Flat approximations of hypersurfaces along curves

Given a smooth curve γ in some m-dimensional surface M in Rm + 1, we study existence and uniqueness of a flat surface H having the same field of normal vectors as M along γ, which we call a flat approximation of M along γ. In particular, the well-known characterisation of flat surfaces as torses (ruled surfaces with tangent plane stable along the rulings) allows us to give an explicit parametric construction of such approximation.