France is renowned for its vast selection of cheeses. You may already be familiar with all the classics – Brie de Meaux, Camembert de Normandie, chèvre (goats cheese) and Rocquefort to name a few – but you may not necessarily know how to incorporate them into your cooking, other than on a cheese board. Never fear, we’re here to share with you France’s five most popular cheese dishes so you can try your hand at making them at home. Bon appétit !
Fondue Savoyarde
Originally from Switzerland, this dish is very popular in the region of Savoie in the French Alps.
Made with a combination of different types of cheese, recipes can vary, but generally this dish consists of Gruyère, Beaufort, Emmental (shhh, that one’s Swiss) and Comté.
Chop some bread into cube shapes and use a skewer to dip it into the melted cheese. But be careful! If you drop the bread in the cheese, you’ll have to do a dare! So when you eat fondue, you need to be ready to do anything.
Once you’ve worked your way through the fondue, you’ll find a layer of cheese at the bottom of the pot. Don’t leave this, many people say it’s the best bit!
Aligot
If you like cheesy mash, you must try Aligot! This creamy, gooey concoction is similar to fondue, but is made by mixing mashed potatoes, cream and garlic into melted cheese. This dish is particularly famous in the region of L’Aubrac, located in the south of France. As the story goes, this dish was originally prepared with bread, and potatoes were then substituted in.
Served with meat like sausages, roasted veal, lamb and pork, Aligot is made with local Tomme de Laguiole (Tomme fraîche), although you can also find other recipes using Mozzarella, Cantal or Laguiole for example.
Cheese soufflé
Classic, simple, and yet so tasty. This French dish is made of cheese lightly mixed with whisked egg whites, butter, milk and flour.
This recipe is all about timing – wait too long before eating it and the soufflé will sink! So be sure to serve up this light, fluffy treat in the ramekins straight from the oven, then you’ll have between five and ten minutes to enjoy it at its very best!
If you are feeling a bit adventurous, why not even add a bit of parmesan on top of the soufflé to create a light crust!
Tartiflette
We had to include this much loved dish from the French Alps in our top five. Just looking at the photo makes your mouth water. This potato gratin dish is made with Reblonchon cheese, onions, smoked bacon and crème fraîche.
By French standard, this dish is pretty new, as it was invented in the 1980 as an updated version of a previous potato gratin dish called péla. Funnily enough, tartiflette was created by the Union Interprofessional Reblochon in order to increase the cheese’s popularity.
This new take on the recipe instantly caught the attention of both professional chefs and the general public, making it famous in France but also in Switzerland and Italy.
Raclette
We saved the best till last – after all, you can’t exclude our beloved Raclette from the five most popular cheese dishes!
This dish consists of melted Raclette cheese served over potatoes, with a side of French charcuterie. Although this dish was created in Switzerland (shh), it is now incredibly popular in France; in fact, you’d be hard pressed to find a French household that doesn’t have a Raclette machine!
There are two main areas in France that produce Raclette: Savoie and Franche-Comté. It is also possible to find Raclette produced in Quebec, Australia and Switzerland.
Find out more about Raclette here: A 5-minute expert guide to Raclette
Read more: - Melted Cheese? Yes please! - Different types of cheese in France
Find out more: - Find out more about cheese here
By France.fr
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