He arrives from the kitchens on a rolling trolley and, suddenly, it’s as if Brad Pitt himself had just entered the restaurant: the conversations stop, eyes turn and become charged with gluttony when the truffle aligot, served directly at the table, begins to spin, spin, spin. At the two-star restaurant Le Suquet, legendary for its visionary cuisine, chef Sébastien Bras is still surprised by the fascination this humble dish has among his customers. Its origins date back to the Middle Ages, when monks fed passing pilgrims with a dish made of fresh tomme cheese and bread crumbs, replaced by potatoes a few centuries later.
In the mid-1950s, “Mémé Bras”, the chef’s grandmother, served it daily to local workers at her inn in Laguiole in Aveyron. At the same time, a CNRS study concluded that the traditions of Aubrac, its livestock and its way of life were inevitably disappearing. A disastrous destiny miraculously thwarted by a few men, including Michel Bras, who took over his mother’s inn to make it a gastronomic destination threefold and I added 40 g of crème fraîche, 40 g of butter, 110 g of milk. I heat the puree well.
This is where everything comes into play: I add 150 g of fresh Aubrac tomme sliced into thin strips, and I turn constantly with a large spatula, making the aligot spin. Be careful not to raise the temperature too much so as not to destructure the aligot and lose its homogeneity! » “Choosing a cheese produced from a local breed of animal means preserving species from the world’s cuisines. » Is there a more delicious symbol than the aligot, ambassador of fresh tomme, imbued with age-old gestures and all the wild beauty of Aubrac?
Le Suquet, route de Laguiole, Laguiole (12).
