SeriesIn the land of melt-in-your-mouth delights (3/3) – With its green dot if it’s a farm, red if it’s dairy, this cheese is the star of winter menus. But it is not made to be married only to the tartiflette! And wants to charm even in summer.
A dark threat has been hovering over winter feasts for several weeks: Reblochon is becoming scarce. Observed in several supermarkets and cheese shops, echoed by the news channels continuously with anguished tremolos, the shortage is due to a relatively elementary mathematical rule. The demand is greater than the supply. “We produce 16,500 tonnes of Reblochon each year, but it’s true that right now, if we produced twice as much, we would sell it without any problem”recognizes Bernard Mounier, president of the Reblochon Interprofessional Syndicate, adjusting his colored glasses.
“You can do anything with Reblochon! You just have to choose the right cheese for the right dish. If I make cromesquis, I’ll take a creamy Reblochon”, Emmanuel Pessey, chef at Les Sapins restaurant
At the wheel of his small family sedan, the manager drives along Lake Annecy towards the mountains. Mist aurora clings to the surface of the water, giving the vaporous landscape an unreal appearance. “The AOP zone, recognized in 1958, comprises 80% of the territory of Haute-Savoie, to which must be added the Val d’Arly, in Savoie. We cannot extend this area, or change our breeds, abundance, Montbéliarde, tarine, for more productive cows. A prim’holstein, a competitive milkmaid, would sprain her ankle in five minutes in our mountain pastures! If we want to maintain the quality of our products, the only solution is to spread out sales and make people understand that Reblochon is not just the tartiflette we stuff ourselves with in winter. »
Bernard Mounier passes the small town of Thônes, the “capital” of Reblochon surrounded by spruce forests, to climb a little higher in the Aravis massif, and reach the town of Manigod. Les Sapins, a massive chalet offering hotel and catering services, sits facing the slopes: an ideal spot to admire skiers descending into the powder snow in a cozy setting. The restaurant aligns a hundred covers. Three generations of the same family have succeeded each other. Renée Pessey-Veyrat, an adorable 72-year-old lady, watches over her son Emmanuel Pessey, 46, who is toiling in the kitchen to make up for the lack of staff. The chef is an indefatigable hard worker who notably learned his skills from Marc Veyrat, the head of local gastronomy.
Emmanuel Pessey obviously offers a tartiflette: beautiful portions accompanied by charcuterie and salad priced at 22 euros per person. “But when my grandmother Simone was in charge of the kitchens, she didn’t screw up a Reblochon to make a tartiflette! remembers the chef. The dish began to take hold in the 1980s when tourists arrived en masse in the mountains and skiers wanted to have a good time around a hot, gourmet recipe. »
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