It’s easy to be cheesy – here’s how to make the perfect cheese fondue

FONDUE has been around as a concept for hundreds of years, but cheese fondue is generally recognised to have come into existence in 1875 when the original recipe was published.

Before then there was a dish called ‘fondue’ but it was more like a scramble, as there were eggs and sometimes truffles mixed in. While the newer concoction had the two ingredients we see on this day, there was an issue because the sauce was continually trying to separate, requiring extra time and care to make the dish. However, around 1905, cornflour was introduced to Switzerland and solved that problem quite handily.

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And thus was cheese fondue created. You can dip bread into it, of course, but also popular are veggies like gherkin pickles, garlic cloves, olives, onions, and more. Some prefer fruits like grapes for a lighter repast. Generally, the fondue is cooked on a stove and then poured into the fondue pot itself when it’s served at the table, where the dipping begins.

There are several different traditions that go with eating fondue. One is the eating of the crispy cheese left at the bottom of the pot. The other is the custom of what happens when your cube of bread falls off your fork. Ideally, if a man’s bread falls, he buys a round of drinks for the table, but if it’s a woman’s cube, she has to kiss her table neighbours. You can customise these and create new ones to fit your table and your lifestyle, of course, but those are ones that have been around for quite some time.

There are so many options you can put together to create an amazing fondue, as the cheese is traditionally pure, but it does not have to be. You can mix together multiple types of cheese, or even put in other ingredients such as hot peppers or other seasonings to create your own special taste sensation.

For a traditional cheese fondue, you will need (apart from a group of fun-loving friends):

1 large clove of garlic, halved

300ml dry white wine

125g Gruyere cheese, grated

125g Emmenthal cheese, grated

45ml cornflour

45ml Kirsch or brandy

salt and pepper

freshly grated nutmeg

Rub the inside of a saucepan with one half of the garlic and discard. Pour the wine into the pot and bring to a gentle simmer. Add the cheeses while stirring. Mix the cornflour with the Kirsch or brandy and stir into the cheese mixture, stirring until mixture is smooth and thickened. Season with salt, pepper and a good grating of nutmeg. Rub the inside of the fondue pot with the other clove of garlic and pour in the cheese mixture. Put this over a low flame to keep warm. On a platter, arrange a selection of suitable foods such as baby mushrooms, cocktail tomatoes, radishes, boiled baby potatoes and chunks of French bread.

Have fun!

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