Name: Potato Cake with Cheese and Bacon
Yield: Makes 4 servings
Ingredients: 5-ounce/140-grams piece lean bacon, cut into lardons; 2 tablespoons/30 grams lard or vegetable oil; 2 pounds/900 grams baking potatoes, thinly sliced; Salt and pepper; 8 ounces/100 grams Cantal or Gruyère cheese, diced or cut into thin, narrow strips; 10-inch/25-cm nonstick frying pan

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Potato Cake with Cheese and BaconFrance Ruffenach

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Anne Willan's book The Country Cooking of France.

La Truffade

If you can't afford truffles, you indulge in Truffade, say the inhabitants of the Auvergne, notoriously among the coldest and most rugged areas of France. Often served with sausages, Truffade is a potato cake flavored with bacon and laden with cheese, a buttress against the worst weather. Nippy Cantal is the local hard cheese, and Gruyère may be substituted.

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