut into neat rings.
Essential Ingredients
To cook captain's meat with tomatoes, you will need:
- 1 kg of pork;
- 4 onions;
- 700 g of potatoes;
- 200 g of hard cheese;
- 300 g of tomatoes;
- 150 g of fat sour cream;
- a tablespoon of flour;
- one and a half glasses of water;
- 50 g butter;
- sprigs of greenery for decoration;
- salt and other seasonings to your taste.
Cooking a gentle casserole in stages
Potato should be prepared first. Here you can use different options: either put raw, but previously pickled in sour cream, or pre-cook in uniforms. In any case, the dish will turn out delicious - it all depends on your convenience and preferences. If you decide to cook potatoes, then keep in mind that it must be brought to half-preparedness. This process usually takes about 10 minutes. If you settled on a raw version, then cut the potatoes into thin slices, add a few tablespoons of sour cream, a little salt and mix well by hand. Leave it in this state for about 20 minutes.
Now take care of the pork: wash it, remove any moisture with paper towels and cut into thin plates. Then beat each piece of meat with a kitchen hammer, salt and pepper it on both sides. Pork, too, leave to marinate for a while.
Peel the onion and cut into half rings. Then place it in a deep bowl and pour the marinade: vinegar and water in the same amount. Salt the onion and set aside for 10 minutes.
Cut the tomatoes into thin slices, and chop the cheese with a fine grater. After preparing all the products, start preparing the sauce for the meat casserole. Put the softened butter in a saucepan and melt over low heat. Then add the sifted flour to it and cook the mixture for several minutes. Do not stop stirring the mass. After a couple of minutes add sour cream here. By the way, it is advisable to get it out of the refrigerator first so that it reaches room temperature. At the end, add water to the mixture, mix again and bring to a boil. After that, remove the sauce from the heat.
Roasting
On a greased baking sheet with oil or in portioned pans, lay out all the prepared ingredients in layers. First comes the onion, which should be squeezed out well. Then put the pickled chops and slices of tomatoes. Potatoes are laid on top. Be sure to salt and pepper this layer. Pour all the ingredients in the cooked sauce and sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake the dish for 40 minutes at a temperature of 180 ° C. Captain's photo of meat will help you to beautifully arrange and serve refreshments.