Cheese Fondue Help needed

Asiaprod

I just got a present of a Cheese Fondue set, but have never made it before. All tips and advice greatly welcome, especially on what type of cheeses to use.

bonkey

I'll get you a proper recipe this evening, but the basic ingredients are Swiss cheese, white wine, Kirsch, shallots, garlic, salt, pepper, nutmeg, lemon juice, and cornflour.

There's one basic rule that I can't stress enough....

When making a fondue, you always stir in one direction. No figure of 8, no occasional "back-stir" for whatever reason, nothing. You go either clockwise or anticlockwise, in a circular motion, always in the same direction and thats it. If you get this wrong, it won't turn out properly. I don't know why, it just happens that way.

The classic cheeses are all Swiss (unsurprisingly) - Gruyere and Vacherin mostly, but you will find some recipes using Emmental, Sbrinz and/or other cheeses. As to what makes good replacements....you're in Japan, right? Really no idea what cheese you can/can't get there, so your best bet might be either to read up on the above-mentioned cheeses and/or ask your local cheesemonger what would be comparable.

You'll also find variations using other ingredients too...but I must say I haven't found one to my taste yet.

Another point...and its one I've already seen misreported on a handful of sites...is to be very careful what you drink with fondue. Because of the large amounts of cheese (and little else), anything carbonated is dodgy. Beer, fizzy soft-drinks, etc are just asking to give you massive stomach-cramp afterwards. The Swiss traditionally go for white wine, black tea, and maybe a wee shot of Kirsch (although thats even better kept as something to dip your bread into).

Like I said above...recipe to follow later.

Asiaprod

bonkey wrote:

Like I said above...recipe to follow later.

Wonderful, I had a feeling you would know this:)
In Japan, cheese is a big YES. Any kind you want you can get. No problem there.

bonkey

As promised...

Swiss cheese fondue ... 4 pers.

800g grated cheese

Note on the cheese: gruyère or appenzeller should be easily available worldwide. Either use 800g of gruyere or half and half. Using only appenzeller will give you a very *salty* fondue. You can also add emmentaler, but I wouldn’t recommend more than 200g of it in the total mix as it is too oily. As a general rule never choose oily or hard to melt cheese. If available, vacherin will give you a fantastically creamy fondue when mixed half and half with gruyere.

4dl dry and acidic white wine (no chardonnay). Alternately you can use champagne!

Juice of half a lemon

3 tbl of cornflour

Up to 1dl kirsch (depends on how pungent you want it to be)

5-10 cloves of garlic, whole

2 ... 3 shallots, quartered or halved, depending on size

Sweet paprika, nutmeg, pepper

1. rub the inside of the pan with a halved clove of garlic
2. add wine into the pan and put to a medium heat
3. add cheese, lemon juice, garlic, shallots and a good pinch of each
spice (go easy on the paprika though as too much will colour your
fondue...)
4. start stirring slowly... one direction only! If you do change the
direction the cheese will not mix properly with the wine and the
whole thing will split
5. continue stirring until the cheese eventually melts into the wine
(should take 5-10 mins.- depends on how finely the cheese is
grated) ... note if once properly melted the cheese starts bubbling
too much turn down the heat and keep stirring
6. mix cornflour with kirsch and add 2/3 to the mass
7. keep stirring until the desired thickness is achieved. Note:
fondue is too runny ... add more cornflour/kirsch mix, fondue is too
thick ... add more wine
8. serve with cubed bread (denser bread is better as opposed to
baguette which is too fluffy)

bonkey

A coupled of points which may be relevant:

The proper stirring implement is like a flat wooden spoon with a 3/4" circular hole cut through the "spoon"...you might have gotten one with the set...

Please don't panic on steps 4and 5. Initially, it will look like its all gone wrong. Depending on the cheese and how finely its grated, different things can. You can be pushing a block of cheese around in the wine for a few minutes, convinced need to do something...you don't. Or maybe the cheese is gonna soak up the wine and you're pushing a sludgy mess around. Still ok. Just go on direction, at a steady and slow pace and it'll come together.

Oh - and I just noticed its not mentioned...you do make it in the fondue pot, on the stove. Then you move it to the table and onto the stand (w. burner) to eat. Important to keep it stirred while eating (just stir the bread about while coating it, and thats enough). Adjust burner up/down if its too hot / congealing, obviously

Any questions....just let me know.

Asiaprod

Wonderful bonkey, thanks to you we will be having a fondue party this weekend. Cant wait, now to find some nice wine.

The Sweeper

...and then devise a list of forfeits for losing your bread in the fondue.

Asiaprod

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

...and then devise a list of forfeits for losing your bread in the fondue.

That easy, he/she who looses their bread gets to wash the dishes:)

Heinrich

A French Beaufort (demi-alpage) instead of Gruyere will make an excellent fondue as in Fondue savoyard.

I find 300 grs of each; Appenzell, Gruyere, Vacherin and chopped garlic without the gimmicks of shallots etc. makes the nicest fondues.

The sin on fondue eating is scraping the bottom of the caquelon before all the melted cheee has been consumed. This results in the bottom burning and the religeuse is spoiled at the end.

Some like to crack in an egg near the end and stir it in well with the greasy cheese that is left.

There are variations which being nice are not really traditional, such as fondue aux champignons (mushrooms) marseillese (with herbes de provence) and fondue aux tomates with tomatoes and eaten with boiled potatoes (yuk).

A better use for your fondue set would be for fondue chinoise. Instead of cheese you make a stock or consomme. Get some finely sliced, very lean, raw beef and roll the meat around the fork. Dip in the caquelon until cooked to your taste. You can use small prawns and fine chicken cubes.

Then there is the dangerous fondue burguinnone which is hot oil in the caquelon and you simply deep fry meat cubes in the oil.

Both these fondues are served with various dips which are made from (for simplicity) mayonaise with crushed garlic, tomato puree, chopped shallots etc.

BTW I disagree with the comment about beer drinking with fondue. Having lived in Geneva for 23 years and eaten thousands of cheese fondues, home made and bistro, with cannettes of Cardinal or Feldschloessen the only after effects I noted were the stink of burnt cheese the following morning!:D

Asiaprod

Heinrich wrote:

A French Beaufort (demi-alpage) instead of Gruyere will make an excellent fondue as in Fondue savoyard. I find 300 grs of each; Appenzell, Gruyere, Vacherin and chopped garlic without the gimmicks of shallots etc. makes the nicest fondues.

This is great, I can't wait for the weekend. Also very glad to hear about the beer as I was thinking of some buying some good bottles of trapist beer. On an aside, when I ate fondue last in Japan it was served with bread chunks and cunks of vegitable, potato, prawn and sasauge. Is this unusual or is it also a common thing to serve.

bonkey

Heinrich wrote:

A better use for your fondue set would be for fondue chinoise.

Hmmm. I thought about that too, but I wouldn't do a chinoise in a cheese caquelon, personally. Ditto the bourginon.

BTW I disagree with the comment about beer drinking with fondue. Having lived in Geneva for 23 years and eaten thousands of cheese fondues, home made and bistro, with cannettes of Cardinal or Feldschloessen the only after effects I noted were the stink of burnt cheese the following morning!:D

Fair enough....first person I've met who's a "beer with fondue" advocate. Maybe its a regional thing...all the Bernese I've met seem to consider it one step short of suicide.

jc

Heinrich

I'm sure he could get a burguinonne caquelon as easily as he got the cheese one. The pottery cheese caquelons are better than the enamel ones but need to be steeped in water overnight. The religeuse that come out is muck better.

As for the regional thing, God save us from the bourbine hordes.

Try a beer yourself with the next fondue. That Calenda stuff is not bad but is hard to get in Geneva.

The Sweeper

My arteries are weeping just reading this thread. I'm also surfing the internet for fondue sets.

By the way, washing the dishes is a terrible forfeit. Have you ever read Asterisk and Obelix?

CJhaughey

I think what you mean by Fondue Chinoise is an adaptation of the classic chinese "Steamboat" cooking style.
I have had a few versions of it but the most basic is a stock , chicken, beef and prepared vegetables, meat and seafood that you put in tiny wirenet baskets and immerse in the steamboat to cook.
After the food is eaten the resulting soup is very tasty.
The key to preparation is having the food chopped small so that it cooks very quickly.

Asiaprod

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

Have you ever read Asterisk and Obelix?

Haha, grew up with them, ah the memories. Now you have made me want to read them again.

The Sweeper

Isn't it Curius who likes to host fondue parties and then punishes people when they lose their bread?

"The stick! The stick!"
"The whip! The whip"
"Into the lake with weights tied to his feet!"

...see kids? Fondue is dangerous.

The Sweeper

But back on topic, I'm a complete tart for things I've not tried before, and fondue is something I've not tried before.

If I wanted to buy a fondue set that would be good for both cheese and other things, (the 'cook at the table' variety of perparation involving broth etc.) who can recommend a brand?

NextSteps

Heinrich wrote:

I'm sure he could get a burguinonne caquelon as easily as he got the cheese one. The pottery cheese caquelons are better than the enamel ones but need to be steeped in water overnight. The religeuse that come out is muck better.

Three questions:
What's a religeuse?

And can anyone reccommend a good starter for a fondue-based meal? Has to involve no cheese, no bread, no soup or anything else runny or reminiscent of fondue! And i think a plain salad wouldn't be filling enough. What's done in Switzerland?

And dessert? I reckon something seriously chocloatey - or would a tart be better? What do people think?

bonkey

UB wrote:

Three questions:
What's a religeuse?

When you make a cheese fodue, some of the fondue will (almost inevitably) lightly burn onto the base. This is considered a delicacy by addicienados and is called the religieuse.

And can anyone reccommend a good starter for a fondue-based meal? Has to involve no cheese, no bread, no soup or anything else runny or reminiscent of fondue! And i think a plain salad wouldn't be filling enough. What's done in Switzerland?

And dessert? I reckon something seriously chocloatey - or would a tart be better? What do people think?

For me, it would be no starter, no dessert.

Having said that, chocolate or something like a zwetschgen (prune / damson) sorbet could be good for dessert.

As for starter...no clue. Never had one with a fondue.

Asiaprod

bonkey wrote:

For me, it would be no starter, no dessert.

Same for me, the main dish is quite heavy on its own. If I were to pick it would be a salad, no dessert.