Preparation
There are many kinds of fondue, each made with a different blend of cheeses, wine and seasoning, mostly depending on where it is made. The caquelon is first rubbed with a cut garlic clove, then wine and cheese are slowly added until melted. A small amount of potato starch (or corn starch, cornflour or flour) is added to prevent separation and the fondue is almost always further diluted with either kirsch, beer or white wine. 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 must be stirred continuously as it heats in the caquelon. Crusty bread is cut into cubes which 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.
- Fondue de Suisse centrale: 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
- 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.
Dessert
Dessert fondue recipes began appearing in the 1960s. Slices of fruit or pastry are dipped in a caquelon of melted chocolate. Other dessert fondues can include coconut, honey, caramel and marshmallow.
Etiquette
As with other communal dishes, fondue has an etiquette. Most often, allowing one's tongue or lips to touch the dipping fork will be thought of as rude. With meat fondues, one should use a dinner fork to take meat off the dipping fork. A "no double-dipping" rule also has sway: After a dipped morsel has been tasted, it should never be returned to the pot. 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 on her left.
Those who succeed in following the etiquette of fondue can share the cheese cracker-like la religieuse left at the bottom of the emptied caquelon. In Switzerland, children sometimes squabble over this. |
