Learning French: the origins and meaning of gratin

A culinary staple in any self-respecting French home cook’s repertoire is a gratin, the most common being the creamy, garlicky potato delight, gratin Dauphinois. 

Many Francophiles also enjoy making this accompaniment to grilled meats, with vegetables such as courgettes or cauliflower also benefitting from a browned and crispy cheese topping or a liberal sprinkling of chapelure (breadcrumbs) to give a crunch.

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What are the origins of gratin?

The origin of the dish’s generic name – gratin – initially described what remained in the cooking vessel once diners had devoured all the best bits. 

France’s excellent official online linguistic source, the National Centre for Textual and Lexical Resources CNTRL, traces the earliest use of the word to 1564, when a gratin was ‘part of the porridge or other dish that sticks to the bottom or sides of the vessel in which it has been cooked, and which is removed by scraping’.

The key part here is the ‘scraping’, the French for which is en grattant, which by the early 19th Century had became gratin and was attributed to any dish using this oven-baked and browned method.

The verb gratter (to scratch or scrape) comes from the Old French grater, via medieval Latin cratare, itself borrowed from Old Low Franconian krattōn meaning: to rub by scraping.

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A gratin expression

An ironic linguistic twist comes from a common French phrase that evolved by the end of that century: faire partie du gratin. 

Literally this means ‘to be part of the gratin’, but instead of referring to the leftovers to be scraped away, it actually indicates the tasty top of the gratin – and can be attributed to what we might call the upper crust, or elite members of society.

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