A mountain cheese with a colour code
The tartiflette recipe may be a relatively recent invention, but the cheese in question dates back to the 16th century and to the Massif de Borne and Massif des Aravis region, so it’s a real mountain cheese. Nowadays, there are 650 producers under the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) (or Appellation d’Origine Protégée [AOP] at the European level), the second-largest number of any French cheese appellation, after Le Comté. The A.O.C. in France is similar to the D.O. here in Spain.
Every genuine Reblochon cheese from Savoie comes with an identity card: its colour tag. All meet the rules of the ‘Protected Designation of Origin’ set out in the specifications, but there are two kinds. It’s easy to tell them apart: one. has a green disc embedded in the cheese, and the other has a red.
Reblochon fermier is recognised by its green disc (as well as its packaging, of course), while the dairy variety has a red disc. This disc guarantees the cheese’s origin and traceability and includes the number of the manufacturing workshop, the identifiable manufacturing batch, and the date of manufacture.
This colour disc is made of casein, a natural component of milk: the tablet is entirely edible, so there’s no need to dig it out of your cheese! When melted, Reblochon is ‘gooey’ rather than ‘runny’, which makes it perfect for a tartiflette.
So, the essential ingredients of a tartiflette are Reblochon cheese, potatoes, onions, bacon, and white wine.
In this version, we also use crème fraîche and a couple of cloves of garlic. That may be a bit controversial for some, but we don’t care! Just don’t tell any French people!
The measurements for the ingredients can be adjusted slightly to taste, but the cheese should make up at least 20% of the total, at least officially, anyway!
Ingredients:
- 450 – 500g ‘wheel’ of Reblochon de Savoie (A.O.P.)
- 4 large potatoes, cut into fairly thick slices
- 150 – 200g of bacon lardons (or bacon rashers cut into smaller strips)
- 1 large onion, diced
- 200 ml crême fraîche
- tablespoon of butter
- 2 cloves of minced garlic (optional)
- 50ml of white wine
Preparation:
- Preheat your oven to 180c
- Boil or steam the sliced potatoes until almost cooked; allow to cool
- In a pan, fry the bacon, lardons and onions with the butter
- When the onions become translucent, add the crushed garlic, if using
- Add the white wine to the pan
- Cook until the wine has also evaporated and remove from heat
- In an oven dish, cover the bottom of the dish with half of the cooked potato slices
- Cover the layer of potatoes with half of the bacon and onion mix
- Cut your cheese into slices, without removing the rind
- Cover the potatoes, bacon and onions with half of the sliced cheese
- Spread the rest of the sliced potatoes to cover the layer of cheese
- As before, cover the layer of potatoes with the rest of the bacon and onion mix
- Top the dish with the final layer of Reblochon slices
- Spread the crême fraîche on top of the whole dish and distribute it evenly
- Place the dish into the oven and leave for about 20 minutes
- Season with cracked black pepper if desired
- Serve while hot
Alternative versions:
As we mentioned, we recommend using Reblochon cheese rather than other types that may look similar but don’t melt the same way in the oven, such as Camembert. There are a couple of regional variations of this recipe in France, such as the Morbiflette, which uses Morbier cheese (hence the name), and the Ch’tiflette, which uses Maroilles cheese and blonde beer instead of wine. Here in Spain, however, those cheese varieties are more difficult to find than Reblochon, which is available in most supermarkets.
On the other hand, there is nothing stopping you from ‘playing with’ the recipe a bit and making it your own. For example, we have tried it with sweet potatoes (moniatos) instead of regular potatoes and added a few crushed hazelnuts on another occasion, and were happy with the results both times.
The important thing to remember though is to be sure that the Reblochon itself is the star of the show.