Melted and fondue
Aligot
Mashed potato beaten with fresh tomme cheese and garlic until it stretches in long, glossy ribbons.
Aligot is a dish of the Aubrac plateau in southern France, where Aveyron, Cantal and Lozère meet. Floury potatoes are mashed with butter, cream and garlic, then beaten with young tomme cheese until the mixture turns elastic. It is lifted high from the pot in ribbons and served with Toulouse sausage or roast meat.
What goes in
- Tomme fraîche632%, Young curd of Laguiole or Cantal.
- Floury potatoes842%, Boiled and mashed very smooth.
- Butter211%, Gloss and richness.
- Crème fraîche211%, Loosens the mash.
- Garlic15%, Crushed into the potatoes.
Rough parts by weight. The ring shows each ingredient's share of the dish.
Made step by step
Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Quantities and timings differ from house to house; this is one traditional way, in outline.
Step 1: Simmer Boil peeled floury potatoes until soft, then drain well. Step 2: Knead Mash or pass them through a mill while hot, with butter, cream and garlic. Step 3: Grate Cut the tomme into thin strips. Step 4: Melt Over low heat, add the cheese a handful at a time while beating with a wooden spoon. Step 5: Knead Keep beating in a figure of eight until the mixture is smooth and stretches in ribbons. Step 6: Serve Lift high from the pot onto warm plates and serve with sausage at once. Finished Aligot, by share.
Pilgrims and monks
A common story places its origin with the monks of Aubrac, who fed pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela with bread and cheese. Potatoes are said to have replaced the bread much later. The story is hard to prove, but aligot has been the food of the Aubrac buron, the stone cheese huts of summer pasture, for a long time.
The cheese and the stretch
The cheese is tomme fraîche, the pressed but unripened curd from which Laguiole or Cantal would later be made. It is mild and slightly sour and melts into long strings. Cooks beat the mash with a wooden spoon in a figure of eight for many minutes. When it falls from the spoon in an unbroken ribbon, it is ready. Mozzarella is not a good substitute; young Cantal is closer.
Where it is used
The cheeses in it
Also part of it, and being written: Cantal cheese (Young Cantal tomme is also used.).
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Sources and further reading
Original text and drawings by the EveryCheese desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are a rough, illustrative ratio, not a recipe: every family and kitchen makes it differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Salers: Coyau, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Laguiole: Myrabella, CC BY-SA 3.0, source