Recipe By :
Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Appetizers Cheese/eggs
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 1/2 fl Dry white wine
Clove garlic
5 1/2 oz Emmental and Gruyere cheese*
1 t Cornstarch
1/2 fl Kirsch**
Shake pepper
Grind fresh nutmeg
6 oz White bread, cubed
(Note: the above measurements are for *each* person.
Multiply by your number of guests.)
* Grated and mixed half and half. ** This is Swiss
cherry firewater: clear, dry-tasting -- *not* "cherry
brandy", which is dark and sweet.
Most good liquor stores should carry it, at least one
of the US brands like Hiram Walker, or else maybe
Bols. The best Kirsch is "Etter" brand from
Switzerland, but the odds of your finding it are
minuscule. -- In Switzerland, fondue is usually
perpared in a "caquelon", an earthenware dish with a
handle, glazed inside; but any enamelled saucepan can
be used, or a not too shallow fireproof dish. Rub the
inside of the pan with half a cut clove of garlic, and
let it dry until the rubbed places feel tacky. Put the
wine in the dish and bring it to a boil. Slowly start
adding cheese to the boiling wine, and stir constantly
until each bit is dissolved, then add more. When all
the cheese is in, stir the kirsch into the cornstarch
well, then add the mixture to the cheese and keep
stirring over the heat until the mixture comes to a
boil again. Add freshly ground pepper and nutmeg to
taste. -- Remove the dish to on top of a small live
flame (Sterno or alcohol burner) and keep it bubbling
slowly. Bread should have been cubed ~- about 1-inch
cubes -- for spearing with fondue forks and stirring
around in the cheese. The old custom is that if you
accidentally lose the bread into the cheese from the
end of your fork, if you're male, you have to buy a
round of drinks for the table: if you're female, you
have to kiss everybody. (Hmm.) .
Other fondue info: Do not drink water with fondue --
it reacts unkindly in your stomach with the cheese and
bread. Dry white wine or tea are the usual
accompaniments. Another tradition: the "coupe
d'midi", or "shot in the middle", for when you get
full: a thimbleful of Kirsch, knocked straight back
in the middle of the meal, usually magically produces
more room if you're feeling too full. Don't ask me how
this works...it just does. -- The crusty bit that
forms at the bottom of the pot as the cheese keeps
cooking is called the "crouton", and is very nice
peeled off and divvied up among the guests as a sort
of farewell to dinner.
