Tartiflette () is a dish from

Savoy Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south. Savo ...

in the French Alps and from Aosta Valley. It is made with potatoes, reblochon cheese, lardons and onions. A splash of white wine can be added too. The word ''tartiflette'' is probably derived from the Arpitan word for potato (''tartiflâ'') or from the Savoyard ''tartifles'', a term also found in

Provençal Provençal may refer to: *Of Provence, a region of France * Provençal dialect, a dialect of the Occitan language, spoken in the southeast of France *''Provençal'', meaning the whole Occitan language *Franco-Provençal language, a distinct Roman ...

and

Gallo-Italian The Gallo-Italic, Gallo-Italian, Gallo-Cisalpine or simply Cisalpine languages constitute the majority of the Romance languages of northern Italy. They are Piedmontese, Lombard, Emilian, Ligurian, and Romagnol. Although most publications def ...

. This modern recipe was inspired by a traditional dish called

péla Péla is a town and Sub-prefectures of Guinea, sub-prefecture in the Yomou Prefecture in the Nzérékoré Region of south-eastern Guinea. References

Sub-prefectures of the Nzérékoré Region {{Guinea-geo-stub ...

: a gratin cooked in a long-handled pan called a ''pelagic'' (shovel). Often served as an après-ski meal, tartiflette conveys an image of Alpine authenticity and conviviality.

History

As with many traditional dishes in the region, the potato is a staple ingredient. Savoy was historically part of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Savoyards were exposed to potato tubers earlier than the French. Tartiflette was first mentioned in a 1705 book, ''Le Cuisinier Royal et Bourgeois'', written by François Massialot and his assistant cook B. Mathieu. In its modern form, tartiflette began to appear on the menus of restaurants in the ski resorts in the 1980s. Its popularity is partly thanks to the promotional effort by ''Le Syndicat Interprofessionnel du Reblochon'' to boost the sales of reblochon, as is confirmed also by Christian Millau (of the Gault-Millau Guide) in his gastronomic dictionary.

Variations

A common related dish found throughout the region is the ''croziflette''. Its preparation resembles that of the original dish in everything but the use of potatoes, in place of which minuscule squares of locally produced pasta are used. These are known as

crozets de Savoie Crozets de Savoie are small, square-shaped, flat pasta originally made in the Savoie region in southeast France. Crozets were made traditionally at home by housewives using buckwheat or wheat, or sometimes both. This pasta is used mainly to prepar ...

(which are usually made from buckwheat, but sometimes durum), hence the name of this dish, which is a blend of "crozet" and "tartiflette". Another related dish is the ''morbiflette'' prepared with the

Morbier cheese Morbier () is a semi-soft cows' milk cheese of France named after the small village of Morbier in Franche-Comté. It is ivory colored, soft and slightly elastic, and is immediately recognizable by the distinctive thin black layer separating it h ...

in place of the Reblochon.

References

{{Potato dishes Potato dishes French cuisine Cuisine of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes