Pommes Aligot (Cheesy Mashed Potatoes) Recipe (2024)

Why It Works

  • Unlike in most mashed potato recipes, you want to overwork the potatoes and release their starch here for extra-elastic results.
  • A combination of Alpine cheeses offers maximum meltiness and flavor.
  • Garlic in the potato-cooking pot, and minced in later, adds layers of flavor.

It can't be an accident that so many potato-and-cheese dishes were born in the mountains of Europe. There's Swiss raclette, an Alpine cheese that's held close to a fire or other heat source until the surface is bubbling and melted and then scraped off in stretchy strands onto boiled potatoes, bread, and other accouterments. In northern Italy, at the foot of the Alps, they bake potatoes into a gratin with Fontina and call it patate alla savoiarda. And in the French Alps, a dish called tartiflette has become popular—it combines potatoes with Reblochon cheese and lardons.

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The combination makes sense—potatoes and cheese are natural partners—as does the origin. Potatoes grow well in mountainous regions, which happen to also be the source of so many great melting cheeses, from Gruyère to Emmental and Fontina.

What Is Pommes Aligot?

Today, it's all about aligot, the thick, stretchy, unbelievably rich dish from Aubrac, a once-volcanic region in south-central France. If you've never seen aligot before, imagine the perfect fusion of mashed potatoes with fondue, and you'll have just the right idea. When made right, it should be elastic enough to stretch from pot to ceiling without breaking a strand. It's not a new creation by any measure, but I've been noticing it on a lot of restaurant menus (including a taro-based version at the now-closed Fung Tu in New York).

You don't have to go to a restaurant to eat aligot, though, because it couldn't be easier to make at home. In fact, all of the pitfalls of both mashed potatoes and fondue are non-issues when it comes to aligot. If you've ever been worried about overworking your mashed potatoes to the point of glueyness, aligot is your savior, since building up the potatoes' glutinous starch is critical to the final stretchy texture.

And if the prospect of a broken fondue has ever prevented you from attempting it, once again, aligot is your friend. Most firm cheeses break into their constituent parts of fat, protein, and water when melted, unless a starch or another emulsifying agent is there to help bind it all together. (You can read a more in-depth article on the science of melting cheese here.) There are a lot of ways to solve that problem, including Kenji's use of cornstarch and evaporated milk in his stovetop mac and cheese recipe, using a roux in a classic baked mac and cheese, and adding sodium citrate (a type of salt) in a more modern cheese sauce.

With aligot, there's so much natural starch in the mashed potatoes that you can load them with melted cheese without much risk of it breaking out into a greasy slick. It stays silky and smooth the whole time.

Cooking the Potatoes

The first step when making it is to cook the potatoes. Most recipes for aligot call for a waxier variety, like Yukon Golds. They make a creamier, denser potato purée than fluffy russets, which dovetails nicely with the texture of the melted cheese.

I like to cook my potatoes in heavily salted water to ensure the potatoes are seasoned well throughout. I also like to add aromatics to the pot, like garlic cloves and thyme sprigs, both of which enhance the flavor of the potatoes. The thyme sprigs have to be discarded, but the garlic can get mashed in for even more flavor.

Skip the Rinse

In many of our mashed potato recipes, we call for rinsing the potatoes after they're fully cooked to remove excess surface starch. This helps reduce the risk of gummy potatoes later. But with aligot, I want that starch, so there's no rinsing step here: I just mash the potatoes, using either a ricer or a food mill for an extra-smooth purée, into a large saucepan with plenty of butter.

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Adding the Cream and Butter

Then I work in cream, stirring the potatoes well the entire time. This goes against every mashed potato rule in the book, but that's the point: We want to release that starch and develop it into a sticky mass.

Once your arm is tired and the potatoes are thick and tight, it's time to melt in the cheese. A true aligot uses a cheese called tome fraîche, native to the region from which the dish hails. Unfortunately, that's pretty hard to find outside of France, which means we have to use other cheeses with similar melting properties. I went for a combination of Swiss and Gruyère for a good mix of excellent meltability (the Swiss) and deep flavor (the Gruyère). Simply add the cheese in small doses, stirring the entire time over low heat to melt it in and continue to build up an elastic texture.

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By the time the last of the cheese has melted in, your potatoes will be silky and smooth, with hardly a trace of graininess, and they should pull from your spoon in endless strands. The whole thing should be just loose enough to slowly flow, like lava that's run into cool air. If necessary, you can loosen it with some extra cream, beating it in until it's fully emulsified.

Serving the Pommes Aligot

When serving, either serve it directly out of the pot you made it in, or transfer it to a warmed serving bowl and serve immediately. Transferring the potatoes to an unwarmed bowl will cause them to cool and thicken. Pommes aligot is a dish that should only be served piping-hot.

There's no denying how hearty and rib-sticking this dish is. It's true winter food, best eaten in a snowy landscape. In France, it's often served over sausages and other meats, but if that feels like overkill, you could take a lighter approach by pairing it with roasted vegetables or even drizzling it over a bed of polenta.

Don't overthink it, though. This is mountain fare, and you need your energy for the chilly months ahead. Eat up.

December 2016

This recipe was cross-tested in 2023 to guarantee best results.

Recipe Details

Pommes Aligot (Cheesy Mashed Potatoes) Recipe

Prep10 mins

Cook40 mins

Active30 mins

Total95 mins

Serves6to 8 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes (24 ounces; 675g), peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

  • 2 sprigs thyme

  • 2 medium cloves garlic, 1 whole and 1 minced, divided

  • 3 tablespoons (27g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt; for table salt use half as much by volume or the same weight

  • 1 stick unsalted butter (4 ounces; 113g), cut into tablespoon-size pieces

  • 1 cup heavy cream (240ml), warmed, plus more if needed

  • 10 ounces (285g) mixed Alpine cheeses, such as Swiss, Gruyère, Comté, and/or Fontina, grated (see notes)

Directions

  1. In a large saucepan, cover potatoes, thyme, and 1 whole clove garlic with cold water by at least 2 inches. Stir in salt until dissolved. Bring water to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until a knife easily pierces potatoes with no resistance, about 20 minutes. Drain potatoes in a colander, shaking the colander well to get rid of excess water. Discard thyme.

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  2. Using a ricer or a food mill fitted with the finest disk, purée potatoes back into saucepan (make sure the saucepan is dried), mixing butter cubes in as you go. (If using a food mill, you can add the butter to the potato chunks and work it through the mill; if using a ricer, add the butter to the saucepan with the riced potatoes.) Add remaining 1 clove minced garlic. Set saucepan over medium-low heat. Using a silicone spatula, stir potatoes well until butter and garlic are fully combined. (Alternatively, you can use a wooden spoon for this, though it won't conform to the sides of the pot like silicone will.)

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  3. Slowly add cream in 3 parts, stirring well until cream is fully incorporated before the next addition. Continue stirring and working potatoes, lowering heat to low if potatoes begin to sizzle and steam, until potato mass feels thickened and sticky, about 3 minutes.

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  4. Add grated cheese in small batches, stirring between each addition until cheese is fully melted and incorporated. Continue stirring potatoes until they become thick, silky, smooth, and elastic (do not worry about overworking the potatoes in this recipe, since you want to develop that starch), about 3 minutes longer. The aligot should form long, stretchy strands when you lift it from the pot.

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  5. Season with salt. The aligot should be thick, with a very slow-flowing viscosity, like cooling lava; if too thick, work in additional cream in small amounts until it is loose enough.

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  6. Transfer to a warmed serving dish and serve right away. Aligot is traditionally served with sausages and meats, but you can also serve it with roasted vegetables or on a bed of polenta. Leftover aligot can be refrigerated in a sealed container. To reheat, add to a saucepan with a small amount of cream. Bring cream to a simmer before stirring it in, then continue to cook, adding more cream as necessary, until aligot is heated through and consistency is correct.

Special Equipment

Ricer or food mill

Notes

The traditional cheese in aligot is called tome fraîche, but it's hard to find outside of France. Instead, use any combination of semi-firm Alpine cheeses with good melting ability, such as Swiss, Gruyère, Fontina, and/or Comté.

  • Vegetarian Sides
  • Vegetarian
  • Potatoes
  • French
  • Gruyere
Pommes Aligot (Cheesy Mashed Potatoes) Recipe (2024)

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