La Fondue

There is no standard recipe, nor is there even a single type of cheese that’s universally favoured for fondue, it originally was a hearty peasant dish made in the Alps with melted cheese, wine and bread and served in a communal pot.

Your cheese monger advises 200g of cheese per person.

An example for two:

200g Comté

100g Beaufort

100 emmental

1 clove of garlic

30cl dry white wine

1 tsp corn flour

3cl Kirsch

ground black pepper

No salt!

The following cheeses may be used to make a Fondue:

Gruyere Suisse/ Gruyere de Savoie/ Comté / Beaufort / Vacherin fribourgeois / Emmental / Tilsiter / Appenzeller / Etivaz / Raclette Suisse / Raclette de Savoie

Preparation: Grate or slice the cheese into small pieces.

Peel and crush the garlic clove and rub on the bottom of your fondue pot

Dissolve the corn starch in the kirsch.

Pour some of the wine into the pot, add the cheese and heat through very slowly , stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture eventually melts. The start of the process can be a bit disheartening as it will take a while for the cheese to melt and form a homogenous fondue. Not to worry, it is all worth it.

You may want to add a bit of the remaining wine alternatively if the texture is too thick ( it shall not be liquid either! ).

Add your kirsch liaison and season with pepper.

Place the pot on your candle warmer and maintain a constant temperature.

Prick bread cubes with a long fork and dip them in the fondue until they are well coated with the cheese mixture.

It is important to regularly stir the contents of the pot, forming a figure of 8 which mimics the one formed by the cheese maker stirring curds in the Vat .

Fondue is a very rich dish, you may accompany your fondue with some hot tea which will help the digestion.