If you haven’t heard of Reblochon, don’t feel bad. It’s illegal
here. Since it’s made with raw milk, which apparently is dangerous, even though
people have been eating it for centuries, it’s not allowed to be imported into
the country. However, while you can’t get the real stuff, without smuggling at
least, you can get a wonderful substitute, called “Dancing Fern,” from Sequatchie
Cove Creamery.
If you can’t swing faux-reblochon, I’ve
read about some people using half gruyere and half brie. After tasting the
finished product, I can see how that combo could create a somewhat similar
flavor profile. Of course, since we’re talking about potatoes and bacon, just
about any melting cheese should work beautifully. I really hope you give this amazing casserole a
try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for about 8 portions:
butter for greasing casserole dish
3 pounds russet potatoes, cooked with skins on, in salted
water
12 ounces thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 large onions, sliced thin
salt, freshly ground black pepper, and cayenne to taste
1⁄2 cup drinkable white wine
3/4 cup crème fraiche
1 pound Reblochon cheese, or something similar like Dancing Fern
- 375F. for 45 minutes, or until potatoes are very tender
57 comments:
Wouldn't raw cheese be worse for you if you had to hoop it up your ass and smuggle it across the border first.
We got the same BS 'big dairy' contrived laws here in Canada when it comes to raw milk products. Believe me Hoopin' ain't easy.
Any recommendations on the white wine?
How dare you reveal one of our best kept French secret recipe?
Of course you'll never figure out what is to me the best secret of this recipe: scrubbing the dish with garlic before laying the potatoes in it. In fact I believe garlic is usually a big part of this dish and I usually add finely diced garlic to the onions, but maybe that's just my take on it!
Anyway I hope you guys are able to find something that taste about the same as Reblochon because it gives the dish this unique signature :)
I have to disagree on you saying this cheese is one of the stinky cheeses, good Reblochon are usually very mild very creamy and only have a subtle smell. But that could be my French nose talking here ;)
I never tried it with sliced onions, you gave me a new excuse to cook a Tartiflette soon.
Another reason to dig on reblochon cheese is that its invention is a result of oppressed 14th century tenant dairy farmers' ingenious method of sticking it to the man (at least according to Wikipedia):
Reblochon derives from the word 'reblocher' which when literally translated means 'to pinch a cow's udder again'. This refers to the practice of holding back some of the milk from the first milking. During the 14th century, the landowners would tax the mountain farmers according to the amount of milk their herds produced. The farmers would therefore not fully milk the cows until after the landowner had measured the yield. The milk that remains is much richer, and was traditionally used by the dairymaids to make their own cheese.
Only the French would perceive the need for a single, separate word for pinching the cow's udder again, but hey--if the idea is to thwart the greed of acquisitive landlords, and results in cheese of decadent richness, who am I to argue??
Hi there chef John,
What about Camembert cheese instead? I bealive it would be perfect also in this dish.
This is also by far one of my favorite cheese dishes. Thankfully here in The Netherlands we can get Reblochon. I also add some garlic just as the French guy before me.
A crispy green salad with a slightly tangy dressing is all you need to eat with the dish.
You can wake me up for this great meal.
Oh and to answer Juan's question about the wine, if you don't mind me answering. I would recommend a dry white wine such as a Chardonnay. But that's my preference. 😉
Is it true this recipe was created in the 1980's by those clever producers of Reblochon, to shift more of their cheese? None the worse for that... To go with it? A strong, crisp, dry white wine. And a log fire. And plenty of snow. And a week or two of vigorous exercise.
Ohh Chef John, what do you do to me...
I thought I had the perfect recipe for Tartiflette... now i need to cook it again next week. Luckily, my local cheese dealer always has some Reblochon for me. Should cook it as long as it stays nice and cold here... Someday next week I guess. Can't wait to see your spin on it, since I'm at work now with no sound.
Easily one of the most epic recipes youve done ... we bake a rind-cheese about 2x a month.... its wonderful. Cant wait to try this one.... and thankfully in Austria we can get crazy raw-milk cheeses. I bet some red-culture rinde cheeses would also be spectacular here. Sorry for no apostraphies ... the key is broken on my wifes laptop!
Hi John,
I order my reblochon from my french friend who has a store by my house in San Diego. He has amazing products and also has an online store!!
https://www.eurofooddepot.com/cheese-dairy/fromage/tartiflette-cheese-reblechon-1-1lb-500gr-french-grocery-french-food-san-diego-france-eurofood-depot.html
Enjoy
Thanks for the amazing recipe
A fellow french girl;-)
Any other suggestions for cheese substitutions? igourmet.com seems to be out of stock of the Dancing Fern.
Thanks!
Jessi
Besides the one I gave in the last paragraph, I really don't. Someone just posted another source however. Good luck!
Well, I will let you all know how it turns out with just plain, cheap, American supermarket Brie. Had I read the blog before I went shopping I would have picked up some Gruyere, too, but the video was so enticing I just ran like the wind straight to the grocery!
A suggestion for a white wine: There's a white wine that's dry like chardonnay without the oak-flavors. It's called Chenin Blanc, it goes wonderful with onions and cheese I've used this wine with Chef John's Garlic Soup and Chef John's Onion Soup, and the results were a very tasty soup.
Hey chef...what about Camembert? Yea or Nay?
Lol... There's some sort of French/Swiss/European tart that has much the same ingredients. Instead of potatoes, they use something like a pizza crust. It has small cut up bacon pieces and onion arranged like pizza toppings with cream fresh as the sauce... It was also very good.
I've watched every video that you've made for years and I must say this is probably the most amazing and stunning looking dish that I've seen so far. I would have never in a million years considered using THAT MUCH cheese in one recipe, but it makes sense.
The hardest part for me is that I live an ultra-low-carb life but I'll be totally breaking the rules when I make this tomorrow!!
OMG I'm the one who asked you to do this recipe, and I can't believe you did it! And that you liked it so much! I can now proudly say "I taught Chef John something".
To answer some of the comments, I didn't know about the garlic and I'm definitely gonna try this soon, great idea.
And yes, this isn't one of the traditionnal dish that's been made forever but indeed was invented in the 80's to promote Reblochon. But let's be honest, one of the best idea ever!
And just so you can make another video like this, there's a similar dish called "Croziflette" that's kind of the same but instead of potatoes there are "crozets" which are pasta made with buckwheat. I personnaly never tried it, but I guess it's as awesome as Tartiflette.
A couple of advices that you said in the video but are really critical to me :
- Don't cook the potatoes too long, unless you want mashed potatoes (which you don't)
- Let this dish rest, cause when it's in your plate you absolutely can't wait, and it allows the dish to a better texture.
Again thank you Chef John for making this video!
Hi AlexG, that's a Flammkuchen. Also really good. You would love that too Chef John. Be sure to roll out the dough as thin as possible.
Oh man, I remember seeing (and smelling!) Reblochon cheese years ago when my mom, sister and I visited my dad at the restaurant kitchen (I'm 98% sure that was it). As always we were encouraged to taste, but back then I loathed any kind of cheese. I'm pretty sure I can get it from the Fromagerie in the city. Would be pretty cool to put this dish on the Easter table!
My Food Wish: I would LOVE to see your take on Fish & Chips!
I know you made a batter post years ago (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Not-So-Secret Beer Batter Recipe) but it would be cool to see 2016 chef John make Fish & Chips.
I made the super budget version of this last night. Substituted American supermarket Brie and replaced the wine with chicken stock and white wine vinegar. Was quite good! I bet the real version is amazing.
To the folks asking about Brie and Camembert, the flavor is not the same, and IMO way to mild. I think you need some amount of slightly funky sharpness to make the dish work. If using those cheeses, I'd add a big handful of gruyere or even cheddar.
Great dish! Easy recipe and we enjoyed it very much, thank you chef john!
Haaa! Great job, CJ! You put Dancing Fern on the map!
The Arnolds are going to LOVE you!
This looks very interesting What's the difference between placing the cheese 'rind up' versus 'rind down'? Thanks.
Help! The subscription/following links to enable me to receive notifications about new posts and comments are not working for me. Not sure why I am being picked on as I promote Food Wishes to EVERYone! Suggestions, anyone? ....and Thanks for any and all assistance.
MurraysCheese.com has a good replacement. Very similar but pasteurized. Just search on Reblochon.
My wine of choice is a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Crisp dry with some citrus notes. No oak.
Terry
Whole Foods (at least here in Maryland) sells a French-made Reblochon called Prefere de Fromi. I believe the only difference is that it's aged longer than the traditional Reblochon. If you google the name of the cheese you'll find several sites that review it favorably. I've got a wheel of it in the fridge right now that I'll be using later today to make this recipe.
Any other suggestions for cheese substitutions? igourmet.com seems to be out of stock of the Dancing Fern.
Thanks! Marinka
Did you read the post? I gave a substitute there.
Alpine food at its best!
Rind up just looks way, way cooler, but also lets the cheese melt downward easier.
Beautiful recipe!! We have lots of raw milk cheeses in America (Dancing Fern is raw), they just have to be aged for 60 days or more. Can't wait to try this!
I did some Googling and found this cheese, Le Delice du Jura - Reblochon-style Tomme.
I have not tested it but it migbht not be too awful.
Nice idea! I hope you really enjoyed this recipe!
In fact, here in Europe (France + Belgium) many of us just cut slices of Reblochon and make a gratin with layers of potatoes, onions, bacon, slices of cheese, ... so it melts everywhere in the casserole, with a lot of grated cheese on top!
One of my favorite videos and recipes as of late. I've never heard of reblochon cheese before, but it looks to become a family favorite.
I hope for your continued success for many years to come, Chef John.
Chef John! Thank you! Tartiflette is most amazing! And please allow me to recommend yet another cheese. St. Nectaire was recommended by the fromagier (is that a word?) at Central Market. The taste was such that I almost ate it before cooking the tartiflette.
Cant wait to try this! Lots of raw milk cheeses here in Asheville. If I can't find one similar, I'll go to Whole Foods, as suggested above. You should come here sometime! Quite a good repertoire of local food and restaurants!
Chef John,
This could be my next, new favorite dish. Thanks. Were you under duress when you did the narrative? Your voice didn't have your usual calm, flowing, and friendly quality.
Making this dish at the weekend. Thankfully over here in the UK we CAN get ' illegal cheese'. All very much looking forward to it.
Thanks.
Simon. ( Isle Of Wight )
Dear Chef john,
I really love all of you recipes but I have a question for you. Can you tell me some uses for truffle dust. I been curious about truffles and I'd like to try something new any ideas. saw this in the store and jumped on it now I have know idea what do with it.
I have made this about 4 times this year and we absolutely love this dish. I live in Germany, so it is easier to get to reblochon, and we buy it in bulk and freeze it so we always have some for this dish.
LOVE LOVE LOVE
This was the most wonderful dish I've made to date.
About a month ago I stumbled upon your Hungarian Goulash, and instantly became an avid fan.
All I had to use was some triple creme brie, but I can't imagine how much better it could be. Mine was a bit more soupy after cooking but still amazing.
I didn't have the correct size dish, so I split it into two dishes, completely arranged, wrapped well and froze the extra dish. Only 2 in the house don't have milk allergies, and I didn't read that this was for 8 people ;)
Chef John, will I have any issues and what are your thoughts on cooking the frozen one?
I love this dish! I chose to substitute havarti and it was magnificent!
I made this absolutely amazing recipe, and used the Oma cheese from Jasper Hill. It's a washed rind tomme with raw cow's milk. The whole house smelled like heaven (if you idea of heaven is a stinky cheese shop).
Thank you for the amazing recipe and hope others will make it as well.
I made it with Fontina, which is very melty, and came out beautiful.
Oui, Jon. You want to have onion flavored pork, not to have pork flavored onion, so strong. So onion first. Bacon, so to speak, in France is very subtle compared to American bacon. Cooked but not "fried".
À tout de suite
Hello Chef John, happy holidays to you and yours! Thank you for your videos and blog, I adore them and have learned a lot.
I made this tonight, and instead of the cheese, went with a small wheel of brie and some lovely smoked havarti I had on hand. Seemed a bit scarce (it was a small bit of brie!) so I also added some good aged cheddar.
It smells divine and I can't wait to eat in half an hour! Thanks, because of you I am learning how to cook, and I have more confidence. Top of the season!
I live in the Rhone Alps region of Switzerland and have had (and prepared) this dish many times, was first introduced to it at rainy wine festivals in the fall where it is prepared in massive pans 1-meter in diameter or more. I make this for my kids in the winter and they all fight over the rind! But we get to use real reblochon which is available in every supermarket or we buy it from a farm stand where you get to meet the cows who made the milk who made the cheese.
Anyway, the common form of this is much more thrown together than this technique but next time I make this I will definitely do it Chef John's way because the results look clearly excellent. My only note is that I have been told by locals it's best to use cold potatoes that have been cooked that morning or even sitting in the fridge overnight, as for some reason they lose their firmness and meld with the cheese/wine/cream mixture much better. For what it's worth, I agree that it comes out much better this way. I also use either a chasselas (a local Swiss white) or Fendant with this which in my opinion gives it a special taste, but not sure of the availability of these in the states. Anyway really excited to try this layering technique!
I make a potato, bacon, and cheese casserole with Gruyere. Although I'm trying to be more vegan these days, but Gruyere works great if you can't track down Roblochon or if you don't care about it.
for interesting and wonderfully flavored alternates:
use Taleggio cheese, or a v.good Comti, or a French Le Chablochon, and try it with a red wine (Pinot Noir), and use a good grade of sour cream in lieu of Creme Fraiche, and definitely a raw garlic rub on the baking dish......we are a home of French people who usually use what we have on hand of can get at our local food store,. smoky bacon is essential to this dish Jimili
Loved it, thank you Chef John. You've made me a better cook!
This is so good. And the rhine that I always thought was yucky...that was my fav part.
There's a Quebecois cheese called Sauvagine - that works too.
Love your videos but for the first time you shocked me in a bad way. I'd NEVER blot out or otherwise remove rendered bacon fat.
Post a Comment