Eating The Tour De France Stage 14: Colmar – Besancon. A Comte Fondue
Believe it or not Stage 14 of this years tour, that hugs the Swiss border, is going to be a flat one. A last chance for the sprinters to get their hands on the green jersey, it will be a fast and furious bumper along 199km of tarmac from Colmar to Besancon.
So having digested our Flammekueche in Colamar, birth place of King Charles the Fat, we head to the capital of the Franche -Comte department of France, that gives it's name to the world famouse cheese Comte.
Comté is an ancient cheese and it has been produced in this corner of France since the time of Charlemagne. The cheese itself which is now popular in most UK cheesemongers and supermarkets, has a nutty and caramelized flavor and is often used as a traditional fondue cheese.
And what better way to refuel your cycling team than to sit them around a fat of bubbling cheese, dipping bread, building team spirit and planning for Stage 15 of the Tour, where the Alpine climbing starts in ernest.
- 4 cups coarsely grated Comte cheese
(about 1 pound) - 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 cup dry white wine
- half a cup of Kirsch
- juice of half a lemon
- a pinch of ground nutmeg
- a pinch of ground white pepper
1. In a small bowl, mix the Comte with the cornstarch.
2. In a small heavy saucepan, combine the wine, Kirsch, lemon juice, nutmeg and pepper; bring to a boil and lower the heat.
3. Gradually sprinkle in the Comte and whisk the cheese, one hand full at a time.
Cook and stir until the mixture starts to bubble and thicken.
4. Serve with chunks of French bread, small pickled onions and some baby conichon.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 at 15:37 and is filed under French Recipes, Tour De France Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed or trackback from your own site. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
