My partner, the Lovely Lois, rarely makes suggestions for dishes she’s interested in, so when she does, I always follow through. She tends to leave almost anything food-related to me, because of my obsessive penchant for anything related to the topic and her penchant to not cook. She enjoys good food, but would rather someone else, usually me, make it. This arrangement works well for both of us, so when she found a recipe for tartiflette, printed it, and handed it to me saying “This sounds good,” she had to have known it would end up on our dinner table within the next few days.
Before reading further, you may want to forget the possibly imposing French name, as it’s essentially a potato and cheese casserole. Then again, you may want to maintain its French heritage to impress your friends and family.
Tartiflette is a traditional, luxurious cheese and potato dish originating from the Savoy region of France where Reblochon, recognized as one of the world’s great cheeses, is produced. Reblochon is a gooey, raw milk, washed-rind cheese noted for its earthy, savory flavor, and is the cheese featured in the classic recipe. Unfortunately, authentic Reblochon is still unavailable in the United States, as the USDA has decided it needs to protect us from raw milk cheeses aged less than 60 days, while most of the rest of the cheesemaking world has no such requirement. I’m still waiting for the data suggesting it’s these raw milk cheeses and not the COVID-19 virus which has caused so much death and sickness across Europe. Excuse my snarkiness, but I’ve never understood the USDA’s gobbledygook rationale for this restriction.
Washed-rind cheeses, such as Reblochon, are brushed with a brine, beer, wine, or spirit during aging to create an environment beneficial to the development of specific bacteria. For the bacteria-phobic, many of these cultures are not only safe, but used in many healthful probiotic and cultured products as mild and common as cottage cheese. In the cheese world, washed-rind cheeses are also referred to as the “stinky” cheeses, with a stinkiness factor ranging from mild and earthy to a smelly barnyard. Even in cheese-loving France, French law bans Époisses de Bourgogne, one of the stinkier washed-rind cheeses, from being carried on public transportation in Paris. Although somewhat of an acquired taste, the stinkier versions are delicious, as their umami taste can be described as meaty, garlicky, mushroomy, savory, and earthy, while tasting not nearly as strong as their smell.
I reminded Lois I had made tartiflette for us a couple of years ago using an extremely ripe washed-rind cheese my cheesemonger colleagues had suggested was perfect for the dish. Although skeptical, I made it. She didn’t remember and must have blocked it out, as when the cheese was baked in with the tartiflette, it not only stunk up the house for a couple of days, but tasted as strong as it smelled. I flushed it down the toilet where it belonged.
In this version, I use Taleggio, a generally mild, gooey, washed-rind cheese from Italy. I used this, as my feeling is tartiflette was originally an easily made peasant dish meant to be filling and comforting during the winter months in the mountains of the Savoy region, using inexpensive, commonly found ingredients. Coming from the sometimes-rarefied cheese world, I recognize this may not satisfy the tartiflette purists among us who’ve had the dish in the Savoy region, but I forge ahead using the commonly found, still delicious and relatively inexpensive Taleggio. If it makes purists feel better, call it a potato and cheese casserole, while I still call it deliciously comforting for dinner on a winter’s evening.
Tartiflette variation
I cut the rind from the Taleggio, as its rind tends to be harder than most washed-rind cheeses and would be an unpleasant texture in the dish. I served this alongside a large salad featuring stronger-tasting ingredients such as radicchio and watermelon radish. This recipe is for two, possibly with leftovers. I’m sure it can be multiplied easily.
Ingredients:
1¼ pounds Yukon Gold potatoes (about 6 medium potatoes)
6 oz thickly sliced bacon, cut crosswise into ¼-inch thick batons
½ large onion sliced into ¼-inch slices
1 medium garlic clove, thinly sliced
¼ cup dry white wine
¼ cup crème fraîche or heavy cream
8-9 ounces Taleggio, rind removed and sliced into 8 approximately ¼-inch slices
Method:
- Place the oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees F.
- Generously butter a one-quart casserole dish and set aside. Place the potatoes in a pan large enough to cover the potatoes with salted water and bring to a boil.
- Allow the potatoes to boil gently for about 15-20 minutes or until they can be easily pierced with a fork, while avoiding overcooking. Meanwhile, in a heavy medium frying pan, fry the bacon batons over medium heat until crisp. Use a couple of teaspoons of olive oil if the bacon is lean. Remove the bacon from the pan and drain on a paper towel, leaving a couple of teaspoons of the fat in the frying pan to sauté the onions and garlic until lightly browned. Deglaze the pan, scraping up any browned bits which have formed, until the wine is almost evaporated. Add the cooked bacon to the onion mixture in the pan.
- Drain and run cold water over the potatoes until they’re cool enough to handle. Using a paring knife, peel the potatoes. Cut the potatoes into approximately ½-inch-thick slices.
- Lay four of the Taleggio slices into the bottom of the buttered casserole. Layer half of the potato slices over the cheese, and sprinkle half of the bacon and onion mixture over the potatoes, then lightly season with salt and pepper (the cheese and bacon will add salt). Continue by layering the other half of the potatoes, followed by the remaining bacon and onion mixture, seasoning these layers once again with salt and pepper. Drizzle the heavy cream or crème fraîche over all. (I heat the crème fraiche in the microwave for 10 seconds so it’s able to be drizzled). Finish layering with the remaining cheese.
- Bake on the middle rack of the preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until browned.
- The casserole is most easily served, after cooling for a few minutes, with a spatula into a wide bowl.
