Fondue Help

[chiefmickeymouse]

So I had this great idea that it would be fun to buy a fondue pot and have fondue Christmas Eve. I bought a package of cheese fondue that you heat in the pot. It was from a gourmet shop...........and it smelled like feet, and tasted like what I would imagine feet taste like if I were so inclined to taste them.

My question for you lovely people is does anyone have a good recipe for the stupid fondue pot that I paid $25 for? It doesn't have to be cheese, just something that's good and preferably not too labor intensive.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Oh, honey. You need real cheese!

Here's a link to get you started: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/cheese_fondue/

 

[Micca]

We've had great success with the package fondue. We generally add extra cheese (swiss or emmenthal) and usually add some white wine. Pretty tasty stuff.

 

[Sandy321]

some people swear by cheese that smells like feet!!

SWISS CHEESE FONDUE
1 clove garlic, finely chopped (or use roasted garlic for less harsh flavor)
1 1/2 c. dry white wine
1 lb. grated Swiss cheese & Gruyere & Emmenthaler
Add slowly.
2 tsp. cornstarch mixed with applejack (to thicken sauce)
1 dash each paprika & pepper
Dash Worcestershire sauce
3 tsp. heavy cream
Put into pot as listed. Applejack (apple brandy) (or any Brandy), paprika and pepper added to your taste.

Also: http://www.justhungry.com/proper-swiss-cheese-fondue

The cheeses and other things in the sauce
The cheese sauce is usually made up of 2 or more types of cheese. A good moderately aged Gruyère (aged at least 8 to 12 months) is usually one of them, since it has such great flavor.

Another popular cheese is Emmenthaler, the stereotypical ‘Swiss cheese’ with the big holes. Emmenthaler does make the sauce very stringy and somewhat gooey, which can make it a bit hard to handle.

Martha’s preference was to use Vacherin Fribourgeois, which has a full, distinctive flavor and does not make the sauce stringy.

Her secret ingredient was one block of the ‘spreadable cheese’ that comes wrapped in foil triangles in a round cardboard box (e.g. Laughing Cow). The otherwise icky cheese helps all the cheeses melt together and stay together coherently.

The other important components in a fondue sauce are white wine and kirsch. Here in Switzerland, a young Chasselas Romand, aka Fendant, with a slight sourness is used. If you can’t get hold of such a wine, a Sauvignon Blanc will do, perhaps with a squeeze of lemon juice. And kirsch just adds that extra kick.

Recipe: Martha’s Cheese Fondue Sauce
This amount of sauce will serve 4 people as the main course. If you only intend to have fondue as part of a bigger meal, adjust the amounts accordingly.

1 garlic clove
50ml / about 1/4 cup kirsh
2 tsp. cornstarch
400 g / a bit less than 1 lb Gruyère cheese (aged at least 8 to 12 months), shredded
400g / a bit less than 1 l Emmenthaler or Vacherin Fribourgeois cheese, shredded (Please use real Emmenthaler. A generic ‘Swiss Cheese’ will not do. Note that in Switzerland you can buy bags of pre-shredded mixed cheese called “Moitié-moitié”, meaning ‘half and half’.)
1 piece of ‘spreadable’ cheese, e.g. Laughing Cow/La Vache Qui Rit (not the mini-Babybel type, the triangular foil-wrapped soft gooey double-creme type)
3 dl / 1 1/4 US cups of young slightly sour white wine such as Chasselas or Sauvignon Blanc
Rub the inside of the fondue pot with the garlic clove. Discard the garlic. (This optional step adds a little extra flavor to the sauce.)

Dissolve the cornstarch in the kirsch. Set aside.

Put the fondue pot on a medium-heat. Add the wine and cheeses. Heat while stirring, until the cheeses melt. Add the kirsch and keep stirring until the sauce is smooth and bubbly. This takes about 20 minutes.

Now, set up your fondue pot stand and burner and transfer the pot to the stand. The burner flame (or tabletop cooker) should just be hot enough that the sauce stays how and just sort of seething on the surface. Any hotter and the cheese will burn on the bottom.

 

[Uptown Girl]

Sounds like your fondue pack was mostly swiss cheese or similar. I've used several different cheese ones but I like this one--I think I got it from someone here:


1 pound aged cheddar cheese (sharp, NOT mild)
1 (12 oz) can of beer or ale
1 1/2 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp celery salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tbsp butter

Open can of beer and let sit at room temp for several hours.
Combine mustard, celery saly, pepper, worcestershire sauce and paprika. Set aside. On the stove top, melt butter in fondue pot. Add cheese 1/3 cup at a time. As the cheese melts, gradually add the beer, stirring constantly with wooden spoon. Add blended seasonings. Transfer to sterno stand over low heat. Keep cheese at a low simmer, just bubbling. Use french bread cubes and apples to dip.

We have 3 fondue pots and usually do one cheese for appetizers, then clean that one out and have one pot of plain vege oil, one with a red wine with various spices, and one with a chicken broth or beef broth with various spices. For desert we do chocolate with cut up berries, bread, etc.

 

[Jennasis]

I would love to find a cheese fondue without wine in it. I cannot stand the taste of wine, even in cooking. No wine based sauces or in stews etc. We went to The Melting Pot for New Year's Eve a few year's ago and were disappointed in the cheese fondue simply because of the wine.

 

[DisTeach1]

The only luck I've ever had with Fondue has involved Velveeta...I add whatever to it, but it really is the best for Fondue. It melts smooth and creamy. Anything else turns into a lumpy mess.

 

[Sandy321]

I would love to find a cheese fondue without wine in it. I cannot stand the taste of wine, even in cooking. No wine based sauces or in stews etc. We went to The Melting Pot for New Year's Eve a few year's ago and were disappointed in the cheese fondue simply because of the wine.

from a friend who passed along this website

If you can’t use alcohol for some reason
Do remember that this sauce is properly cooked on the stovetop, not just heated through until the cheese melts, so most of the alcohol content will evaporate. Swiss kids eat fondue along with the adults and grow up to be fine upstanding citizens. If you can’t have alcohol for religious reasons and so on, this recipe is not for you I’m afraid. To satisfy your cheesy urge, try a cheesy version of bagna cauda - fontina cheese melted in milk. It won’t be the same though

http://www.justhungry.com/proper-swiss-cheese-fondue

 

[Jennasis]

from a friend who passed along this website



http://www.justhungry.com/proper-swiss-cheese-fondue

I'm not worried about alcohol content. I hate the flavor wine adds to anything. I also hate swiss cheese . Wonder if we could use vegetable/beef/chicken stock instead? With a nice sharp cheddar...mmmmm.

 

[Uptown Girl]

I'm not worried about alcohol content. I hate the flavor wine adds to anything. I also hate swiss cheese . Wonder if we could use vegetable/beef/chicken stock instead? With a nice sharp cheddar...mmmmm.

Yes, you can use stock, I would suggest vege or chicken. We have used that in the past with a gluten free eater and it is good. I like the hardiness that the beer adds in my recipe above, but I don't like beer in general. The liquid just keeps the cheese from clumping when you use a good cheese like cheddar.

 

[cornflake]

For cheese fondue, yeah, good cheese - gruyere, emmenthaler, wine, rub a garlic clove in the pot, white pepper, you're good to go. Packaged fondue I can't speak to what was wrong with it, except that it was packaged fondue.

You can also do chocolate fondue - get *GOOD* chocolate. I cannot stress this enough. Do not try fondue with like, Nestle chips or something like that. Get some Callebaut, S-B, Valrhona, even Ghiradelli if there's nothing better in your town. Get very dark, like at least 60% cocoa. Melt the chocolate with some heavy cream, cut up fruits, get some sturdy shortbread cookies, madelines, etc., go nuts.

 

[chiefmickeymouse]

Thanks for all the replies. I guess we'll start trying some of the stuff you guys suggested. I think we'll try the cheddar and beer one first.

 

[liamsaunt]

I would love to find a cheese fondue without wine in it. I cannot stand the taste of wine, even in cooking. No wine based sauces or in stews etc. We went to The Melting Pot for New Year's Eve a few year's ago and were disappointed in the cheese fondue simply because of the wine.

I'm not worried about alcohol content. I hate the flavor wine adds to anything. I also hate swiss cheese . Wonder if we could use vegetable/beef/chicken stock instead? With a nice sharp cheddar...mmmmm.

You can use stock, or apple cider (which is really good with the sharp cheddar), or even beer.

 

[disneyhand]

I frequently substitute stock for wine in recipes. Haven't done it with fondue, but I'm sure it would work fine.

 

[pkondz]

I always do a broth fondue. We cook beef, chicken and sometimes pork (or if DW isn't around (alergic to seafood), shrimp). We love it. Afterwards, when everyone is done eating, I'll throw the leftover uncooked meats into the pot and have a delicious soup. I always have cheese and pickles and other nibblies around to snack on as the meat cooks.

For dessert, there's nothing better than chocolate fondue. Dip fruit of your choice in the chocolate, scoop up some whipped cream and pop it in your mouth... ambrosia!

 

[HeatherC]

Chocolate Fondue! You can dip:

pound cake
angel food cake
syrawberries
kiwis
oranges
pineapple
marshmallows
pretzels

Always a hit!

 

[StephMK]

We don't use fancy chocolate but a huge bar of Hershey's regular and a bar of Hershey's dark chocolates mixed in w/some milk or half & half makes a great fondue!

My favs are marshmellows, strawberries & bananas. The kids also like pretzels and graham crackers.

 

[Witch Mountain]

I'm not worried about alcohol content. I hate the flavor wine adds to anything. I also hate swiss cheese . Wonder if we could use vegetable/beef/chicken stock instead? With a nice sharp cheddar...mmmmm.

We use a hard cider with our cheddar fondue and it's really good. I suppose you could substitute apple cider, or at a minimum apple juice.

We have three fondue pots and usually do fondue for new year's. One cheese, one chocolate and the other one sometimes is extra cheese, or it's just used for caramel and then we have a choice for the desserts. I love apples and pineapples in that one!

 

[si-am]

I do oil fondue (haven't tried the broth). We have it with big chunks of steak and "cheese balls" (cheddar cheese cubes coated in egg and crushed cracker crumbs). Yummy!

I don't make cheese fondue very often because it's just so heavy and rich.

 

[KS_Disney_Dad]

Open can of beer and let sit at room temp for several hours.

Not sure I could let an open beer just sit there.

I also got a fondue pot for Christmas and immediately made my mom's crab dip. We had cheese cubes, crackers, veggies. It's an expensive dish, but it does make a lot and it's fantastic!