Savoyard fondue with Beaufort: history and recipe

It has become the symbol of evenings at the ski resort. Yet fondue is not an old Savoyard peasant dish: it mostly spread in Savoie after the Second World War. Its star ingredient, on the other hand, has centuries of history: Beaufort, the cheese of Savoie's alpine pastures. Here is the story of both, then the recipe.

A more recent tradition than you might think

Marie-Thérèse Hermann, a specialist in Savoie's rural cooking, notes that fondue was not part of traditional Savoyard culture. Only the north of the Savoie region, bordering Switzerland, knew it, and the dish remained rare because cheese was expensive. Farmers would sometimes just melt a piece of cheese over the fire and eat it with bread.

Fondue spread after the war, carried notably by the rise of ski resorts. The Savoyard version differs from Swiss fondue in its cheeses: Beaufort, Abondance or Savoie Emmental, whereas the best-known Swiss recipe combines Gruyère and Vacherin Fribourgeois.

Beaufort, the cheese of Savoie's alpine pastures

From "grovire" to Beaufort

According to the Beaufort producers' association, monks and village communities began clearing the alpine pastures in the Middle Ages. The milk was made into "vachelin", a small cheese of about ten kilos that kept poorly. In the 17th century, the Beaufortain started making large Gruyère-type wheels of around forty kilos, called "grovire". They travelled and kept well. During the French Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety had 10,000 quintals brought in to feed Paris. The name Beaufort appeared in 1865.

In the 1960s, farm workers left for ski resort and dam construction sites, and production fell below 500 tonnes. Farmers fought back: a first dairy cooperative in 1961, a technical service in 1965, then a protected designation of origin on 4 April 1968. Today the Beaufort cooperative alone makes more than 30,000 wheels a year, about a quarter of total production.

Strict production rules

• Area: the Beaufortain, Tarentaise and Maurienne valleys and part of the Val d'Arly, mostly in Savoie, plus two neighbouring areas in Haute-Savoie (Praz-sur-Arly and part of Les Contamines-Montjoie).
• Two cattle breeds: the Tarine, whose cradle is the Tarentaise, and the Abondance. About 17,000 cows on some 340 farms.
• Feed: grazed grass and hay from the area, no silage, a maximum of 5,000 kg of milk per cow per year.
• Cheesemaking: moulded in linen cloth and a wooden hoop, which gives the wheel its concave rim, and aged for at least 5 months.

The Savoyard fondue recipe

Ingredients for 4

• 800 g of cheese in total, for example 400 g Beaufort, 200 g Abondance and 200 g Savoie Emmental
• 40 cl dry white Savoie wine (Apremont, Abymes or Chignin)
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 day-old country loaf, cut into cubes with some crust on each
• pepper, nutmeg; 1 small glass of kirsch (optional)

Method

1. Rub the inside of the fondue pot with the halved garlic clove.
2. Cut the cheeses into thin slices or small cubes so they melt evenly.
3. Heat the wine in the pot without letting it boil.
4. Add the cheese a handful at a time, stirring in a figure of eight with a wooden spoon over medium heat.
5. When the mixture is smooth and coats the spoon, add pepper, a little grated nutmeg and the kirsch if you like.
6. Set the pot on the table burner over low heat and keep stirring with each dip.

Tips for success

• The bread should be slightly stale: if it is too fresh, it falls off the fork.
• If the fondue separates, add a dash of wine and half a spoonful of cornflour mixed with a little water, then stir briskly.
• Keep the burner low: the golden crust at the bottom, called the "religieuse", is shared at the end of the meal.
• At the table, serve the same white wine used for cooking, or hot tea.

A recent dish, an ancient cheese

Fondue has only been Savoyard for a few generations, but the Beaufort in it tells of centuries of life in the alpine pastures. By making it with Savoie cheeses and wines, you bring a whole part of the department's heritage to the table.

Fancy testing your general knowledge between two bites? Our culture quiz is waiting just below.

Cover photo: Camille Gévaudan / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 3.0.

Sources: Fromage Beaufort — The story of a revival · Fromage Beaufort — Production rules · Beaufort PDO specification (French Ministry of Agriculture official bulletin) · Arêches-Beaufort tourist office · Alti Mag — All about Beaufort · Mon séjour en montagne — Is fondue Savoyard or Swiss?