Tartiflette is a potato gratin with a whole wheel of Reblochon melted over the top. Firm potatoes, smoked bacon, onions softened in the fat, a deglaze of white wine and a pour of cream go into the dish, and a farmhouse Reblochon AOP split crosswise goes on top with the rind facing up. Twenty minutes at 180 degrees and the rind turns golden while the paste underneath runs down into the potatoes. It serves four and most of the work is boiling potatoes.
At a glance
- Difficulty: Easy
- Serves: 4
- Active time: About 20 minutes, plus 20 minutes boiling the potatoes
- Cook: About 20 minutes at 180°C (350°F)
- Key ingredient: One whole farmhouse Reblochon AOP, about 500 g
Why this works
Everything here is chosen for how it behaves under heat. Firm-fleshed potatoes such as Charlotte hold their shape through a twenty-minute boil and a second stint in the oven, so you get distinct slices rather than a mash. The onions are browned in the rendered bacon fat, which means they arrive already seasoned and already sweet, and the white wine deglaze lifts the fond off the pan and puts that flavour back into the dish. Cream binds the whole thing without needing flour or a béchamel.
The Reblochon is the reason this is a tartiflette and not a gratin. It is a soft washed-rind cheese with enough fat to melt into a sauce rather than a rubbery layer, and the orange rind is what browns. Splitting the wheel crosswise, so both halves keep their rind, and laying them rind up gives you two things at once: the paste runs down through the potatoes while the rind sets into a burnished lid. Turn the cheese paste-up and it simply dries out.
Ingredients
The bacon should be smoked and cut into lardons. Everything else is straightforward.
| Ingredient | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Whole farmhouse Reblochon AOP | 1, approx. 500 g | 1, about 1 lb 2 oz |
| Firm-fleshed potatoes (Charlotte or similar) | 1 kg | About 2 lb 3 oz |
| Smoked bacon | 200 g | About 7 oz |
| Whipping cream | 25 cl | About 1 cup |
| Onions | 2 | 2 |
| White wine | 10 cl | A scant 1/2 cup |
| Salt and pepper | To taste | To taste |
| Grated nutmeg (optional) | To taste | To taste |
Method
Step 1: Cook the potatoes and build the base
Wash the potatoes and cook them in boiling salted water for 20 minutes, then cut them into slices. Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Peel and slice the onions and brown them with the bacon, then add the potatoes to the pan. Deglaze with a glass of white wine. Pour in the cream and season with salt and pepper.
Step 2: Cap it with the Reblochon and bake
Transfer everything to an ovenproof dish. Cut the farmhouse Reblochon AOP crosswise and lay the halves on top so that the rind faces up. Bake for about 20 minutes. Let it brown as much as you like before taking it out.
Step 3: Or take one of the two variations
Maison Bordier gives two. For a Western tartiflette, use Guéméné andouille in place of the bacon, brown the onions in Bordier Roscoff onion butter, deglaze with brut cider, and swap the Reblochon for Petit Moulin. For a Pancetta and Pont l'Évêque AOP tartiflette, use pancetta instead of lardons, brown the onions in Bordier wild garlic and Kampot pepper butter, and replace the Reblochon with strips of Pont l'Évêque AOP, gratinated with Emmental de Savoie IGP.
Tips from our kitchen
- Boil the potatoes whole and in their skins. Cut potatoes take on water and turn slack. Cook them whole, let them cool for five minutes so they firm up, then peel and slice. Slices about half a centimetre thick hold together best.
- Render the bacon before the onions go in. Start it in a dry pan over medium heat and give it a few minutes on its own. Once there is fat in the pan, add the onions. Putting both in together steams the bacon and you lose the browning that carries the dish.
- Let the wine reduce before the cream. Give the deglaze a minute of hard bubbling so the raw alcohol cooks off. Cream added into wine that is still sharp can look split, even though it will settle in the oven.
- Buy the Reblochon ripe. A wheel ready for this gives slightly under your thumb and smells of the cellar. A young, firm Reblochon will melt but stays bland, and the rind browns rather than crisps.
- Do not skip the crosswise cut. Slicing the wheel through its width leaves rind on both halves. Cut it into wedges instead and you get bare paste on top, which dries and skins over rather than browning.
- Watch for the fat slick. If the surface turns greasy and glassy rather than golden, the oven is too hot or the dish has been in too long. Take it out. It will look fine again once it settles for five minutes.
How to serve it
Straight out of the dish, with a sharply dressed green salad and nothing else. Tartiflette is filling enough that a starter or a side turns the meal into an ordeal. A dry Savoie white cuts through the cream, and a light red works if you would rather. Let it stand for five minutes off the heat so the cheese thickens slightly and the slices hold together on the spoon. If the Western variation catches your eye, the Roscoff onion butter it calls for is in our Maison Bordier collection.
Where to buy Bordier butter in the US
The French Pantry ships Bordier butter across the United States in insulated overnight packaging, straight from the workshop in Brittany.
The Reblochon and the Bordier cream in the original are cheese-cellar and creamery products we do not carry. The butter churned in the same Brittany workshop we do, and two of the variations above call for it by name.
- Churned Salted Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): semi-salted at 2.8% fine salt, the natural block for browning onions or for the bread alongside.
- Churned Roscoff Onion Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): pink AOP Roscoff onion in salted butter, the butter the Western tartiflette variation asks for.
For the rest of the range, including seaweed, buckwheat and Périgord black truffle, browse the Maison Bordier collection.
Frequently asked questions
How much Bordier butter should I buy for this?
Bordier blocks are 4.4 oz (125 g). The base recipe uses none, but if you follow the Western variation and brown the onions in Roscoff onion butter you will want about 30 g, roughly a quarter of a block. One block covers the onions and leaves plenty for bread.
What can I use instead of Reblochon?
Look for another soft washed-rind cheese sold as a whole small wheel: Petit Moulin, which is Maison Bordier's own suggestion, or a ripe Camembert if that is what you can get. Raw-milk Reblochon is restricted in the United States, so most of what you find here is pasteurised, which melts perfectly well.
Can I substitute the Bordier butter with something else?
For the plain version, any good butter will brown onions. The flavoured Bordier butters are harder to replace because the onion or wild garlic is churned into the butter itself. The closest workaround is regular butter plus the aromatic cooked separately, which is not the same thing.
How should I store Bordier butter?
In its paper, in the coldest part of the fridge. Cut what you need and let it come to room temperature before spreading. It freezes well wrapped tightly if you want to keep a spare block.
Does Bordier butter need refrigeration?
Yes. Bordier butter is a fresh, hand-churned product and ships cold in insulated packaging. Move it into the fridge as soon as it arrives.
Can I assemble it ahead?
Yes. Build the base through step one, let it cool, and keep it covered in the fridge. Add the cheese and bake when you are ready, giving it an extra five minutes or so to account for the cold start.
Related reading
- Bordier Butter: What It Is, Why Chefs Love It, and How to Use It
- How to Choose Your French Butter: A Buyer's Guide
- Paysan Breton: The Breton Butter Guide
Recipe and photograph adapted from Maison Bordier, with thanks. The French Pantry is an authorized US retailer of Bordier butter.