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Here is the recipe for Malakoffs. You could discover this wonderful Swiss specialty in my “Culinary journey: Lausanne”. It is a dish from the canton of Vaud based on Gruyère cheese, which is from the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. It is a cheese dome on a slice of bread, then fried. It may seem rather heavy and indigestible, but it’s so crisp, melting, incredibly delicious that you have to at least try it to convince yourself that it’s not as crazy as it sounds!
I composed this recipe on my own, because the recipes I found in books or even directly in the restaurant concerned, did not work at all or did not give the desired texture or the characteristic fondant. So I started from scratch and went through the trouble of testing for 3 full days with over 12 different variations. I finally came up with this recipe that I am proposing here, which is almost identical in every way to those of Bursins. Once you get the proportions right, this recipe is fantastic because it is simple to make and delicious to enjoy. In general we eat 2 or 3 of them but not more because it is rather copious and it is necessary to find the time of cooking so that the cheese remains melting but not undercooked.
Recipe for 10 malakoffs:
-500g of Gruyere cheese (especially not Emmental!!)
-60ml of dry white wine
-2 eggs (55g each)
-2 teaspoons of bicarbonate
-120g of flour type 55
-140g of whole milk
-1 small
clove of garlic
-2 teaspoons of kirsch (not the fancy kind…)
– salt, pepper, nutmeg
-16 slices of bread
Don’t forget that real Gruyere cheese has no holes!
Grate the gruyere cheese by machine or by hand.
Then chop the grated Gruyere cheese with a knife.
Put the Gruyere cheese in a container. Add the eggs, flour, salt and pepper. Add the milk, white wine and kirsch.
Mix well and add the crushed garlic and freshly grated nutmeg. Do not skimp on the latter because it is what gives that special taste to malakoffs!
Add the baking soda.
Mix well to obtain a dough that holds together easily.
Let the dough rest for a good hour in a cool place to make it more compact. This operation is essential!
Cut 6.5-7cm diameter circles out of quality sandwich bread.
If you can’t find a 6.5-7cm diameter cookie cutter, you can look for a canister or something that has that diameter.
Cut with a punch or knife around the found object to the appropriate diameter.
Top slices of bread with cheese filling using a tablespoon to form a dome at least 4 cm high in the center.
Heat oil to 190°C. Put the malakoffs in the hot oil upside down.
When the malakoff is golden brown, turn it over and let the bread side cook.
The cooking is an essential element of the success of the malakoff. Too much cooking and the cheese will be runny in the middle, but not enough and the filling will be a bit floury. They should therefore cook for about 5 minutes. 3-4 minutes on the dome side and 2 minutes on the bread side.
Drain on paper towels and enjoy hot when the cheese is runny inside!
