This is how real tartiflette is made:
Ingredients:
Serves 4:
- 1 kg potatoes (BF15, Belle de fontenay, amandine or charlotte).
- 1 reblochon cheese (normally about 500 grams).
- 2 or 3 large white onions (200 grams total)
- 10 Cl white wine (one glass, e.g. a Savoy white).
- Optional: 100 grams of heavy cream (not single cream or low-fat cream!)
- 200 grams bacon (use smoked).
Variation: you can also make a Vosges variant by replacing the Reblochon with Munster cheese, or a Normandy variant by replacing the Reblochon with Camembert. But the best is the original recipe.
And don't forget:
- olive oil (2 to 3 tablespoons)
- Fine salt (a pinch)
- Coarse salt (a small handful or 1 tablespoon).
- White pepper (a pinch)
- nutmeg (a pinch)
The process
1 The oven
Preheat oven to 200°C (gas mark 7.8).
2 cook the potatoes :
The first step is to precook the potatoes. To do this, run them under a little water to clean them, bring a large volume of water to the boil with a tablespoon of coarse salt and, when the water starts to boil, plunge the potatoes in. Allow 20 minutes cooking time from the time the water comes back to the boil.
2 Prepare onions and bacon
De-seed your onions and slice them (not too thinly). Brown them in a little olive oil in a frying pan. When they have browned, add the lardons and sauté with the onions. When everything is nicely browned, deglaze with a glass of white wine and continue to cook on a low heat for a further 5 minutes. Set aside.
3 Potatoes and cheese
Now it's time to peel and slice your potatoes. When you've finished, cut your reblochon in half crosswise. Cut the top half into large slices to cover the dish. Cut the bottom half into smaller slices to garnish the inside. Be careful, the cheese rind remains intact.
4 Preparing the dish
Take an ovenproof dish and butter it. Put in a layer of potatoes, the half Reblochon cheese, the bacon and another layer of potatoes. Add salt, pepper and a little nutmeg. Finally, place the slices of the top half of your Reblochon cheese to cover the dish. If you're feeling greedy, you can add 100 grams of crème fraîche on top of the lardons with the cheese and before the 2nd layer of potatoes.
5 Cooking and salad
Put your dish in the oven for 20 minutes in a hot oven: 200 degrees / Thermostat 6/7 and in the meantime make a good green salad (lettuce, oak leaf) with a homemade vinaigrette to serve with the tartiflette.
Support :
As we said: a good green salad with vinaigrette and a little bread. As for wine, traditionally white wine is the best accompaniment to tartiflette. You can choose to stay local with a white wine from Savoie like a Chignin-Bergon, or a Roussette de Savoie (AOP). Some like a Rhône Valley white (Croze-hermitage, Saint Joseph, Châteauneuf du pape...) or a good Alsace wine (Riesling). That said, lardons also make a great pairing with red wine. Try a Gamay from Beaujolais or a good red Côtes du Rhône.
What is Reblochon?
Reblochon cheese. Photo chosen by Monsieurdefrance.com: slowmotiongli via depositphotos.
Reblochon is a cheese made from raw cow's milk. It is pressed and uncooked. Made in the mountains of Savoie and Haute-Savoie, it has had an AOC (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) since 1958 and an AOP (Appellation d'Origine Protégée) since 1996. Around 17,000 tons are produced every year. It takes its name from the Savoyard word "re-blocher", which means "to milk a second time ", because Savoyard farmers used to do 2 milkings a day, one for their landlord and the other, the 2nd, for themselves and to make their cheese. Milk from the 2nd milking was also better for cheese-making, since it was creamier, even if less abundant. Many farmers offered their reblochon to the Carthusian monks to obtain their prayers for the protection of their cottages and cows, so reblochon has long been known as a devotional cheese.
