Tartiflette

5 from 15 votes

Recipe video above. Tartiflette is a famous French potato bake from French Alps where a whole wheel of reblochon cheese melts to become the sauce. Reblochon is the traditional cheese, but happily you don’t need to hunt it down. Any good washed rind cheese works beautifully - I tried many varieties to make sure. But if you can only get camembert or brie, use this Brie Dauphinoise instead!

Tartiflette is traditionally served as a main with a simple salad tossed with a French vinaigrette and a glass of crisp white wine. Though you could also serve it as a side - but be aware it will steal the show.

Serves 6 as a main, 10 - 12 as a side.

Prep Time20

Cook Time1

Resting Time10

Total Time1 30

Course: Baked, Baking, Main Course, Mains, Potato

Cuisine: French

Keyword: french potato bake, reblochon cheese recipe, tartiflette

Servings:

Calories: 791cal

Author: Chef JB (RecipeTin)

Ingredients

500g / 1 lb reblochon cheese or any washed rind cheese (see Note 1 for brie option)
1.5kg / 3lbs potato, starchy - peeled, cut into 2.5cm / 1" cubes (Note 2)
1 tbsp cooking salt / kosher salt , for the potato cooking water, halve for table salt
60g / 4 tbsp unsalted butter
2 brown onion , halved then sliced 3mm / 0.1" thick
350g / 12oz bacon block (or speck) , rind removed if any, cut into 2.5 x 0.8cm / 1″ x 0.3" thick batons - substitute thick cut bacon (Note 3)
3/4 cup white wine - Jacquère or Roussette from Savoie if you can else any dry white wine, I use Chardonnay (Note 4)
3/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt , halve for table salt
3/4 tsp black pepper

Cups - Metric

Instructions

Abbreviated recipe

Boil potatoes 15 min, drain. Sauté onion in butter 6 min, add bacon, cook 6 min. Deglaze with wine, reduce 30 sec. Add in potato, salt and pepper. Transfer to baking dish, top with halved reblochon (rind side up). Bake 30 min at 200°C / 390°F (180°C fan). Rest 5 minutes then serve.

Full Recipe

Cut Reblochon – Reblochon is normally very soft, so it needs to be firmed up before cutting. Place the whole cheese in the freezer for 1 hour then use a sharp knife to slice it in half horizontally through the middle. You should end up with two thinner rounds, each with rind on one side and the creamy cut side exposed. If using another types of washed rind cheese, still do this step. (Note 1)
Preheat oven to 200°C / 390°F (180°C fan-forced).
Cook potatoes - Place the cut potatoes in a large pot (mine is 7 litres/quarts) and cover with cold water (2 cm / 0.8" above the potatoes). Add salt, bring to a simmer, and cook 15 minutes until soft. A knife should easily slides through without resistance, but the pieces are still holding their shape.
Steam dry - Drain the potatoes and leave in the colander until needed so they steam dry.
Cook onion - In the same pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat then add onion and cook for 5 minutes stirring regularly with a wooden spoon.
Bacon - Add the bacon and cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly until it is lightly browned, and the onions are beautifully golden.
Wine - Add the white wine to deglaze, and reduce for 30 seconds, scraping the bottom to loosen and dissolve all the fond (those tasty browned bits stuck to the base) into the wine, there’s loads of flavour in there!
Add the potato back into the pot with the salt and pepper. Stir gently just until just combined.
Assemble - Transfer the potato mixture into a baking dish (30 x 25 x 7cm / 12" x 10" x 3") and spread it out into an even layer. Place the two halves of reblochon on top, rind side up.
Bake for 30 minutes until the Reblochon is completely melted, bubbling around the edges and beautifully golden on top. Rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Notes

1. Reblochon - The traditional cheese used for Tartiflette, but can be difficult and expensive to find outside of France so use another soft washed-rind cheese. I use Préféré de nos Montagnes and Délice du Jura (both excellent, and come in whole 500g/1lb wheels like Reblochon). Other substitutes are Saint-Nectaire, Tallegio or any other wash rind cheese will do the job nicely.

If using washed rind cheese cut into wedges, get 500g/1lb in total and still cut in half horizontally per recipe, else you can cut/break into large dollops and cover the surface with it. The goal is to cover most of the surface of the potato dish with cheese so it melts through the whole dish.

But if you can only get brie or camembert, use this Brie Dauphinoise instead, it's as lovely!

2. Potato - All potato types will work fine here, really, I've tried it with the waxy kind (red potatoes) and it turns out well. But my favourite is the starchy kind. They still hold their shape after boiling and become tender to absorb all the flavours while baking.

Australia– Sebago (dirty/brushed or the common washed potatoes sold at supermarkets).
US– Russet, Yukon Gold
UK – Maris Piper, King Edward

3. Bacon - Block is ideal so you can cut chunky batons. If you can't find it, use speck which is similar. Otherwise, use a thick cut streaky bacon and cut it into strips.

4. Wine - There’s no need to buy an expensive bottle, the subtle aromas you’re paying for are mostly lost during cooking anyway. For an alcohol-free version, use a non-alcoholic dry white wine.

Leftovers and storage - Best eaten fresh. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in the microwave until hot throughout. Suitable for freezing. Thaw before reheating.

Nutrition per serving assuming 6 servings.

Nutrition