Fondue Savoyarde: The Ultimate Winter Warmer

On a winter’s day is there anything better than enjoying a delicious, bubbling cheese fondue with friends and family?

Surprisingly quick and easy to make, and a convivial meal both to eat and to prepare as everybody can help in one way or another. One person can stir the fondue, another can grate the cheese, another can cut the bread… you get the picture!

We usually have a Fondue Savoyarde when we stay overnight at our traditional mountain chalet, Bo Morand. As it’s “off grid” the cooking materials in the chalet are very limited, so Fondue is the perfect meal as it can be prepared by candlelight and cooked on the wood fired stove. But rest assured, fondue works equally well in a modern kitchen too.

There is a long running debate about where the fondue is originally from - France or Switzerland? With us being so close to the Swiss border that probably explains why there is always some fondue related squabbles with our lovely neighbours. What we can certainly say is that Fondue Savoyarde is a different beast to the Swiss Fondue - being made with different cheeses and different ingredients - and the two should never be confused, or else you’ll have Charlotte to answer to!

Pure Morzine’s Perfect Fondue Savoyarde Recipe

You will need a fondue set to include:

A cast iron pot (this is called the caquelon in French)
Long handled fondue forks
A fondue burner, which the pot rests on

And don’t forget to buy the fuel to light your burner. We recommend using the little gel fuel packs, like these.

The cheese

A major source of contention is what cheese to use, as it varies from one region to another. In Morzine, our Fondue Savoyarde is usually made from a mixture of 3 or 4 cheeses. We usually have a mixture of Comté, Beaufort, Gruyère, Abondance or sometimes Emmental de Savoie.

In France, you can buy a Fondue grated cheese mix directly from the Fromagerie or supermarket, but elsewhere you should be able to find these cheeses in specialty cheese shops.

To be generous, we would recommend 200g of cheese per person. Make sure it’s all grated so that it melts evenly when you add it to the pot.

Other ingredients

Garlic
White wine about 100ml per person
Black pepper
Egg
Mustard (optional)
Kirsch (optional)

To serve with the fondue

Bread : Choose a baguette 1 or 2 days old (so it’s a bit harder), cut it in slices then cut each slice in 4 so you have a chunk about 3cm square.
Charcuterie / cured meat – the viande des grisons (beef cured meat, speciality of the Grisons area in Switzerland) is a traditional one to have, but we also get the usual smoked ham and saucisson.
Your favourite bottle of wine - red or white. If you don’t want to drink alcohol, herbal tea is a nice alternative but we don’t recommend drinking cold water as you might get a “cheese baby” i.e. bad indigestion.
A digestif of your choice for afterwards - our favourite is Genepy, a traditional mountain herbal liquor. But grappa or eau de vie would make an excellent alternative.

How to make it:

Scrub the fondue pot with garlic cloves cut in half
Leave the garlic in the pot and add the white wine to heat up
Once the wine is hot and starts to bubble, add the cheese, a handful at a time, while you stir with a wooden spoon
A very important step is to always stir in a figure of 8 to make sure it doesn’t stick and the cheese gets mixed evenly. (Ric doesn’t think it makes a difference - Charlotte knows better!)
An optional step is to, separately in a glass, add a spoon or two of mustard and mix it with a little bit of kirsch. Add this mixture into the cheese once it has melted. Charlotte's mum always said it helps to ‘bind the cheese together’.
You can also add a bit of black pepper – or each person can put pepper on their pieces as they go.
Once the cheese mixture has reached a good consistency ie. not too liquid, it’s ready to go, you can transfer it to the fondue burner on your dining table. Make sure the burner is lit.
Start dipping your bread into the bubbling cheese and enjoy!
Finally, once there is only a little bit of fondue left in the pot, crack in an egg or two, some leftover bread pieces and mix it all together to keep it going.

Top tip: Make sure your bread is stuck onto your fondue fork really well so you don’t lose it in the pot of cheese. Tradition states that anyone who loses their bread in the fondue pot has to perform a forfeit!

Bon Appétit!