Fondu Creusois

Fondu creusois is a cheese fondue of the Creuse departement in Limousin, central France, distinct from the better-known Swiss and Savoyard fondues. Born of a peasant tradition of recycling leftover aged local cow's milk cheese, the fondu creusois uses whatever characterful local cheese is available — a fromage de vache de pays, or sometimes a ripe Camembert or Coupi. The cheese is melted with water, whole milk, or creme fraiche in a caquelon — a cast-iron or terracotta pot — rubbed with garlic; a little flour stabilizes the emulsion. The dish is served with fries, sauteed potatoes, or potatoes in their jackets, and a green salad.

A pot of fondu creusois arrives bubbling, the cheese melted to a glossy, smooth, garlic-scented sauce that coats whatever is dipped into it. The flavor is rich and deeply cheesy — the aged local cheese's character concentrated — with the garlic and the creme fraiche mellowing the intensity. Eaten by dipping hot fries or boiled potatoes into the communal pot, it is a convivial dish of the Limousin table.

Fondu creusois rests on a stabilized cheese emulsion. The aged cheese — high in fat and with most of its moisture already lost to aging — is grated and melted slowly in a caquelon rubbed with garlic; the liquid (water, milk, or creme fraiche) provides the hydration that the dry aged cheese lacks. The flour, stirred in as the cheese melts, provides starch that swells and coats the fat droplets, stabilizing the emulsion and preventing the cheese from separating into oil and solids — the same principle as the cornstarch or kirsch in Swiss fondue. The creme fraiche, where used, adds fat and lactic-acid cultures that both enrich and help stabilize. The garlic, rubbed on the pot, deposits aromatic sulfur compounds that perfume the whole. The slow, gentle heat is essential — high heat would cause the cheese to seize and separate.