potato and cheese baked in cream

The potato discs are a meteorite hurtling through the atmosphere, a flying saucer crash landing.

Maybe these potatoes have proper identification like scalloped potatoes but I believe that is too fancy a classification for this. And I'd like to avoid the word controversy of using "scalloped" technically wrong while sounding right and getting away with it because of widespread misuse making it acceptable and knowing word mavens insist "escalloped" is the thing done here, not a curvilinear imitation of marine bivalve mollusk's crenelated shell. 

Cream and milk with whatever favorite flavor things mixed into it. The potato a blank flavor absorbing canvas like tofu.

* dry powder mustard for a good kick in the pants.

* chipotle chile powder for capsaicin heat and smokey flavor

* cumin for a bass note of New World warmth.

* dry powder garlic because I don't feel like messing around with a stinky garlic clove right now.

* coarse sea salt

* fresh cracked black pepper

* two types of random cheese in case one cheese isn't good enough.

There you go. Left out butter because it seemed superfluous. Left out onion because I didn't want to cut one. Left out bacon because I didn't want to fry any right now. 

Bake 1 hr @ 400℉

Plate, top with sour cream.

The idea is to burn some cheese. Here's the thing, as with almost all things, if a portion is not actually burned then you are not daring enough. We cook types have a thing about attaining the full Maillard and that means burning some so that the entire range of layered caramelization complexity is present, tasted, smelled, and seen in its color from tan to light brown to dark brown to black. It's the first thing everyone goes for. To get rid of it. To get rid of the burnt bit on their plate they'll eat it first and the full layered complexity of multiply transformed sugars and proteins blooms in their mouth and now with it gone every bite thereafter is less intense.

Controlled burning turns ordinary things like bread and potatoes and cheese into an experience.