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Raclette has been all the rage for several years now, and it\u2019s no surprise: What could be more mesmerizing than seeing the eponymous Alpine cheese melted and scraped onto plates of potatoes and charcuterie in all its gooey splendor?<\/p>\n
But if you ask us, the next cheese craze may well be the slightly-lesser-known but no less delicious specialty of aligot. Made of mashed potatoes<\/a> stirred together with a consequential amount of fresh cheese local to the central French Aubrac region, aligot boasts a slightly stretchy and very cheesy texture<\/a> just as worthy of a spot on your Instagram feed.<\/p>\n Like many regional dishes in France, aligot\u2019s birth is the stuff of legends\u2014one legend, to be precise, cited by local cheese experts Daniel Brug\u00e8s and Christiane Valat, co-authors of Nos bons fromages d\u2019Auvergne<\/em><\/a> (Our Good Auvergnat Cheeses<\/em>).<\/p>\n Picture this: It\u2019s the Middle Ages, and deep in the French mountains, three bishops walk into a bar (or, er, a roadside inn\u2014rather more common in medieval France). Each bishop bears a different ingredient to share: one has butter; the second, milk; the third, potatoes. None of them being particularly talented cooks, they ask a local buronnier\u2014a mountaintop cheesemaker\u2014to unite the goods in a dish to fill their bellies.<\/p>\n Obedient but strapped for ideas, the buronnier opts to simply mix everything together in a big pot. The hodge-podge proves an undeniable success, and as the bishops fight over the last spoonfuls, they stir the mixture so much that it becomes elastic and gooey. Aligot is born.<\/p>\n The legend is fun and fanciful, but unfortunately, like so many good legends, it doesn\u2019t hold water\u2014in large part because while the dish was indeed likely invented in the 12th century, potatoes would be a foreign, suspect, and even occasionally illegal food throughout France for another six hundred years, give or take.<\/p>\n \n The legend is fun and fanciful, but unfortunately, like so many good legends, it doesn\u2019t hold water.\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Aligot\u2019s invention can likely be attributed, not to buronniers, but rather to local monks providing shelter to Christian pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela, Spain from as far away as Geneva. According to Brug\u00e8s and Valat, when the pilgrims requested something to eat (\u201caliquis\u201d in Latin) at monasteries, they received a thick bread-and-cheese soup. The Latin word\u2014influenced by the local Occitan dialect\u2014transformed, bit by bit, into \u201caligot.\u201d<\/p>\n We have Antoine-Augustin Parmentier to thank for the introduction of spuds. After being imprisoned in a Prussian prison camp, the French pharmacist realized in the late 18th century that his compatriots\u2019 misconceptions linking potatoes to leprosy or the plague were grossly exaggerated, and he returned to France hell-bent on convincing others to give it a try.<\/p>\n Thanks to some gonzo marketing by Parmentier\u2014who was keen to help find a substitute for wheat flour, following several lean years in France\u2014potatoes were cultivated on the Aubrac plateau beginning in the 19th century. Eventually, according to Jean-Baptiste Bouloc, head of marketing for the Jeune Montagne cheese cooperative, tubers came to replace bread in the cheesy local delicacy.<\/p>\n And which cheese had the honor of a cameo in aligot? According to Brug\u00e8s and Valat, it was tome fra\u00eeche, a several-days-old iteration of local pressed Laguiole. While 19th-century buronniers had no rights to the latter\u2014all of it which went straight to their landlords’ larders\u2014this fresh cheese, just a few days old, was ripe for the eating. Low in salt and high in moisture, it has a mild flavor reminiscent of mozzarella\u2014if mozzarella were pressed instead of pulled. Added to aligot, it brings all of that sought-after stretchiness.<\/p>\n The hearty, gooey dish soon became the Aubrac equivalent of British fish and chips: the ideal stick-to-your-ribs entr\u00e9e for meat-eschewing Catholics on Friday nights.<\/p>\n Aligot may have remained a staunchly local delicacy if not for the development of the railroads in the mid-nineteenth century. As locals left their Aubrac homes for the capital, aligot went with them, soon becoming a staple of the dining establishments they opened. Today, approximately 40 percent of Paris’ caf\u00e9s and brasseries are still owned by people with Auvergnat roots. At one such spot, Le Plomb du Cantal, manager S\u00e9bastien Robin says aligot long been the star of the menu, served to salivating patrons tableside right from a tiny copper pan in all its stretchy, gooey glory.<\/p>\n \n Texture is something people appreciate in cheese, often even more than aroma or flavor. Gooey equals good.\n <\/p>\n Susan Sturman<\/cite>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n Aligot’s popularity has long ebbed and flowed, according to Bouloc, notably when Pope XXIII nixed the obligation for meat-free Fridays in 1965. But recently it\u2019s been on the rise again, thanks to Instagram, TikTok, and our collective obsession with \u201ccheese pull.\u201d<\/p>\n The vivid image of gooey strands of cheese, according to Quartz<\/a>, is like candy for our brains, releasing chemicals that activate an \u201caddiction\u201d and craving instinct. Essentially, the images evoke mouthfeel, posits cheese instructor Susan Sturman of cheese aging school MonsFormation. \u201cTexture is something people appreciate in cheese, often even more than aroma or flavor. Gooey equals good.\u201d And is there a more camera-ready dish than aligot?<\/p>\n \u201cWe put on a bit of a show!\u201d says S\u00e9bastien Robin, the restaurateur. \u201cIt stretches from the pot; there\u2019s loads of cheese in it.\u201d (It\u2019s pretty much a 2:1 of potatoes to cheese!) And its flavor? Irresistible.<\/p>\n If you can\u2019t make it to France, aligot is within the reach of any home cook, thanks in part to its short ingredients list. First: potatoes. You want a soft-fleshed variety like Yukon Gold for buttery flavor and rich texture. And unlike many other mashed potato recipes<\/a>, you can even cook and mash them in advance<\/a>.<\/p>\n The cheese is where Americans may hit a snag. Raw-milk tome fra\u00eeche from Aubrac is the \u201cessential ingredient for aligot,\u201d explains Bouloc. \u201cThat\u2019s what gives it its stretchiness and its characteristic texture.\u201d Unfortunately, as it is aged fewer than 60 days, it’s also is off-limits for American home cooks. As a stand-in, Brug\u00e8s and Valat suggest a young local tomme like Cantal or Laguiole, while Paris-based cheese educator and tour guide Jennifer Greco recommends \u201cbutter, heavy cream, and a 50\/50 ratio of shredded Gruy\u00e8re<\/a> (or Comt\u00e9 or Fontina) for nutty flavor, and shredded, dry mozzarella for extra stretchiness.\u201d<\/p>\n Whichever cheese you opt for, you\u2019ll need to mix it into the mash vigorously, for about 10 minutes. And once all of the cheese has melted, don’t wait too long to serve it, lest it lose its camera-ready stretchiness. \u201cIf you hold it on the heat too long,\u201d warns Bouloc, \u201cthe \u2018strings\u2019 break.\u201d<\/p>\n Most importantly, make a bit of a spectacle while serving aligot. Dollop it from copper or cast-iron pots onto the plates of your dinner guests tableside to show off its texture\u2014and consider making it the star of the meal. Though aligot is often served alongside a grilled sausage, cured ham, or roast pork, given its history as a dish for lean days, the way I enjoy aligot most is all on its own.<\/p>\n \u2014Recipe courtesy of Coop\u00e9rative Jeunes Montagnes.<\/em><\/p>\n Where Does Aligot Come From?<\/h2>\n
Make Your Own!<\/h2>\n
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