cholera

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 2 slices of puff pastry (suitable layers for one cake tin)
• 3 apples
• 3 pear(s), juicy
• 6 potatoes, waxy
• 1 pack of smoked diced bacon
• 1 stalk(s) leek (small stalk)
• 5 onions
• 400 g cheese (Gruyere or Raclette cheese)
• 1 egg yolk
• salt and pepper

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 30 minutes

Old recipe from Valais during the cholera epidemic

Peel, core, and slice the apples and pears. Boil and slice the potatoes. Clean or peel the leeks and onions and cut them into half rings. Once everything is ready, you’re ready to begin. Line a round cake tin with a sheet of puff pastry. Prick the pastry base with a fork. Season the apples, pears, onions, leeks, and potatoes well with salt and pepper. Layer each layer of apples, then potatoes, then pears, then bacon, then onions, and finally the cheese in the tin. Repeat this process. Once the cake tin is full, cover with the second sheet of puff pastry. Prick the puff pastry lid with a fork and brush with egg yolk. Place the cholera in a preheated oven at 200°C. Bake for about an hour. If the pastry lid gets too dark, cover with aluminum foil. Here’s the story behind the origin of this recipe: When cholera broke out in Valais, the then-common practice of bartering food was banned due to the risk of infection. Each household then made a kind of salty cake with the scarce food available. This cake was called “cholera cake.” Naturally, the recipes varied from family to family.