Béchamel Gratins

“AU GRATIN” has long since been adopted into English. It seems, at times, to be a precarious transplant, ill at ease in its surroundings, if not a hopeless case of lost identity. Some believe it to denote specifically a cheesy surface; others may be content with the international flair that it bestows on any appellation. Nor does it carry the same associations as in the past in its home tongue: At one time, for instance, a poulet au gratin was a roast chicken presented on a dish, the bottom of which had been spread with a forcemeat and baked; today, pieces of chicken masked with a sauce, usually sprinkled with cheese, and colored in a hot oven or beneath a flame are called poulet au gratin.