French Alpine gratin of potato, lardons, onion, white wine, and an entire wheel of melting Reblochon cheese.
Tartiflette is the most defining dish of the French Alps — a deep gratin of sliced potatoes, smoky lardons, sweet onions softened in white wine, and an entire wheel of Reblochon cheese cut in half horizontally and laid rind-up across the top. Baked until the cheese melts down through the potatoes into a creamy, woodsy, slightly funky sauce, tartiflette is the dish skiers eat at the end of a long day on the piste. Its name comes from the Savoyard word tartiflâ (potato), and although it is often presented as ancient, the modern recipe was largely invented in the 1980s by the Reblochon cheese industry to boost sales. It worked brilliantly: tartiflette is now the signature plate of every alpine refuge from Chamonix to Megève.
Serves 6
Wash potatoes (don't peel — the skins are part of the texture). Boil whole in salted water for 18–20 minutes until just tender but still firm. Drain and cool 10 minutes.
Slice the cooked potatoes into 5 mm rounds. Set aside.
Heat a wide skillet over medium. Add lardons. Cook 6–8 minutes until golden and most of the fat has rendered. Lift onto a plate; leave the fat in the pan.
Add sliced onions to the bacon fat. Cook 12 minutes, stirring, until soft and lightly golden. Add garlic; cook 1 minute.
Pour in white wine. Simmer briskly 4 minutes until reduced by half. Stir in crème fraîche, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Cook 2 more minutes.
Butter a deep oven dish (about 25×35 cm). Layer half the sliced potatoes, then all the lardons, then the onion-cream mixture. Top with the remaining potatoes. Season lightly.
With a long sharp knife, slice the whole Reblochon horizontally through its middle into two equal discs (you'll have two thinner wheels). Place both halves rind-up on top of the gratin so they cover the surface.
Bake at 200°C for 25–30 minutes until the cheese has melted, run down through the potatoes, and the top is patchy golden-brown. The kitchen will smell like an alpine refuge.
Rest 8 minutes — the cheese sets slightly and the layers come together. Spoon onto warm plates.
Serve with a green salad sharply dressed in walnut-oil vinaigrette and a small pile of cornichons. A glass of Apremont or Roussette de Savoie alongside.
Use a real raw-milk Reblochon if you can find one — it's the soul of the dish.
Don't peel the potatoes — the skins give body and rustic texture.
Bake long enough that the cheese has fully run down through the potatoes; under-baked tartiflette is sad.
Crozeflette: add cooked crozets (small Savoyard pasta squares) for a heartier version.
Vegetarian tartiflette: skip the lardons, use mushrooms sautéed in butter instead.
Add a layer of thinly sliced apple between the potatoes — sweet and unusual.
Refrigerate up to 3 days. Reheat covered at 180°C for 20 minutes; the cheese rebloomscompletely. Do not freeze (the texture turns grainy).
Tartiflette is based on an older Savoyard peasant dish called péla, but the modern recipe with whole Reblochon was developed in the 1980s by the Syndicat Interprofessionnel du Reblochon to increase cheese sales. The marketing was so effective that it is now regarded as the most traditional dish of the French Alps.
In the US (where raw-milk Reblochon is forbidden) try Reblochon-style cheeses by US dairies, or substitute a small wheel of Camembert (different but workable).
Yes — assemble through step 7 and refrigerate up to 6 hours. Bake from cold, adding 8 minutes.
Per serving (420g / 14.8 oz) · 6 servings total
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