Breizhiflette is what happens when Brittany takes tartiflette away from the Alps and refuses to give it back. Reblochon becomes Curé Nantais, the white wine becomes Muscadet, and the bacon gets started in Bordier Espelette pepper butter rather than plain fat. Charlotte potatoes, cream, and half a wheel of washed-rind cheese laid cut side down over the whole dish. It is an easy recipe with a long unattended bake: 30 minutes of work and 50 minutes in the oven, for six people.
At a glance
- Difficulty: Easy
- Serves: 6
- Active time: 30 minutes
- Cook: 50 minutes at 180°C / 350°F, plus 20 minutes to boil the potatoes
- Key ingredient: Bordier Espelette Pepper Butter
Why this works
Only 30 g of butter goes into this dish, and it still changes the result. Bordier began making the Espelette butter in 2008 after meeting a producer in the Basque country, working AOP Espelette pepper into salted butter on the wooden malaxeur. Espelette is a warm, fruity chile rather than a hot one, so what it contributes here is not heat but a low, red-pepper hum underneath the smoke of the bacon. Starting the lardons in that butter carries the flavor into the fat, which then coats every potato slice in the dish.
The technique behind the gratin is the halved cheese. Curé Nantais is a soft washed-rind cow's milk cheese from the country south of Nantes, and cutting the wheel through its equator and laying each half cut side down means the paste melts downward through the potatoes while the rind holds the shape and browns on top. You get a lid rather than a scattering. Boiling the potatoes whole in their skins first, then peeling and slicing them, is the other half of it: they hold together in the dish instead of breaking into mash, and they have already absorbed salt from the cooking water.
Ingredients
Bordier's quantities for six, with US measures alongside.
| Ingredient | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Curé Nantais cheese, whole | 1 | 1 |
| Charlotte potatoes | 1 kg | 2.2 lbs |
| Shallots | 350 g | 1½ cups |
| Smoked bacon bits (lardons) | 200 g | 7 oz |
| Dry white wine, Muscadet for example | 15 cl | 5 fl oz, about ⅔ cup |
| Bordier Espelette pepper butter | 30 g | 2 tbsp |
| Liquid or single cream (Bordier cream in the original) | 25 cl | 8½ fl oz, about 1 cup |
Method
Step 1: Boil the potatoes and start the bacon
Wash the potatoes and boil them in salted water for 20 minutes. Heat the oven to 180°C / 350°F. Sauté the bacon for 5 minutes in the Espelette pepper butter, add the shallots, and deglaze the pan with the white wine.
Step 2: Layer the dish
Drain and peel the potatoes, then slice them. Lay them evenly in a buttered baking dish. Scatter the bacon over the potatoes. Season lightly with salt and pepper, then pour over the cream.
Step 3: Add the cheese and bake
Cut the Curé Nantais in half lengthwise and set each half cut side down on top of the potatoes and bacon. Bake for 50 minutes and serve immediately.
Tips from our kitchen
- Everything in the pan goes into the dish. Step one has you deglaze the shallots with wine, and step two only mentions the bacon. Our reading is that the whole contents of the pan, bacon, shallots and reduced wine together, get scattered over the potatoes. Reduce the wine until the pan is barely wet first, or the gratin will be soupy. That is our guidance rather than Bordier's stated instruction.
- Salt and pepper are not in the ingredient list. The method calls for both in step two. Go light: the lardons and the washed-rind cheese are already salty, and the potatoes picked up salt in their cooking water.
- Boil the potatoes whole and unpeeled. Twenty minutes gets a Charlotte to just-tender. Peel them warm, which is easier, and let them cool slightly before slicing so the rounds stay intact.
- Butter the dish with the Espelette butter. The original does not say which butter to grease the dish with. Using a little of the same butter costs you nothing and puts the pepper against the edges where the gratin catches and browns.
- Do not skip drying the pan of wine. Excess liquid is the single most common failure in any tartiflette. If the shallots are still swimming after deglazing, keep the pan on the heat another minute or two.
- Let it settle for ten minutes. Straight from the oven the cream has not thickened and the portions run. Ten minutes on the counter and it serves in clean spoonfuls.
How to serve it
One dish, one green salad with a sharp mustard vinaigrette, and the rest of the Muscadet you opened for the pan. Nothing else belongs on the table. If you want to understand why so small an amount of butter changes the flavor of a dish this size, our guide to Bordier butter covers how the flavored butters are made and where they earn their place in cooking.
Where to buy Bordier Espelette Pepper Butter in the US
The French Pantry ships Bordier butter across the United States in insulated overnight packaging, straight from the workshop in Brittany.
- Churned Espelette Pepper Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): AOP Espelette pepper worked into salted butter, warm and fruity rather than sharply hot.
We carry the butter but not the Curé Nantais or the Bordier cream, so those come from your cheesemonger and your dairy aisle. For the rest of the butter range, browse the Maison Bordier collection.
Frequently asked questions
How much Bordier butter do I need to buy?
Our blocks are 4.4 oz / 125 g and the recipe uses only 30 g, so one block covers this dish four times over. Use the rest on bread, on corn, or melted over a steak.
Can I use a different Bordier butter?
Salted butter is the neutral choice and gives you a straightforward Breton gratin. Roscoff onion butter is the more interesting swap, since it doubles the sweet-allium note already coming from the shallots. Seaweed butter also works if you want something with a more coastal, iodised edge.
What can I use instead of Curé Nantais?
Any soft washed-rind cow's milk cheese that comes as a small wheel you can halve. Reblochon is the original tartiflette cheese and the closest in behavior. Munster, Saint-Nectaire or a young Livarot all melt well, though each pulls the flavor in its own direction.
Which potatoes should I use if I cannot find Charlotte?
Any waxy variety. Yukon Gold, red bliss or fingerlings all hold their slices through a long bake. Avoid russets, which fall apart once the cream goes in.
How should I store the butter?
Keep it wrapped in the refrigerator and use it within about two weeks of opening. It freezes well for a few months if tightly wrapped. Store it away from strong-smelling foods, since butter takes on odors readily.
Does Bordier butter need refrigeration?
Yes. Bordier butter is a fresh, hand-churned product and ships cold. Refrigerate it as soon as it arrives, and take out only what you need for the pan.
Related reading
- How to Choose Your French Butter: A Buyer's Guide
- Paysan Breton: The Breton Butter Guide
- Isigny Sainte-Mère: Normandy's AOP Butter & Crème Guide
Recipe and photograph adapted from Maison Bordier, with thanks. The French Pantry is an authorized US retailer of Bordier butter.