Savoyard fondue with three cheeses Recipe for a savoyarde

For a perfect Savoyard fondue: what cheeses and wines to choose, how to prepare it, what bread to use, what accompaniment to serve it with… I’ll give you all my advice, as a good Savoyard!

Savoyard fondue is THE winter dish par excellence that makes you think of mountain vacations, enjoyed after a great day skiing. The convivial dish that we love.
So as a Savoyard that I am, after the tartiflette and the Mont d’Or in the oven, I had to share my recipe with you. It’s easy to eat in a mountain restaurant, but if you have the fondue set, treat yourself all year round, wherever you are.

Which cheese to choose for fondue

Savoyard fondue is traditionally made with local cow cheesestherefore from Savoy, which are generally Beaufort, Comté and Gruyère or Emmental from Savoie.
But you can vary the cooked pressed cheesessuch as if you find some the Savoy Mill if you know. The idea is to mix three cheeses with different flavors to obtain a unique taste.

Swiss fondue uses other Swiss cheeses but with the same main trends.
For example, there is the half and half fondue made with Swiss Gruyère and Vacherin Fribourgeois, or 4 cheese fondue made with these same two cheeses, Gruyère and Vacherin, plus Emmental and Appenzeller. Sometimes Abundance is also used.

For quantity cheese, we generally count 225 to 250 grams of cheese per person.

Use grated cheese (bought grated or grate it yourself), it will melt better and it will be faster than if you cut it into small pieces.

The choice of wine

Traditional Savoyard fondue requires, we use a white wine from Savoie : the best known is Apremont. You can replace the Apremont with a Chignin or a Savoy fruit bat.
Whatever your choice, you must use a dry white wine. Wine that you will also serve at the table when enjoying your fondue.

For an alcohol-free version, even if some will cry sacrilege, you can possibly replace the white wine with vegetable or chicken stock, or with milk.

The bread

Use day-old bread, a little stale but not too dry. For it to have flavor and go well with the cheese, choose wholemeal bread or sourdough bread instead.

If the bread is too fresh, ideally cut the pieces well in advance and leave them at room temperature, they will become harder. Alternatively, cut thick slices of bread and put them in the toaster or oven then cut them into cubes.
Bread that is too fresh and therefore too soft will not hold on the pick in the fondue pot, and this will be a guaranteed guarantee !
Because yes, tradition dictates that whoever drops their piece of bread into the melted cheese has a pledge. Same for fondue bourguignonne if you lose your piece of meat.
So you can start preparing your pledge ideas now!

The right texture

Don’t put all the white wine at the beginning in your fondue pot, start with 25 cl, stir in the cheeset and only add the extra if you find your fondue too dense.

If your fondue is too liquid, add a teaspoon of starch (potato or corn) taking care that it does not form lumps. Mix well, this will thicken your fondue a little. Repeat if necessary.
To ensure that the starch does not fall all at once and make a mass that will be difficult to mix, pour it in by passing it through a fine Chinese strainer or tea strainer.

An egg at the end

At the end, qWhen there is almost no cheese left, crack an egg in the fondue pot. Mix well, scraping the edges.. It may seem a little strange but you’ll see, it’s a delicacy that’s worth it. It’s optional of course.

The fondue machine

For the Savoyard fondue, it is essential to choose a suitable device. The fondue pot can be ceramic, stainless steel or cast iron.
The latter diffuses the heat evenly and prevents the forming from hardening against the walls. In these photos it’s the old appliance that we have at the chalet in the mountains, but in Paris I have a beautiful cast iron Le Creuset fondue pot, a marvel.

The device has a heating compartment under the fondue pot, now possible withelectricityit is much safer than the alcohol container that we light and for which we must control the fire well.

Last thing, fondue forks. My mother repeated it to me enough when I was little in Albertville so I tell you: we use the special fondue fork but when you take it out with the piece of bread covered in cheese, you don’t put it directly in your mouth! Be careful of the risk of burns. We change forks. And above all, don’t put your fork with which you eat the accompaniments in the melted cheese! That’s it, mom, it’s said!

What accompaniment to serve with a Savoyard fondue

A charcuterie platter ! It’s obligatory! It’s up to you to choose according to your tastes (and your budget): white ham, raw ham, dried meats like the Grisons meatof sausage or the rosette. And any other cold meats that make you happy.

Personally, as there is already a lot of cheese and bread, I do not serve with boiled or boiled potatoes, but rather with a generous green salad.
You can propose other vegetables like a pan of mushrooms, steamed green vegetables (broccoli, green beans, etc.)…