CookEat Recipe
Turin Fontina Fonduta
A smooth thick Fontina cream made with browned butter, a little milk and egg yolks, served warm without boiling the cheese.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: 400 g Fontina cheese, weighed after removing its rind; 80 g butter; Commercially pasteurized egg-yolk product equivalent to 4 yolks, measured according to its label; Milk to cover the diced cheese, about 250–350 ml as a guide; only 2 tablespoons go into the fonduta.
Step 2
Cut the rindless Fontina into small dice. Put in a container and add enough milk to cover. Soak for 2 hours in the refrigerator. Use commercially pasteurized yolks suitable for uncooked or gently heated preparations and follow the product label; keep them cold until needed.
Step 3
Drain the cheese, reserving exactly 2 tablespoons of the soaking milk for the sauce. Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan and let it take a light golden colour without burning. Add the drained Fontina and the two tablespoons milk. Stir steadily over very low heat until completely melted, without letting it boil.
Step 4
Remove from the heat and stir in the measured equivalent of four pasteurized yolks. Return briefly to very gentle heat, stirring constantly until the mixture is hot and resembles a thick smooth cream. A bowl over barely simmering water can give gentler control. Stop before it boils, turns grainy or becomes stringy.
Step 5
Pour into a warmed serving dish and serve promptly. Do not hold the yolk-and-cheese mixture at room temperature. Any unused soaking milk must remain refrigerated and follow its usual storage limits; it is not all poured into the sauce.
Step 6
For the Turin truffle presentation described in the source, clean about 10 g fresh food-grade white truffle, shave it into paper-thin slices and scatter a thin layer over the warm fonduta just before serving. The amount is an estimate; this optional garnish is not required for the plain main version.
Step 7
Artusi also records a different Brillat-Savarin formula using whole eggs, Gruyere equal to one-third of their weight and butter equal to one-sixth. For a practical small batch, weigh about 150 g whole egg without shells, then use 50 g grated Gruyere, 25 g butter, very little salt and a generous pinch of pepper. Melt the butter over low heat, stir the beaten eggs and cheese together into it, and cook gently while stirring until creamy but fully set to 74°C. Serve immediately. This method and weighing eggs without shells are practical clarifications of the quoted proportions, not the six-person Fontina version.
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