Rissoles

Rissoles are small fried or baked pastries with a filling enclosed in dough. The Savoyard rissole is a sweet specialty, traditionally made at Christmas and during winter festivals. The dough is a simple pastry or brioche-type dough; the filling is classically poached pears or apples, often bound with a little jam or a local cheese such as Tomme. The pastries are sealed and deep-fried to a golden, blistered crust. The dish belongs to the festive winter cuisine of the Alps, when preserved fruits and local cheeses were the pantry of the season. No specific inventor or founding date is documented; it is a regional festive specialty.

A rissole is a small golden crescent or pillow, the crust shatteringly crisp from the frying, the interior soft and sweet — the jammy fruit filling warm against the flaky dough. Some versions include a savory note from the cheese in the filling. Eaten warm, often dusted with sugar, they are a festive sweet of the Savoyard winter.

Rissoles rest on an enclosed pastry that is deep-fried. The dough — a simple pastry or brioche-type — is rolled thin, cut into rounds, filled, and sealed; the frying does two things. First, the high heat of the oil sets the dough's surface almost instantly by dehydration, forming a crisp, blistered crust before the interior can absorb excess oil. Second, the moisture inside the sealed pastry turns to steam, which inflates the pastry slightly and cooks the filling by trapped heat. The filling — poached pears or apples bound with jam or cheese — is already cooked, so it needs only to be warmed through; its moisture, released during frying, is trapped inside the sealed pastry, keeping the filling soft and jammy.