[1] At the time of the Crimean War (1853–1856), English and French troops in whose ranks many Swiss were fighting found themselves immobilized in front of the city of Sebastopol, which was defended in particular by Fort Malakoff.

General Aimable Pélissier had zigzag trenches dug to allow an approach to the fort safe from Russian artillery.

According to oral tradition, on returning home, many Swiss from Geneva and the La Côte would occasionally gather to taste slices of cheese fried in a pan in butter, accompanied by bread and many pitchers of white wine.

[1] The modern recipe for malakoffs arose from an occasion between 1880 and 1891 when a young couple from Bursins, Jules and Ida Larpin, were in the service of Prince Napoléon-Jérôme Bonaparte at the Prangins villa.

Napoleon was hosting a reception attended by veterans of the Crimean War when Mrs. Larpin, always on the lookout for novelty in the culinary arts and at the request of the prince who wanted to honor his guests, served as a starter an adapted version of malakoffs in the form of a slice of cheese coated with pastry, fried and cooked in butter.