Coming to Annecy on holiday also means understanding the history of this area. The culinary preparations are the result of ancient ways of life, of the mountainous character of human occupation.
Savoyard cuisine rooted in its history
Cheeses, like charcuterie, enabled the Alpine populations to preserve nutritious food throughout the winter. Three types of dish are particularly representative of the local soil.
Firstly, the local cheeses are the best known in France, the excellent Reblochon from the Thônes valley, the Brézain from the same valley and the Tome des Bauges. You can find out how to choose a good Reblochon and its unique history.
Delicious, fine-tasting fish such as féra, omble chevalier and perch are caught in Lake Annecy. Traditional dishes such as gratin savoyard and gratin de crozets are easy to prepare.
For a long time, the Annécien basin was home to chocolate factories, the tradition has continued and you can find very good chocolates including the reed of the lake filled with mountain liqueur and the filled bells. These good dishes can be enjoyed with the wine and liquor production of Savoie and Haute-Savoie. The desserts also have specialities: cake and cross of Savoy, rissoles, bugnes and snow eggs.
You can also buy on the markets the very perfumed mountain honeys, coming from a varied flora of mountain pastures.
You can taste the traditional local recipes (tartiflette, fondue, raclette, lake perch fillets) but also taste the great gastronomic cuisine with our five Michelin starred chefs.
The guide suggests three easy and delicious Savoyard recipes: tartiflette, fondue and gratin.
The recipe for the real Savoyard tartiflette
We suggest a traditional, easy and tasty recipe. Ingredients: 1 kg of potatoes, 200 g of smoked lardons, 1 reblochon cheese (preferably medium), 200 g of chopped onions, 1 clove of garlic, 2 spoons of olive oil, salt and pepper.
Recipe:
- Once the potatoes are peeled, cut them into cubes and dry them in a cloth.
- Melt the onions in a pan with the olive oil.
- Add the potatoes to the onions and brown them.
- When the potatoes are golden, add the bacon to finish cooking.
- Scrape the rind off the cheese and cut it in half.
- Preheat oven to 200°C
- In a gratin dish, which you will have rubbed with peeled garlic, you spread a layer of potatoes, then you put half of the reblochon and you start again: potatoes then reblochon.
- Cook for 20 minutes.
This delicious tartiflette goes well with a simple green salad.
Enjoy your meal!
The typical Savoyard fondue recipe
Emblematic dish of the Savoie, the fondue is eaten all year round, but it is more a winter dish. We suggest the classic recipe that is prepared in Annecy. It is a tasty dish to share with family or friends, but it is quite expensive, as it requires a lot of quality cheese.
Ingredients for 6 gourmets: 400 g of old Comté, as much Beaufort, 200 g of Emmental from Savoie or Switzerland, a clove of garlic, two pieces of country cheese, 30 cl of white wine from Savoie, a glass of Kirsch, salt and pepper.
Recipe:
- Cut the farmhouse bread into small pieces.
- Remove the rind from the three cheeses, cut them into slices and then into small cubes.
- Peel and chop the garlic clove and rub it all around the caquelon.
- First pour the Savoy wine into the caquelon, heating it so that it foams. Add the pieces of cheese and heat gently, stirring to melt the mixture.
- Add salt and pepper and pour in the kirsch.
It’s ready, just place the fondue pot on an electric or alcohol stove. Don’t forget the fondue spikes for each guest. When the caquelon is almost empty, you can add an egg to respect the tradition. This dish is accompanied by a nice green salad and cured ham from Savoie.
The recipe for a good Savoyard gratin
The Savoyard gratin is a variant of the traditional regional dish, the gratin dauphinois. Often the cheese used is Gruyère, but we suggest a very tasty variant with Savoy tomme.
Ingredients for 6: 1 kg of potatoes, 150 g of Savoy tomme, 400 ml of milk, 100 g of cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Recipe:
- Preheat your oven to 190 °C, peel and cut the potatoes into thin slices, the thinner the slices the more melting the dish will be. Remove the rind from the tomme and cut the cheese into strips.
- Butter your casserole dish, place a first layer of slices, then slices of tomme and alternate to finish with the tomme.
- Mix the milk and the cream, pour in the mixture and season with salt and pepper. Add a pinch of nutmeg.
- Put in the oven for 60 minutes.
You can accompany with a green salad and a glass of white wine from Savoie.
Enjoy your meal!
Wines and liqueurs from Savoie
Savoy wine is essentially white with a tangy taste and a low alcohol content. It is rich in natural carbon dioxide. Red wines are made from the Mondeuse grape. The most famous wines come from the Altesse grape variety, from the Roussete de Savoie appellation and particularly from the Roussanne grape variety, from the Chignin-Bergeron appellation.
The white wines Apremont and Roussette are renowned throughout France. As a digestive, we also recommend the delicious génépi, made from mountain plants, and the chartreuse, a liqueur produced by the monks of Grande-Chartreuse since 1764. The Aravis liqueur is a mixture of distillation of plants, flowers, armagnac and sugar, which can be drunk as a digestive.
Since the 2000s, many small local breweries have developed in Savoie and Haute-Savoie. These craft beers are increasingly appreciated and offered in bars and supermarkets.
