The tartiflette is today one of the inseparable dishes of winter in the eyes of the French.
In the program "Historically yours", Olivier Poels looks at the history of this dish which is not at all traditional, but which has benefited from an effective storytelling.
The chronicler of Europe 1 also gives his recipe, "absolutely irresistible".
How can you escape the winter tartiflette? This year, there will be no ski lifts, due to the coronavirus crisis, but that does not prevent gourmets from having fun with this undoubtedly fatty dish. And contrary to what one might think, it is not really ancestral, but on the contrary "marketed" and invented in the second half of the 20th century. This is what our columnist Olivier Poels explains in Historically yours on Europe 1, Wednesday afternoon.
It's a recipe that smells of the mountains and Savoyard tradition.
See you there, after a good day all together in the great outdoors.
We return in the evening to have a good tartiflette, the absolute embodiment of ski holidays.
Just by taking the name, you get the impression of a real authentic Haute-Savoie dish, which has existed since the dawn of time.
This is not the case at all.
The tartiflette is 40 years old, at most.
It is a dish that was purely and simply invented and "marketed".
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The invention of the tartiflette is attributed to a restaurateur from La Clusaz who had stocks of reblochon which he did not really know what to do with in the 1980s. It was a cheese that did not have a huge rating and the restaurateur did not know what to do with it. therefore could not sell them.
To make this reblochon sexy, he invented the tartiflette recipe to sell his stocks.
It was an immediate hit.
Moreover, the union of reblochon producers immediately seized on this story by promoting the matter.
Obviously, they were careful not to say that it was a completely contemporary dish.
Double milking of cows
In fact, the dish is based on a real authentic dish, the Pela des Aravis, a mixture of potatoes, onions and reblochon.
To make this dish a little more attractive, the restaurateur added small bacon and white wine.
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By the way, where does reblochon come from and why is it called that?
It is actually "blocked" twice.
In fact, the bloche and the rebloche is the milking of cows.
Everything stems from a tax scam in the Middle Ages.
At the time, in the 13th century, peasants had to donate part of their milk, which was collected by taxes.
They made a partial milking by minimizing the quantity of milk obtained by the milking.
When the tax collector had left, they were withdrawing, which corresponds to the rebloche, the basis of this cheese called reblochon.
How do you differentiate a farmer reblochon from a more industrial reblochon?
The farmer was made from the milk of a single farm.
Otherwise, they are reblochons with a blend of different milks.
There is a small pellet on the reblochon: when the pellet is green, it is a farmer reblochon.
When it is red, it is a dairy reblochon.
The recipe for the "irresistible" tartiflette by Olivier Poels
Ingredients for 4 persons
1 kg of potatoes
1 whole reblochon
250 gr of pork belly (small cut bacon)
10 cl of white wine
2 onions
1 clove of garlic
Pepper
Recipe :
Peel the sliced potatoes
In a large frying pan, brown the bacon which will release a little fat
Also sauté the onions and potatoes
Leave to cook for about fifteen minutes
Deglaze with white wine
In a dish rubbed with garlic, put a layer of potatoes with onions and bacon, small pieces of reblochon, a new layer of potatoes and then half a reblochon cut in the direction of the height by above to finish
Put in the oven and bake at 200 degrees, for 15 minutes