Les Patates de mon Coeur

Potatoes are big news in the Auvergne. Near Thiezac, there is a small village called Ville-dieu in which a potato conservatory is maintained. Myriam tells me that more than one hundred different types of potatoes are cultivated and, er, conserved there. This is why there are Tibetan and Hungarian varieties of potato in the vegetable garden here. September is the month of the potato fair, an event which sounds something like a potato-fanciers swap-meet, gab-fest and love-in all rolled into one. You can buy any one of the mythical hundred varieties of potatoes and the wherewithal to grow them yourself. You can bring new varieties of potatoes along and donate them to the conservatory for the good of the potato-loving community. You can talk potatoes until you grow tubers.

According to the locals, potatoes are the truffles of the Auvergne and prized as such. There exists a local specialty named the ‘truffade,’ so named in honour of the truffilicious standing of the potato. Although every Cantal kitchen dishes up a different truffade, the basic ingredients – equivalent quantities of potatoes and Tome fraîche, salt, garlic – are fixed. For one such as myself, who invests both potatoes and cheese with miraculous healing properties, it is a fine dish. A light dish, however, the truffade is most certainly not. I think the ideal conditions for eating truffade are in the middle of winter, following many hours of serious physical exertion and before a long sleep.

Hélas, the first time I ate truffade was in the middle of a hot day, after a few hours in the garden, and before a long walk home. The sections of the walk which were not downhill were extremely challenging.

The second time I ate truffade, I helped with the preparation and understood why I had so much trouble the first time. Peeled potatoes are firstly lightly fried in lard with some onions. In my book, light frying in lard is an oxymoron. That chapter is not written in French, obviously. Once the lard has penetrated the spuds, they are boiled to complete the cooking then drained and smashed up a bit. Loads of garlic are chopped into the pot and a handful of salt stirred in. Enfin, a vast amount of very young cheese is thrown in and left to sit with the potatoes with the lid shut for a little while. Before serving, a few glugs of olive oil go into the pot and the dish beaten until the cheese is stringy. Incredibly rich, incredibly good.