Photo by Josh Bassett.

Don’t recognize that word on your dinner or drink menu? Sick of surreptitiously Googling at restaurants? Menu Decoder is your guide to obscure ingredients popping up on local dinner and cocktail menus.

By DCist contributor Jenny Holm

Photo by Gilles Francois.

What is it: Tartiflette is a stick-to-your-bones gratin from the Haute-Savoie region of eastern France. The most common recipe combines potatoes, onions, and bacon under layers of a pungent raw cow’s milk cheese called Reblochon. The whole concoction is baked until the potatoes are steaming hot and the cheese forms a golden crust on top. While it seems like classic peasant fare, the recipe was actually created by marketers in the 1980s as a way to sell more Reblochon. When you taste it, you’ll thank them.

The dish itself may not have much history, but the cheese it calls for certainly does. Reblochon’s name comes from a Savoyard word meaning “to remilk,” which has its roots in a 14th century tax evasion scheme. At that time, taxes were collected from local farmers based on the amount of milk their cattle produced. The peasants would partially milk their cows, wait until the inspectors had left, then “remilk” their cows. The much richer milk from this second milking would be used to make Reblochon.

What does it taste like: This is simple, warming comfort food at its best. The crisp upper crust of the tartiflette gives way to the porky potato center in the same way the rind on a good Reblochon breaks to reveal its oozing innards. To cut the richness, pair it with something lighter, like a salad of peppery greens, and wash it down with a dry white wine.

Where to try it: Unfortunately U.S. law bans import of raw milk cheeses that have been aged for less than 60 days, which means no Reblochon for us. (The cheese is aged for only about three weeks.) D.C. chefs have come up with various alternatives that closely approximate the real thing. You can find the most traditional style of tartiflette at Bistrot du Coin (1738 Connecticut Avenue NW) in Dupont using pasteurized Délice du Jura cheese from Switzerland. Chef Jose Garces at Rural Society (1177 15th Street NW) makes his version with sweet potatoes, while the Thanksgiving menu at Table (903 N Street NW) features a tartiflette with smoked salmon and Grayson raw milk cheese from Virginia, whose distinctive barnyard aroma resembles that of Reblochon.