Fondue

Dipping a cheese fondue with a long-stemmed fork

Fondue is a Swiss communal dish shared at the table in an earthenware pot (caquelon) over a small burner (rechaud). The word is drawn from the French verb fondre (to melt) in the past participle fondu (melted).

Long-stemmed forks are wielded to dip bits of food, most often bread but sometimes meat, into a warm and somewhat molten sauce, wontedly a cheese mix, heated by a wick, gel alcohol burner or tealight. Cheese fondue is the most widely known, however there are other pot and dipping ingredients.

History

Often thought of as a "centuries-old peasant dish" handy for eating old cheese and bread, fondue seems to have sprung forth from both Swiss and French origins in the Jura mountains. The oldest known recipe for fondue used eggs and came from the French-speaking Swiss canton of Vaud in the early 19th century. As Switzerland industrialized, wine and cheese producers encouraged the dish's popularity. Many Swiss cantons and towns came up with their own recipes based on local cheeses, wines and other ingredients. The dish became popular in the United States through the late 1960s and early 1970s. By the 21st century fondue was again popular in Switzerland.

Preparation

A full cheese fondue set in Switzerland. Apart from pieces of bread to dip into the melted cheese, there are side servings of kirsch, raw garlic, pickled gherkins, onions and olives.

There are many kinds of fondue, but the most common consists of a blend of cheeses, wine and seasoning. To prepare the caquelon it is first rubbed with a cut garlic clove. Wine and cheese are added and stirred until melted. A small amount of potato starch (or cornstarch, cornflour or flour) is added to prevent separation and kirsch, beer or white wine are added. The most common recipe calls for 1 dl (100 ml) of dry white wine per person and a 200 g mix of hard (such as Gruyère) and semi-hard (such as Emmental, Vacherin or raclette) cheeses. The mixture is stirred continuously as it heats in the caquelon. Cubed crusty bread, apple slices and other "dippers" are then speared on a fondue fork and dipped into the melted cheese.

Temperature and la religieuse

A cheese fondue mixture should be held at a temperature warm enough to keep the fondue smooth and liquid but not so hot as to allow any burning. If this temperature is held until the fondue is finished there will be a thin crust of toasted (not burnt) cheese at the bottom of the caquelon. This is called la religieuse (French for the nun). It has the texture of a thin cracker and is almost always lifted out and eaten.

Cheese fondues

Swiss

• Neuchâteloise: Gruyère and Emmental.
• Moitié-moitié (or half 'n half): Gruyère and Fribourg vacherin.
• Vaudoise: Gruyère.
• Fribourgeoise: Fribourg vacherin wherein potatoes are often dipped instead of bread.
• Innerschweiz: Gruyère, Emmental and sbrinz.
• Appenzeller: Appenzeller cheese with cream added.
• Tomato: Gruyère, Emmental, crushed tomatoes and wine.
• Spicy: Gruyère, red and green peppers, with chili.
• Mushroom: Gruyère, Fribourg vacherin and mushrooms.

French alpine

• Savoyarde: Comté savoyard, beaufort, and emmental.
• Jurassienne: Mature or mild comté.

Italian alpine

• Fonduta: Fontina, milk, eggs and truffles, known as Fonduta valdostana in the Aosta valley and Fonduta piemontese in Piedmont, both in northern Italy.

Instant

Refrigerated fondue blends are sold in most Swiss supermarkets and need little more than melting in the caquelon. Individual portions heatable in a microwave oven are also sold.

Other fondues

Meat

A fondue bourguignonne: At top is a pot of hot oil for quickly cooking the meat, at middle a caquelon for a further cheese fondue and at bottom more sauces for dipping.

• Fondue Bourguignonne consists of a fondue pot filled with hot oil into which diners dip pieces of meat to cook them. Various sauces are provided on the side. The earliest published mentions of this dish seem to have been made in the mid 1950s.
• Bressane: Small cubes of chicken breast are dipped in cream, then in fine bread crumbs and at last deep fried, as with a bourguignonne.
• Chinoise (or Court Bouillon): Rolled shaved meat (traditionally beef) is dipped into a simmering broth. As with a bourguignonne, dipping sauces are served. This dish is still somewhat like a Chinese hot pot (huoguo in Chinese, or steamboat, which is popular across Asia). At meal's end, the much flavoured broth may be served to the participants, with or without sherry wine.

Chocolate

Chocolate fondue recipes began appearing in the 1960s. Slices of fruit or pastry are dipped in a caquelon of melted chocolate. It has been suggested that melted chocolate is a healthier way to enjoy chocolate because it is generally eaten more slowly and can be enjoyed with fruit. Other types of dessert fondues can include coconut, honey, caramel and marshmallow.

Etiquette

Allowing one's tongue or lips to touch the dipping fork should be avoided. When participating in a meat fondue one should use a dinner fork to take meat off the dipping fork. As with other communal dishes a "no double-dipping" rule is observed. In Swiss tradition if a nugget of bread is lost in the cheese by a man he buys a bottle of wine and if such a thing happens to befall a woman she kisses the man at her left.

See also

• Bagna càuda, an olive oil-based Northern Italian variant.
• Chocolate fountain
• Hot pot
• Raclette
• Welsh rarebit, a Welsh variant.
• List of cheese soups

External links

• Classic cheese fondue recipe
• Fondue at Curlie