Potatoes · Recipe · Aubrac · Reference page

Aligot

Name: Aligot
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 1 kg floury potatoes, peeled; 100 g butter; 250 g crème fraîche; 400 g tome fraîche de l'Aubrac (IGP), cut in thin strips, at room temperature; 1 clove garlic, optional; salt and pepper

aligot de l'Aubrac

Potato purée enriched with butter and crème fraîche, then beaten over the heat with fresh tome cheese until it stretches in long ribbons. It is the emblematic dish of the Aubrac plateau. The quantities are those of the local tourist offices.

Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.

Servings: 4
Preparation: 15 min
Cooking: 35 min
Total: 50 min
Difficulty: Moderate

Equipment

Large heavy saucepan
Potato masher or food mill
Strong wooden spatula

Servings4

Ingredients

1 kgfloury potatoes, peeled
100 gbutter
250 gcrème fraîche
400 gtome fraîche de l'Aubrac (IGP), cut in thin strips, at room temperatureFresh, unripened pressed curd from cow's milk. Do not substitute a ripened cheese.
1 clovesgarlic, optional
salt and pepper

Shopping list

Method

Take the tome out of the fridge early so it is at room temperature, and cut it into thin strips.
Why Cold tome melts slowly and the purée cools before it strings.
Boil the potatoes (with the garlic, if using) until tender, drain and mash or pass through a food mill into a purée.
Timer · 25 min25:00
Return the purée to a low heat and beat in the butter and crème fraîche. Season with salt and pepper and make sure it is very hot.
Add the tome and beat hard with a wooden spatula, lifting and turning, until the cheese melts and the purée stretches in long elastic ribbons.
Why Working the hot curd develops the stretch. Kept too long on the heat or overheated, the strands break and the fat separates.
Timer · 5 min5:00
Serve at once, pulling the aligot from the spatula onto each plate.

To drink & serve with

South-West France
Editorial suggestion: a red from south-west France. Locally it accompanies grilled sausage.

Substitutions

Tome fraîche de l'Aubrac → Editorial suggestion, not from the sources: another fresh, unripened tome from the Massif Central.

Common mistakes

Adding cold tome to a lukewarm purée: it will not string.
Leaving it on the heat after it strings: the strands break.
Using a blender for the purée: it turns gluey.

Storage & reheating

Eat at once. Leftovers can be fried as a potato cake the next day; refrigerate within 2 hours.

Safety

Contains milk. Some tome fraîche is made from raw milk; check the label if you are pregnant or immunocompromised.

Allergens

Milk

Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

Dietary

vegetarian · gluten-free

Pilgrims' food, by legend

The Aveyron tourist board tells the story as a legend: the monks of Aubrac gave pilgrims a simple, filling soup of broth, bread and fresh tome. No document for this is given. Today the dish is the emblem of the Aubrac plateau, and the local tourist office's recipe calls for tome fraîche de l'Aubrac IGP.

[1][2]

Make it string

Both tourist-office recipes agree on the proportions for four: 1 kg potatoes, 100 g butter, 250 g crème fraîche and 400 g tome. The purée must be very hot and the tome at room temperature and cut thin. Then comes the arm work: beating with a spatula until the mass becomes elastic and pulls into ribbons. The Aubrac office warns that held too long on the heat, the string breaks.

[2][1]

How it connects

Place

origin Aubrac In preparation

Potato

made with Bintje

Wine region

pairs with South-West France