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.
Buckwheat crozets (50-70% sarrasin flour). Beaufort d’alpage aged 8+ months for melting quality. 300g cheese per 500g dry pasta ratio. Layer without béchamel — cheese and crème fraîche only. Bake at 180°C until deeply golden crust forms.
Toast the raw crozets in a dry pan for 2 minutes before boiling — this deepens the buckwheat flavor. If you can source Beaufort d’été specifically (July-August production), its flavor is unmatched for gratins. A thin layer of diced smoked lardons between the pasta layers adds the traditional Savoyard touch. Rest the gratin 10 minutes after baking for the cheese to set slightly — it cuts more cleanly and the flavors concentrate.
Using wheat pasta squares instead of buckwheat crozets (entirely different dish). Substituting Gruyère for Beaufort (similar but less complex flavor). Adding béchamel (masks the cheese, unnecessary with good Beaufort). Undercooking crozets before gratinating (remain hard in center). Using young Beaufort (insufficient melt and flavor development).
La Cuisine Savoyarde — Marie-Thérèse Hermann; Les Recettes de la Tarentaise