I first encountered aligot at a village garlic festival near Albi, where a rustic farmhand type with rippling biceps was manoeuvring a large wooden paddle and stirring with great virtuosity a huge pot. In this way the man worked at his task for a good half an hour, sweating in the summer heat, until slowly the crowd moved in when the aligot was ready. Paper plates were passed around, on to which was slopped a stringy mass of hot cheesy mash. Some sizzling grilled sausages were snipped off the links on to the awaiting plates, and the crowd tucked in.
Aligot uses a cheese called tomme fraîche de Cantal: very young, unsalted, squeaky curds that, when melted, go really stringy. When the aligot is ready and “ça file” (it runs), as they say, it’s impossible to tell where potato ends and melted cheese begins. Despite the generous amount of garlic, aligot can be bland on its own and so grilled sausages are a great accompaniment here.
Serves 4
floury potatoes 1kg
aligot cheese 500g (tomme fraîche de cantal, de laguiole or de l’aubrac, or failing that, some young cantal or cheddar )
garlic 2 cloves, peeled and crushed with a little salt
hot milk 250ml, plus a little extra as needed
double cream 100ml
butter 150g
To serve
grilled sausages (Toulouse for preference), or steak
dijon mustard
Cut the potatoes into medium-sized chunks and simmer (from cold) in lightly salted water until soft. Cut up the aligot cheese into 1cm pieces.
Drain the potatoes and allow them to release steam for a few minutes. Mash the potatoes well, then return to the empty pot. Add the crushed garlic, milk, cream and butter, and stir well to combine. Over a low heat, stirring the potatoes all the while, add the aligot cheese pieces, bit by bit. I have found that it is best to stir in only one direction. As all the cheese melts into the potatoes, the cheese will start to go stringy. If your potatoes feel a bit too stiff, add a little extra warm milk. Cook until the aligot is stringy enough to fall in a long, unbroken strand from the spoon held high over the pot. Check the salt, and it is ready.
Serve the hot, stringy aligot with grilled sausages or steak and dijon mustard. Don’t make the aligot wait for either its accompaniments or the guests as, when kept for too long, it loses its stringiness.
Adapted from Sardine: Simple Seasonal Provençal Cooking by Alex Jackson (Pavilion, £25)
