Eating the “Big Three” in France’s Savoie Region

Food in the French Alps is a cheesy affair. All I have to say is good thing we were doing some long hikes!

This is Le Freti in Annecy (thank you, Rick Steves). We decided to eat upstairs, since that is where we had to go to eat the specialty Mr. DJ wanted to try–Raclette. As we were walking up the stairs, we could smell the extremely strong odor of ripe cheese. I think Roxi was ready to bolt at this point, thinking her parents crazy if they thought they could get her to eat something that smelled like that.

Here is the whole reason we went to Le Freti–Raclette. I believe Raclette is the name of the cheese and the dish. A wedge of cheese is staked onto, in this case, a iron stand. Beneath the hammered copper shield are heating elements. You can adjust the distance of the heating elements, depending on how quickly you want the cheese to melt. When the cheese starts to run, you scrape off the melted cheese onto your plate and eat it with bread, boiled potatoes, cornichons (little french pickles) and pickled onions. Mr. DJ also ordered a plate of charcuterie (cooked and air-dried meats like salami and prosciutto).

Roxi and I split this vat of fondue. While there were many varieties, I asked the waitress for the mildest one, keeping in mind Roxi’s still maturing palate. While we tasted fondue a few times on this trip, this was by far the best version. Our fondue was served with bread, of course. I tried it with some of Mr. DJ’s cornichons and onions, though. Cheese dipped onions isn’t bad! By the way, we tried making fondue in our flat one night from a grocery store premade pouch. When I opened it up, it smelled like someone took old socks, poured some curdled milk onto them, and let the whole thing ferment–uh yeah, it went down the drain.

After this heavy meal, I thought someone was going to have to roll us back to our hotel. Mr. DJ suggested a walk to the lake, which did help us feel better. This also proved to be a great idea because the next evening, our last night in Annecy, the lake was packed with people celebrating the Fête du Lac.

Tartiflette is made like scalloped potatoes or potato au gratin with onions and bits of bacon, or as they say in France lardon. Roxi thought the word lardon was vulgar sounding. Anyway, the dish was topped with the king of alpine cheese, your favorite and mine: Reblochon. It was very good, but also very filling.

All of these meals went nicely with the local table wines of the Savoie Region. Decanted straight out of the barrels, the wines were served in these little ceramic pitchers.

And now, here’s an entry from Roxi. I asked her to write something in her journal about her first fondue experience. This is written in typical Roxi style–tongue in cheek. She used popular British adjectives, so if you can read it in with a British accent, that would be about right.

Today we ate at a fabulous fondue restaurant called Le Freti. We (Mom and I) had a delicious fondue thing that we nearly finished. DAD on the other hand, had this cheese thing that smelled awfully horrendous. After dinner, DAD kept putting his fork under my nose so I could smell the raclette. I had to wipe it off otherwise I would have had a simply revolting scent beneath my nose. Looking at the pictures (after eating so much) makes us feel sick.