Choux pastry beaten with grated cheese and baked into light, hollow puffs, eaten warm with a glass of wine.
What makes it gougères
Choux paste — water, butter, flour and eggs, cooked and beaten.
Hard cheese beaten into the dough and scattered on top.
Crisp outside, hollow and soft within.
Where it comes from
They're most often traced to the Yonne in northern Burgundy, around Tonnerre, though the story of how they began is loose. At some point they became what the wine cellars hand round at tastings.
Most are now made with Comté or Gruyère. They're served warm from the oven, and sometimes baked as a single ring to be torn apart at the table.