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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Fribourg
Dry, crunchy meringues served with Gruyère crème double, a thick cream with at least 45% fat. The quintessential dessert of the Bénichon feast, it is one of the symbols of the Gruyère region in the canton of Fribourg.
Traditional sweet from Fribourg
Also known as: meringues double crème, meringues et crème double de la Gruyère, Meringues mit Greyerzer Doppelrahm
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Meringues à la crème double de la Gruyère — Fribourg, Switzerland
In the mountains of Gruyère, the most famous dessert brings together two simple elements: egg-white-and-sugar meringues baked until dry and pearly, and a generous spoonful of crème double, the region’s thick cream. The contrast between the crackling meringue and the dense, cold cream is what defines the dish.
Gruyère crème double is obtained from the milk used to make the cheese. Left to rest, whole milk allows the cream to rise and be skimmed off; to be called double it must contain at least 45% fat, and local productions often exceed 50%. It is not whipped like whipped cream: it is served as is, thick enough to be spooned.
Meringues and crème double are the quintessential dessert of the Bénichon banquet, the traditional autumn festival of the canton of Fribourg that marks the end of field work and the return of cattle from the pastures. The Bénichon menu begins with cuchaule bread and Bénichon mustard and goes through several stages before reaching the sweet course. Outside the festival, the combination is served year-round in restaurants and tea houses in the region.
Gruyère meringues are large and light, sometimes slightly moist inside. Some bakeries and patisseries in the region are famed for them and have produced them for decades.
The dessert can be served with seasonal red berries, which balance the richness of the cream, or with ice cream.
Fribourg
The quintessential dessert of the Bénichon banquet, linked to the Gruyère region in the canton of Fribourg.
Egg whites and sugar for the meringues; Gruyère crème double (cream with at least 45% fat, made from local milk); sometimes red berries.
The meringues are broken or served whole with crème double on top or alongside, spooned; sometimes accompanied by red berries or ice cream.
Dessert of the Bénichon banquet in autumn; served year-round in restaurants of the Gruyère region.
Your questions
A thick cream obtained from the region’s milk, with at least 45% fat, served unwhipped.
The traditional autumn festival of the canton of Fribourg, with a multi-course banquet that ends with meringues and crème double.
In restaurants and tea houses in the Gruyère region, such as in the town of Gruyères, and at Bénichon banquets.
Flavors of Switzerland
The solid chocolate bar that made Switzerland a world reference from the 19th century onward, with mechanized production by Cailler, Daniel Peter’s milk chocolate in Vevey, and Rodolphe Lindt’s conching in Bern.
Melted cheese with white wine in a caquelon, kept warm over a burner, into which each person dips bread cubes on a long fork. Promoted as a national dish from the 1930s onward, it is served across Switzerland in the cold months.
Hard honey biscuit with almonds, hazelnuts, candied orange and lemon peel and kirsch, covered by a thin layer of sugar. Mentioned in Basel at least since 1711, it is the city’s most closely associated sweet specialty.
Large platter with several cooked and smoked meats and sausages, served over sauerkraut and green beans, with potatoes. It is the festive dish of Bernese cuisine, traditionally linked to the victory at Neuenegg in 1798.
Grated potato patty fried in butter until a golden crust forms on both sides. It was the breakfast of peasants in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, including the canton of Bern, and became a symbol of German-speaking Switzerland, even lending its name to the Röstigraben.
Chocolate cauldron bearing the coat of arms of Geneva, filled with marzipan vegetables and sweets, which is broken at the end of the Escalade celebration in December. It recalls the legend of Mère Royaume and the defense of the city on the night of December 11–12, 1602.
Shortcrust pastry tart, closed on top, filled with chopped walnuts coated in caramel and cream. It is the best-known sweet specialty of Graubünden, linked to pastry chefs who emigrated from the Engadine to work elsewhere in Europe.
Chard leaf rolls filled with spätzli-like dough and Bündnerfleisch (air-dried beef) or local salami, cooked in broth and milk and gratinated with cheese. Emblematic dish of Graubünden, originating in the Surselva, with as many recipes as there are families.
Puff-pastry dome filled with veal, meatballs, mushrooms and raisins in a creamy sauce. It’s named for the city and canton of Lucerne and is also called Fritschipastete, after the local carnival figure.
Dense cake made from day-old bread soaked in milk, with cocoa, amaretti, raisins, pine nuts and often a splash of grappa. Born from a desire not to waste bread, it is considered the quintessential Ticino sweet and every family has its own recipe.
Half a wheel of cheese held close to the fire, with the melted part scraped onto the plate and served with boiled potatoes in their skins, pickled cornichons and pearl onions. It originated in Valais and was presented as a Valais national dish in 1909.
Distilled from wormwood, anise, and fennel, green or colorless, served diluted with cold water and turning cloudy when mixed. Production began in the Val-de-Travers, in the canton of Neuchâtel, at the end of the 18th century, and it was banned in Switzerland from 1910 to 2005.
Rustic purée of leek and potato cooked in water and white wine, served with saucisse aux choux, a smoked pork-and-cabbage sausage. It is the best-known culinary specialty of the canton of Vaud and is part of its intangible heritage.
Layered cake of almond meringue discs and a sponge soaked in kirsch syrup, with buttercream, covered with almonds and powdered sugar in a diamond pattern. Created in Zug by pastry chef Heinrich Höhn, who advertised it in 1915.
A mixture of soaked rolled oats, grated apple, walnuts or almonds, lemon and milk, created around 1900 by physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner for patients at his clinic in Zurich. It gave rise to the muesli eaten worldwide.
Thin strips of veal sautéed and served in a cream, white wine and mushroom sauce. It’s the dish Zurich residents name first when talking about the city’s cuisine, almost always accompanied by rösti.
