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French · Savoyard

Gratin de Crozets au Beaufort

While technically Savoyard, the gratin de crozets sits at the cultural crossroads where Burgundian gratin tradition meets Alpine cheese-making, and it appears on bouchon menus throughout the Rhône-Alpes region that encompasses Lyon. Crozets are tiny (1cm²) square buckwheat pasta — pâtes de sarrasin — unique to the Tarentaise valley, made from a dough of buckwheat flour (50-70%), wheat flour, eggs, and water, rolled thin and cut into precise squares. The buckwheat gives them a distinctive nutty, slightly earthy flavor and a texture that holds up magnificently to gratinating. The gratin technique layers cooked crozets (boiled in salted water for 15-18 minutes until al dente, then well-drained) with grated Beaufort d’alpage (summer cheese from high mountain pastures, aged minimum 8 months for optimal melting properties and concentrated flavor). The proportion is 300g Beaufort per 500g dry crozets. Each layer receives a few grinds of black pepper and nutmeg. Crème fraîche (200ml for 500g crozets) is poured over the top layer before a final generous blanket of grated Beaufort. The gratin bakes at 180°C for 25-30 minutes until the top forms a deeply golden, almost bronze crust with bubbling edges. The Beaufort’s high fat content (48%) and smooth-melting paste (no eyes, unlike Emmental) create a fondue-like sauce between the crozets without any béchamel — a testament to the cheese’s quality making elaborate saucing unnecessary. Traditionally served alongside diots (Savoyard sausages) or as a standalone winter dish.

‹Swipe for the next dish›
ServesFour portions
Total55 minutes
Sourced0of 6 in BC
Cook
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I

The Market List

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500 g
crozets de sarrasin (buckwheat crozets)
50–70% buckwheat flour; 1 cm² squares from the Tarentaise valley
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
300 g
Beaufort d'alpage
aged minimum 8 months, coarsely grated
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
200 ml
crème fraîche
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 tsp
black pepper
freshly ground
Your own market
1 tsp
nutmeg
freshly grated
Your own market
2 tsp
fine salt
for the pasta water
Your own market
II

The Method

1
Spread the dry crozets in a single layer in a cold, heavy-based pan over medium heat. Toast, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. The buckwheat flour deepens to a warm, roasted aroma — the sign to stop.
2
Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a full boil. Add the toasted crozets and cook for 15–18 minutes, stirring occasionally. Test a square between the teeth: it must be al dente — yielding at the centre with no raw, starchy core. Drain thoroughly.
3
Heat the oven to 180°C. Butter a gratin dish and spread an even first layer of drained crozets across the base. Season with a few grinds of black pepper and a little nutmeg, then scatter a generous layer of grated Beaufort over the surface. Repeat to form a second layer of crozets, pepper, nutmeg, and Beaufort. The layering — cheese and crème fraîche only, no béchamel — is where this dish lives or dies: good Beaufort d'alpage aged 8 months or more melts into a fondue-like sauce between the pasta without any further enrichment; young cheese or a substitute will not achieve this.
From the canon — Béchamel is white roux combined with hot milk — one of Escoffier's five mother sauces and the foundation of gratin preparations, sauce Mornay, croque monsieu… Béchamel →
4
Pour the crème fraîche evenly over the uppermost layer, then finish with a final, generous blanket of grated Beaufort to cover the surface completely.
5
Bake at 180°C for 25–30 minutes. The gratin is ready when the top crust is deeply golden, approaching bronze, and the edges bubble actively with the melted cheese and cream.
6
Remove from the oven and rest the gratin for 10 minutes before serving. The cheese sets slightly; the flavours concentrate. A clean edge when portioned confirms the rest is complete.
III

Quality Hierarchy

01
Reserve — Beaufort d'été (July–August production, high mountain pastures), aged beyond 8 months; crozets sourced directly from the Tarentaise valley.
02
Estate — Beaufort d'alpage with a named alpage and minimum 8 months affinage; packaged crozets de sarrasin from a Savoyard producer.
03
Market — Beaufort AOP of standard production aged to specification; buckwheat crozets from a reliable Alpine épicerie or specialist importer.
04
House — Gruyère in place of Beaufort yields a similar but less complex and less fondue-like result; wheat-and-buckwheat pasta squares cut from fresh pasta are a distant approximation — the dish shifts category.
IV

Sensory Tests

◇Smell. Toasted crozets emit a warm, roasted buckwheat aroma after 2 minutes in the dry pan — the moment to transfer to boiling water.
◇Touch. A cooked crozet pressed between the teeth gives a clean al dente bite with no starchy resistance at the centre.
◇Sight. The baked crust is deeply golden to bronze across the surface; the edges show active bubbling from the melted Beaufort and crème fraîche.
◇Touch. After the 10-minute rest, the surface of the gratin holds its shape under a spoon before yielding — the cheese has set sufficiently to portion cleanly.
◇Where it lives or dies. The layering of Beaufort d'alpage aged at least 8 months — without béchamel — is the act on which the dish stands: the cheese's fat content and smooth-melting paste create the fondue-like sauce between the crozets, and no substitute or younger cheese will replicate it.
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VI

What to Pour

The pairing
Bollinger Special Cuvée
Bollinger · Montagne de Reims
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Sparkling wine
From British Columbia
Fort Berens Riesling
Fort Berens Estate Winery · Lillooet
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Wine
Without alcohol
GT's Synergy Organic Kombucha — Gingerade
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Non-alcoholic

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The whole pairing
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Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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