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Fondues and Fon-Don'ts
by Guest Writer, Valerie Whitmore Since November is National Fun With Fondue Month, I felt obligated to dig into some melty goodness (fondue is French for "melted" in case you didn't know).
There are three types of fondue: melted cheese, hot oil, and dessert. You can read more about the others and find recipes for them here but I'm going to mostly address cheese fondue in this post.
The basics of cheese fondue are this: you melt some cheese with some wine and sop it up with some bread. Ok, that doesn't sound nearly as glamorous as the name "fondue" implies, but honestly, that's the concept. However, the cheese you use and the cooking method you choose can greatly alter your outcome - it can either end up like something that came out of a can or a spectacular dish that came from a 5-star restaurant
Now there is a variation of cheese fondue that doesn't fit into the three basic categories. We'll call it "nondue". It's similar to how we call everything that remotely resembles pizza - "pizza" - as I mentioned in my thinking outside the pizza box post. This is a dish that is cooked and eaten like fondue, but isn't really fondue. It's usually a sauce (pizza, spaghetti, alfredo, etc) that is heated and eaten with the same types of dippers that traditional fondue uses. You'll see more of what I mean below, but first let's tackle some of the do's and don'ts of Fondue.
Cheese Fon-Do's:
Use good quality, meltable cheese. Not all cheeses melt the same. Use what's called for in the recipe. Good cheeses to use are Gruyere, Swiss, Cheddar, Fontina Emmentaler.... Bad cheeses to use are Mozzarella, Feta, Cotija...
Use a good wine. The flavor of the wine will be a big part of the dish, so don't skimp. If you wouldn't drink it, don't use it.
Cheese Fon-Don'ts:
Do not use packaged, pre-shredded cheese. These almost always contain extra starch to keep them from clumping in the package. It will affect the melting process and final texture.
Do not use low-fat cheese. These cheeses rarely melt well and can separate when heated. Unfortunately, fondue is not a diet food so don't try to make it one.
Dipper Fon-Do's:
If your fondue has chunks of meat, seafood, or veggies in it, make sure they are cut in a small dice so your dippers can pick them up effectively. See next tip.
Cut your dippers in appropriate sized pieces to pick up any chunks of meat, seafood, or veggies. See previous tip.
Use proper fondue forks or long skewers. The cheese is hot!
Dipper Fon-Don'ts:
Do not use dippers that will fall apart when you dip them in the fondue. Use good sturdy bread or al dente pasta rather than crumbly bread or overcooked pasta. You don't want to be having to fish your crumbled dipper out of the fondue
Cooking Fon-Do's:
Melt the cheese slowly. Traditionally, the cheese is melted with the wine in a saucepan on the stove over low heat. It's then transferred to a fondue pot to keep it warm and melty
Cooking Fon-Dont's:
Don't cook the cheese over high heat. It can separate or seize up (depending on the type you are using)
As I mentioned, typically the cheese is melted in a pan on the stove and then placed in a warm fondue pot. If you don't have an actual fondue pot you can use a small crockpot as a substitute using the low or warm setting. Now, I do actually own a fondue pot, but I wanted to test some of our recipes that specifically called for using the crockpot
The first recipe we tested was a rich and delicious sounding fondue using cheddar cheese, Guinness, and canned cheddar cheese soup. While I'm not a fan of canned soups in cooking I thought the Guinness sounded like it would make it a good flavored recipe. And it may have been, had it actually turned out. All the ingredients were simply added to the crockpot and left to melt. The shredded cheese never did. I turned the heat up to try to get some melting action but it never got a smooth consistency. And in fact, it got clumpy. Disappointment. The cooking method in the next recipe we tried might have helped this one (and if I ever feel the desire to retest it I might try altering the directions to see if I can get it to work). At least I got to drink a bottle of Guinness out of the deal.
The second recipe was a classic Swiss fondue. It called for Riesling wine, a mixture of Swiss and Cheddar cheese, and a little kirsch (cherry brandy). This recipe was prepared more in the traditional sense. A pan was rubbed with a clove of garlic, then the wine was brought to a slow simmer. The cheese melted wonderfully. AFTER the cheese is melted, it's put in a crockpot to keep warm. One note, the Swiss fondue ended up being in the crock longer than the recipe states and it was just starting to get a little grainy - so stick to the cooking time!
This was the easiest of the fondues to eat. The cheese was smooth and the bread dipped nicely into it
The last recipe we tried was a nondue - pizza fondue (yep, there's that "pizza" again). There is no cheese in this recipe (unless you count the dippers). Rather, it's made up of spaghetti sauce, browned sausage, minced pepperoni, and some pizza-type veggies. The meat, onion, and garlic are cooked in a skillet first but then everything is added to the crockpot (minus a few optional last minute ingredient add-ins). Since there isn't any cheese in the sauce, it can sit in the crock for longer than the time states without compromising the recipe
This recipe ended up being my favorite. The flavors weren't spicy but rather very palatable. We used sweet Italian sausage filled tortellini, cheese ravioli, and provolone cheese cubes as dippers.
We definitely had fun with this fondue experiment!
There are three types of fondue: melted cheese, hot oil, and dessert. You can read more about the others and find recipes for them here but I'm going to mostly address cheese fondue in this post.
The basics of cheese fondue are this: you melt some cheese with some wine and sop it up with some bread. Ok, that doesn't sound nearly as glamorous as the name "fondue" implies, but honestly, that's the concept. However, the cheese you use and the cooking method you choose can greatly alter your outcome - it can either end up like something that came out of a can or a spectacular dish that came from a 5-star restaurant
Now there is a variation of cheese fondue that doesn't fit into the three basic categories. We'll call it "nondue". It's similar to how we call everything that remotely resembles pizza - "pizza" - as I mentioned in my thinking outside the pizza box post. This is a dish that is cooked and eaten like fondue, but isn't really fondue. It's usually a sauce (pizza, spaghetti, alfredo, etc) that is heated and eaten with the same types of dippers that traditional fondue uses. You'll see more of what I mean below, but first let's tackle some of the do's and don'ts of Fondue.
Cheese Fon-Do's:
Use good quality, meltable cheese. Not all cheeses melt the same. Use what's called for in the recipe. Good cheeses to use are Gruyere, Swiss, Cheddar, Fontina Emmentaler.... Bad cheeses to use are Mozzarella, Feta, Cotija...
Use a good wine. The flavor of the wine will be a big part of the dish, so don't skimp. If you wouldn't drink it, don't use it.
Cheese Fon-Don'ts:
Do not use packaged, pre-shredded cheese. These almost always contain extra starch to keep them from clumping in the package. It will affect the melting process and final texture.
Do not use low-fat cheese. These cheeses rarely melt well and can separate when heated. Unfortunately, fondue is not a diet food so don't try to make it one.
Dipper Fon-Do's:
If your fondue has chunks of meat, seafood, or veggies in it, make sure they are cut in a small dice so your dippers can pick them up effectively. See next tip.
Cut your dippers in appropriate sized pieces to pick up any chunks of meat, seafood, or veggies. See previous tip.
Use proper fondue forks or long skewers. The cheese is hot!
Dipper Fon-Don'ts:
Do not use dippers that will fall apart when you dip them in the fondue. Use good sturdy bread or al dente pasta rather than crumbly bread or overcooked pasta. You don't want to be having to fish your crumbled dipper out of the fondue
Cooking Fon-Do's:
Melt the cheese slowly. Traditionally, the cheese is melted with the wine in a saucepan on the stove over low heat. It's then transferred to a fondue pot to keep it warm and melty
Cooking Fon-Dont's:
Don't cook the cheese over high heat. It can separate or seize up (depending on the type you are using)
As I mentioned, typically the cheese is melted in a pan on the stove and then placed in a warm fondue pot. If you don't have an actual fondue pot you can use a small crockpot as a substitute using the low or warm setting. Now, I do actually own a fondue pot, but I wanted to test some of our recipes that specifically called for using the crockpot
The first recipe we tested was a rich and delicious sounding fondue using cheddar cheese, Guinness, and canned cheddar cheese soup. While I'm not a fan of canned soups in cooking I thought the Guinness sounded like it would make it a good flavored recipe. And it may have been, had it actually turned out. All the ingredients were simply added to the crockpot and left to melt. The shredded cheese never did. I turned the heat up to try to get some melting action but it never got a smooth consistency. And in fact, it got clumpy. Disappointment. The cooking method in the next recipe we tried might have helped this one (and if I ever feel the desire to retest it I might try altering the directions to see if I can get it to work). At least I got to drink a bottle of Guinness out of the deal.
The second recipe was a classic Swiss fondue. It called for Riesling wine, a mixture of Swiss and Cheddar cheese, and a little kirsch (cherry brandy). This recipe was prepared more in the traditional sense. A pan was rubbed with a clove of garlic, then the wine was brought to a slow simmer. The cheese melted wonderfully. AFTER the cheese is melted, it's put in a crockpot to keep warm. One note, the Swiss fondue ended up being in the crock longer than the recipe states and it was just starting to get a little grainy - so stick to the cooking time!
This was the easiest of the fondues to eat. The cheese was smooth and the bread dipped nicely into it
The last recipe we tried was a nondue - pizza fondue (yep, there's that "pizza" again). There is no cheese in this recipe (unless you count the dippers). Rather, it's made up of spaghetti sauce, browned sausage, minced pepperoni, and some pizza-type veggies. The meat, onion, and garlic are cooked in a skillet first but then everything is added to the crockpot (minus a few optional last minute ingredient add-ins). Since there isn't any cheese in the sauce, it can sit in the crock for longer than the time states without compromising the recipe
This recipe ended up being my favorite. The flavors weren't spicy but rather very palatable. We used sweet Italian sausage filled tortellini, cheese ravioli, and provolone cheese cubes as dippers.
We definitely had fun with this fondue experiment!