Swiss fondue: traditions and recipes. National dishes of Switzerland

Switzerland is a country that combines several cultures: Italian, German, French. This significantly influenced cooking traditions. Residents of Switzerland consume large quantities of various dairy products - cottage cheese, butter, milk, cheese. Their diet consists of meat, various fish, grains and legumes. Depending on the area, preference is given to one or another product. Today we want to introduce you to the most popular national dishes of Switzerland.

A little about Swiss cuisine

Local cuisine is famous for its diversity. This is associated with the ethnic composition of the population living in this territory and the influence of bordering countries: France, Austria, Italy, Germany. In addition, a large assortment of dishes is associated with the fact that agriculture is traditionally practiced here.

Let us note that all products produced in the country are of high quality, natural taste and do not contain harmful additives. There is a special organization in Switzerland that issues certificates for the best products. This category of goods is awarded a prestigious quality mark - AOC or IGP.

In the first place among traditional ones is fondue: this is the name given to melted cheese (always hard varieties) with wine and seasonings. A piece of bread is dropped into this mixture on a long fork. Fondue is prepared directly during a meal, while the container with cheese is constantly warmed up. This is done so that the cheese does not harden. During the meal, all participants in the feast sit around the fondue pot (caquelon).

Cauldron of Pleasures

The Swiss are distinguished by their great love for cheese. Today we will talk about how to prepare cheese fondue with wine. To prepare it we will need:

30 ml cherry vodka;
200 g each of Emmental and Gruyère cheese (you can replace Gouda);
3 cloves of garlic;
200 ml white wine (dry);
salt pepper;
nutmeg.

Place the cheese mass in the fondue pot over low heat for 5 minutes, don’t forget to stir with a whisk. The ideal option for serving fondue is in a caquelon, but a ceramic bowl or cast iron pot is also suitable for this. You can dip anything into the melted cheese mixture: fried shrimp, small cubes of bread, slices of baked potatoes.

Today, Swiss fondue has a broader meaning. Many types of this dish have been created, which are prepared using other technologies and recipes:

rustic fondue - the dish consists of fried meat and potatoes, which is filled with melted cheese;
Burgundy fondue - boiled meat with spices and cheese;
chicken fondue - chicken fillet stewed in creamy sauce;
chocolate fondue - melted chocolate with almonds and honey, into which various fruits, waffles, bread, and cookies are dipped.

There are also unusual versions of fondue - made from ice cream and blueberries.

Cheese dishes

Due to the fact that cheese is perhaps the most beloved product in Switzerland, national dishes containing this product are deservedly popular. These include:

raclette;
Swiss meat;
reshti;
Swiss cheese soup.

Raclette

Another national dish of Switzerland, which is made from melted cheese, is called raclette. The main ingredient is boiled potatoes (often in their jackets), as well as pickled cucumbers and melted cheese. The peculiarity of its preparation is that the cheese is placed next to a heat source, and then the melted mass is scraped off the surface and served with gherkins, potatoes, and onions.

Rashti

Swiss potato resti resembles our potato pancakes in appearance and taste, but sprinkled with grated cheese. Very often in Switzerland they are served for breakfast. In order to prepare this incredibly tasty dish, we will need:

800 g potatoes (raw);
salt pepper;
80 g sl. butter (melt).

For fish paste:

150 g cream cheese;
200 g smoked salmon;
4 chives.

Coarsely grate the raw potatoes, add salt and pepper, and knead. In a saucepan with plums. add small pieces of oil and fry for four to five minutes on each side.

Serve the ready-made rashti with fish paste prepared as follows: combine all the listed components and beat thoroughly into a homogeneous mass. This deliciously combined dish will be a great addition to a family breakfast.

First meal

Quite interesting options for first courses can be seen among the national dishes in Switzerland. All of them have a refined taste and can be included in the menu of a social event. Among them are:

Ticinese busecco soup with giblets;
vegetable minestrone soup;
barley soup from Grisons;
Flour soup from Basel.

Barley soup

Interestingly, barley is considered one of the first cultivated crops. In addition, the grain is well stored and does not spoil for a long time. That is why this grain crop has a strong position in the food industry. There are a huge number of variations of barley soups all over the world. We offer you a recipe for Swiss barley soup. The dish turns out to be very rich and thick; in its homeland it is considered a winter dish, because it helps to quickly warm up after a long winter walk. To work we will need:

300 g beef (smoked);
2.5 liters of beef broth;
¾ tbsp. pearl barley (barley);
3 celery stalks with leaves;
one medium carrot;
15 cm leek (white part);
1 medium onion;
2 potatoes;
200 g cabbage (white cabbage);
1 tbsp. sl. oils;
30 g olives oil;
peppercorns;
salt;
carnation;
lavrushka

We wash the pearl barley well and soak it in water for 4-5 hours. Then we rinse again and cook until tender, on average this will take half an hour. Let's start preparing the vegetables: chop the celery and leeks, chop the carrots and onions not too coarsely, cut the potatoes into cubes, and the cabbage traditionally into strips. In a saucepan with a mixture of oils, fry the carrots and onions for no more than 2 minutes. Add leeks, celery and potatoes to them and fry for the same amount of time. Add the cabbage and fry for a couple more minutes.

According to the original Swiss recipe, raw veal leg, pearl barley, and 2 liters of water are added to the vegetables, and everything is boiled for an hour and a half. If you don't want to boil the vegetables for so long, you can cook the broth in advance. Add smoked meat (thinly sliced) to the finished soup.

Second courses

Among the national dishes of Switzerland they have a special place. They are prepared from beef, pork, and chicken. The Swiss also pay due attention to fish products. What national dishes should you try? We recommend:

Bernes-platter - fried pieces of pork with sauerkraut or beans;
knakerli - spicy-flavored sausages with spices and sauce;
Geschnetzeltes - this is the name given to narrow strips of fried veal meat with herbs, mushrooms and sauce;
leberwurst - smoked sausages made from liver and lard;
Bundenfleisch - dried beef with onions (salted).

Geschnetzeltes

Let’s say right away that the classic version of this dish includes veal. But in the modern world it is prepared from chicken, pork and even beef. For this recipe, the veal must be fried very quickly over high heat so that it does not release its juices. Let's take:

600 g veal (fillet);
200 ml dry wine (preferably white);
50 g onion;
200 ml cream;
15 g flour;
parsley;
lemon zest from ¼ teaspoon;
pepper, salt;
2 tbsp. l. sl. oils

Fry the meat very quickly over high heat and keep it warm. Fry finely chopped onion in the same oil, add flour to it, mix, pour in wine and evaporate by half. Add cream, zest, parsley, salt and pepper. Add warm meat, boil a little, but do not let it boil. Serve with potato resti. If desired, you can add mushrooms to the recipe.

Meringue: what is it?

I would like to note that Swiss cuisine offers a huge range of confectionery products. In first place, of course, is the well-known one. By the way, it is calculated that on average every Swiss eats more than 12 kg of this product per year. A little later we will present you Swiss meringues and the recipe. But first, let's talk about the most popular desserts:

lekerli - gingerbread from Basel, honey gingerbread;
Brunsley - this is the name of chocolate cookies with the addition of almonds;
kyukhli - any sweet pies;
muesli - with apples, nuts, raisins (it is believed that this dish was invented in Switzerland).

What is this - meringue? This is the name of protein custard. If it is prepared in compliance with technological requirements, it turns out airy, shiny, tender, smooth, able to hold its shape well and be easily deposited using a pastry syringe or bag.

Confectionery products made from this mass in finished form are unusually beautiful and embossed. After some time, a light and very thin crust appears, it dries, and a soft, airy cream remains inside.

They are used to decorate cupcakes and muffins; in addition, they are used for layering sponge cakes and for decorating products. When baked in the oven over low heat, you get a gorgeous meringue cake. Swiss meringues are made by steeping egg whites in fairly hot sugar syrup. As a result, the egg white is disinfected, and the structure of the cream becomes denser.

Lyubov and Maxim Kushtuevs answered 10 of our questions about cooking and the peculiarities of the national cuisine of Switzerland.

Lyuba, Max, hello. How long have you been cooking? How did this hobby begin?

MK: My path to the kitchen was paved by my mother, grandmothers and aunts in early childhood. Having been brought up on homemade delights and delicacies, I simply had to start cooking on my own someday. How can you pass by the kitchen when the smell of baking is wafting from there or the tempting buzz of the mixer? In addition, if you don't go into the kitchen, you won't get something tasty before everyone else!

OK: I have a completely opposite situation. I am a catering child. Up until my last year at university, my main places to eat were canteens and buffets. By the way, I don’t see anything wrong with them - this is also a whole culture and often excellent cooks work there. My mother cooks very well, but she absolutely does not like to do it. It is not surprising that cooking seemed to me like hard work, something forced and certainly not creative. A kind of “obligation” that I avoided at all costs. But one day I decided that I still needed to learn basic cooking skills, so I bought the simplest cookbook and started cooking from it. The fascination of the process exceeded all expectations and gradually cooking became a kind of meditation, a break from work, paradoxically as it may seem. This is how, gradually, step by step, the first recipes emerged from ordinary cooking “for oneself”, which were not ashamed to show. First we opened our website, then we started offering recipes to magazines.

How did your interest in cooking turn into a passion for Swiss cuisine?

OK: Well, first of all, Swiss cuisine is far from the only thing that interests us in cooking. But, indeed, this topic is one of my favorites. First of all, because we live in this country. Its atmosphere, culture and traditions surround us every day. The more we immerse ourselves in them, the wider, deeper and richer Switzerland itself appears to us. Personally, I don’t really understand people who move to live abroad, but at the same time refuse to assimilate into the new environment, do not want to learn the language, and are not interested in the traditions of the country. When life gives you the opportunity to expand your horizons and touch the culture of another state, it would be stupid not to take advantage of it. And it doesn’t matter whether we are talking about Switzerland, Mongolia, Cameroon or some other corner of the world.

MK: Despite the fact that Geneva has practically become our second home, we have always been and remain Russian people. We love our country very much and especially Moscow - our hometown. From this point of view, it is even more interesting for us to study Swiss cuisine, find common features with Russian, compare the habits of our peoples, find out how differently Russians and Swiss perceive the same ingredient. For example, in Russia carrots are added to soups, salads and stews. And here it is often used in sweet baked goods. But pears and apples, on the contrary, are frequent guests in hot, savory dishes.

« Swiss cuisine. Not just recipes» - your first book. Tell us more about it: how did you even come up with the idea of writing a book on this topic?

MK: But the main reason was that the cuisine of Switzerland is very poorly covered in the Russian book industry; there are also not many good, correct and truly Swiss recipes in the RuNet. There are often outright “blunders”. For example, it is recommended to add water to cheese fondue, and one of the books even calls fondue “a type of omelet.” Recently we heard on television that in Switzerland there are four (or even six) cantons that speak Italian. Such misinformation is accepted by the majority at face value and wanders from one source to another, multiplying and taking root. Having looked at all this, we decided that it was time to put an end to such injustice.

What's the most unusual thing about Swiss cuisine?

OK: From our point of view, there is practically nothing unusual in Swiss culinary traditions. All products are familiar to us, and most are truly loved and familiar from childhood. In comparison, Chinese or Japanese cuisine is much more exotic for our tastes. True, the Swiss sometimes have very interesting combinations of products. A few years ago we had a culture shock when we were served warm coffee with milk along with fried potatoes “resti”. First thought: “Maybe the waiter confused something?” It turned out that no. We risked trying it and were amazed at how harmonious this combination is! And then, having engaged in a deeper study of traditions, we found out that reshti or maluns with coffee is the most classic combination. I was also initially surprised that Swiss cookbooks recommend serving wine, cider or beer as a drink with soups. It would seem, why would there be a drink with soup at all? But the answer to many “whys” in Swiss cooking is simple: “It’s the way it is.”

MK: It’s also not customary in Switzerland to drink desserts with tea or coffee. Here's the weird thing: soup requires a drink, but dessert doesn't. If in a restaurant you don’t ask for dessert and coffee at the same time, the waiter will never do it. By the way, I have seen such a tradition in many European countries, and it suits me quite well. But Lyuba cannot eat sweets without tea, she says that they are tasteless alone.

OK: Yes, and tea without sweets is also somehow not very good.

What do you think is a basic ingredient that should always be in the kitchen?

OK: Hmm, it’s difficult to answer something original... Of course, water. Without it, everything else loses its meaning. And then, it’s probably most logical to have a constant supply of what you most often use in cooking. If you love baking - keep flour, sugar, vanillin. Fry often - stock up on vegetable oil. Our most important consumables are seasonings: dry garlic, nutmeg, a mixture of peppers, etc. We prefer to buy the rest as needed so that everything is fresh.

MK: But it’s easier for me to take the question in a slightly different direction - what equipment can’t you do without in the kitchen? Here the list emerges very clearly - a set of good knives, a measuring cup, and even better, accurate scales, a saucepan and a frying pan. This is the minimum that we can never do without. Moreover, it is not worth saving on these elements. Almost all the cheap dishes we once bought have already been thrown away. But expensive, high-quality things have lasted for many years, and they are more pleasant to hold in your hands.

Do you have to be a semi-professional chef to cook Swiss cuisine?

MK: No, what are you talking about! You can be a professional.))) In fact, this book is intended both for a well-versed culinary reader and for those who are taking their first steps in the kitchen. There are a number of recipes that almost anyone can cook - you just need to carefully read about the cooking process and listen to our recommendations. When we collected materials for the book and prepared dishes, we specifically noted and separately wrote down the points that could cause difficulties, so that we could then place them in the recipes as a separate line. Sometimes they even slightly adjusted the recipes to the conditions of the “average kitchen” in order to remove all the difficulties.

Swiss cuisine is associated with hearty food, how true is this?

MK: For the most part this is true. Swiss cuisine only confirms the well-known rule that any national cuisine originated not in the hands of chefs of expensive restaurants, but in the kitchens of ordinary housewives. So to speak, the path from the peasant table to the feasts of nobles. Look at Switzerland - a mountainous country with snowy winters, peasants had to work hard in the summer to provide themselves with supplies, all this determines the nature of the cuisine - nourishing, simple and made from products available all year round. Here the main products are cheeses, cereals, potatoes, pasta, dried meats, wines and so on. But still, I would not say that the cuisine of this country is completely so harsh - just remember the airy meringues or delicate cream sabayon, dishes from lake or river fish. As in any kitchen, there is a certain balance here too.

New Year is coming, will this book help in preparing the festive table?

OK: Without a doubt. Among the recipes there are many dishes that are perfect for a festive family feast. Here are just a few examples: Geneva chicken fricassee with porcini mushrooms, Ticino veal rolls, carrot cake, lecherli gingerbread and, of course, mulled wine. And if you plan to celebrate the New Year at the dacha in a friendly company, then it’s impossible to think of a better dish than fondue. All it requires is white wine, cheese and bread. Just imagine: it’s snowing outside the window, and at home you have a big pot of boiling cheese!

MK: If you plan to cook fondue, please read our recommendations carefully. Our experience shows that there are a lot of misconceptions about this dish in the world. That is why our book devotes a little more pages to fondue and raclette than to other specialties, from the basics to the little tricks.

Is this book fundamentally different from other publications? If so, why?

MK: A hint of the unusual nature of the book is contained in its subtitle: “not only recipes”; it really goes beyond a simple collection of recipes, as it also contains a lot of useful or useless, but always entertaining information about the country. Each chapter begins with a story about a particular region of Switzerland. The purpose of this regional study part is to create an alpine mood in the reader, to help understand why this or that dish is prepared exactly the way it is, what the story is behind the recipe. We also tried to include in the book as many photographs as possible of the natural beauty of the country, cities, villages, mountains, lakes, waterfalls. After all, after a long and eventful walk, your appetite is even better!

Were you able to convey everything in this edition or should we expect a new book?

OK: Does anyone seriously think that Swiss cuisine is limited to just over seventy recipes? With this book we have only lifted the veil of some delicious secret, so to speak, opened the door to a whole culinary universe. Today we already have more than one and a half thousand recipes of Swiss cuisine in our collection, and every day the reserves are only replenished. So there are a lot of plans and ideas for continuation, and we have already started working on their implementation. Rest only in our dreams!

We invite you to experience real Swiss cuisine right now. Try making chicken fricassee according to the authors' recipe.

Chicken fricassee Geneva style

The people of Geneva have always loved deliciously cooked poultry. Of course, this predilection is due to the canton’s immediate proximity to France, namely to the main center of French poultry farming, the city of Bresse, home of the famous Bresse chickens. Chicken fricassee, or, more simply put, a type of stew, is another striking example of the influence of French culinary traditions on Swiss cuisine.

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1.3 kg
Dry white wine - 200 ml
Onions - 300 g
Potatoes - 700 g
Porcini mushrooms - 150 g
Chicken broth - 100 ml
Garlic - 4 cloves
Butter - 150 g
Fresh basil, rosemary, parsley
Salt, freshly ground black pepper.

Preparation:

Melt 60 g of butter in a deep (preferably cast-iron) frying pan and fry finely chopped onions in it until transparent. Cut the chicken into portions and add to the onion. Add basil and two crushed cloves of garlic. Pour in white wine and broth, cover with a lid and leave to simmer over low heat for 40 minutes.

Cut the potatoes into cubes with a 2 cm edge. Meanwhile, in a separate frying pan, melt another 60 g of butter, put the potatoes in the frying pan along with rosemary, add salt and pepper and fry until half cooked for 10 minutes.

In a small frying pan over high heat, saute the mushrooms with the remaining garlic, butter and parsley for 10 minutes. Season to taste.

Place the fried chicken in a large baking dish, place the potatoes around and distribute the mushrooms on top. Cook in the oven at 190°C for about 15 minutes. Serve hot.

Cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes.

Quantity: 7 servings.

The cuisine of Switzerland enjoys well-deserved recognition among gourmets all over the world, and the Swiss themselves at home are by no means shy away from Lucullean delights.

The favorite pastime of Zurich residents is walking around restaurants and cafes, and if they praise you about one of the eateries, you can safely go there...

The local cuisine has been strongly influenced by its neighbors, primarily the “older French cousin” and Italian cuisine, as well as the purely Swabian table, but still it has enough of its own delicacies that are widespread in other countries.

Typically Swiss dish- famous fondue- Gruyère cheese boiling in white wine (served in a ceramic cauldron, into which bread is dipped on a long fork).

Another famous cheese dish that has become widespread is raclette from Wallis. The very name of the dish (“raclette” (French) - large grater) reveals the principle of its preparation. The cheese is grated on a coarse grater or broken into small pieces, heated and served with potatoes.

However, to enjoy the taste and aroma of cheese, it is not necessary to reheat it. The best example is Emmental (more often called Swiss) and Appenzell cheeses, which enjoy well-deserved recognition among gourmets, as well as Gruyertz cheese. “Vacherin” and “Shabziger” - cheese with herbs from Glarnerland - have an exquisite taste and aroma.

Among the Ticino delicacies we should mention, first of all, small soft formagini cheeses, which are made from cottage cheese, as well as various varieties of mountain cheese, the most famous of which is “Piora”.

Another famous Swiss delicacy - Zurich schnitzel(veal in cream sauce). Heavy eaters prefer Bernese appetizer(Berner Platte) - a dish of sauerkraut with beans and fried potatoes. Bern is also considered the birthplace of the famous Rösti(Roesti) - thinly sliced fried potatoes with cracklings.

And now is the time to remember soups, for example, Basel flour soup, barley soup from Grisons or Busecco-Ticino tripe soup. The national dish of southern Switzerland is, of course, polenta- a dish of corn grits with cream and pieces of fruit. South of St. Gotthard is very popular risotto- a rice dish prepared Milanese style (with saffron), mushrooms or peasant style (with vegetables).

The Swiss cuisine menu includes fish dishes: rudd, trout, pike and aigli (freshwater perch), which are prepared differently everywhere. In late autumn and winter, in many restaurants you can taste game delicacies, such as roe deer back, etc.

And another delicacy, famous on both sides of the Swiss border, deserves your attention. This - Bünden meat(beef jerky, cut into thin slices). Those who first tasted it in Valais, and not in Graubünden, call this dish “Welsh-style meat.”

A few words about dessert: these include fruit pies, Zug cherry cake, carrot cake, Engadine nut cake, and, of course, the famous Swiss chocolate.

Guilt. The Alpine republic is famous for its wines. White wines are widely known: "Dezaley" and "St.-Saphorin", "Fendant" and "Johannisberg", "Twanner"; the best varieties of red wines: exquisitely fine “Rose der Cеil-de-Perdrix”, strong “Dole”, “Pinot Noir” and “Merlot”. But perhaps the best wines are made in Grisons. “Sassella”, “Grumello”, “Inferno” - these are the names of strong ruby-red wines that owe their luxurious bouquet to the generous southern sun.

Prices are high - a cup of coffee in a restaurant - 2.50 CHF, one-course lunch - 14 - 18 CHF. It is usually not customary to give tips, with the exception of restaurants, where the tip size is 5-10% of the order value, and tips are given only after the change has been brought to the centime. However, despite the fact that in a restaurant a service charge is included in the bill, you can leave a few coins for the waiter or round up the payment amount.

What do the Swiss eat? Just cheese and chocolate? You yourself guessed that no. To taste the variety of Swiss cuisine, you should go on gastronomic tours around the country or visit where national dishes of Switzerland are served. Neighboring countries, as well as a lifestyle dominated by agriculture, have left their weighty say in the traditional recipe. The peculiarities of Swiss cuisine are the minimal use of spices and herbs. But the national cuisine of Switzerland is not only the well-known fondue and raclette, but also many other interesting and, most importantly, delicious dishes.

Soups and main courses

“Swiss cheese soup” with toasted croutons. It is cooked in meat broth with the addition of cream, hard cheese and herbs.
“Barley soup from Grisons”, its second name is Grisons soup. This is the favorite national dish of the Swiss in winter after long walks. The recipe is somewhat reminiscent of rassolnik, but without pickles and with the addition of cabbage and celery.
Gourmets will be surprised by another dish of Swiss cuisine - Basel flour stew. The recipe for French onion soup has been modified to create onion soup with a Swiss twist.
We recommend trying an unusual dish with a scary name – cholera. The recipe for this dish arose at the height of the cholera epidemics that raged across Europe. The ingredients are simple - potatoes, cheese, eggs and apples, but the taste is great.