Fondue Extravaganza
Mar. 20th, 2005 06:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
velvetpageLast weekend, I picked up a ready-made fondue thingy from the deli at a local supermarket - pop it in the microwave, stir, and dip your bread in it. It was good, and it got me thinking.
As a wedding present from some friends of Piet's family who are actually Swiss (at least, Aunt Jo is) we received a fondue maker. I was absolutely certain of this. Also, the last time I was in Europe (a year before I was married) I picked up, in a little discount bookstore in Geneva, a lovely little recipe book called "Fondues, Raclettes, et Fromages." It cost me three swiss francs (which, at the time, was almost exactly three dollars cdn) and it contains fifty or so recipes for things to do with cheese. It also uses some aspects of the metric system that I've never seen outside of Europe or a textbook. This thing actually mentions cL and dL! I'm savvy enough to convert that to measurements I can give the deli clerk, but it was rather weird. I got used to that in France, but it's been a while.
Anyway, it occurred to me that I have never actually used either of these items. I remember taking the fondue pot out of its box and trying to figure out how it worked, preparatory to actually making a fondue, but we never did it.
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sassy_fae, etherlad, and danaeris are agreeable, I would like to rectify that on Friday when they come over for gaming and supper.
Now, for those of you who have never participated in a proper cheese fondue (very, very different from the fruit-and-chocolate kind) here's how it works:
You take about one cup of cheese per person, mostly gruyère but that can be played with at will. (Gruyère is a bit like what North Americans call Swiss cheese, but it doesn't have holes in it and it has a stronger flavour. It's the cooking cheese of choice in Northern Switzerland and much of Eastern France, including the region I stayed in.) The book says the cheese should come from several different rounds if it's going to bond properly. Then you take some very dry white wine (the key word here is dry; it must be acidic for the recipe to work), a bit of garlic, and a small glass of kirsch. (I have no idea if other kinds of sherry would work as well, but I may find out the hard way. I have reason to believe kirsch will be hard to come by this week in Hamilton.) You heat all of this in varying stages in a nice ceramic pot that comes with your fondue set. When it's ready, the whole pot comes to the table.
At the table, your guests have been sitting and imbibing freely of whatever strikes their fancy in the way of apèritifs. (In France, there would have been salty stuff and liquor. My guests for Friday can decide what they want to bring for that section of the feast.) In front of each guest is a small plate with a long fork on it, and there are several baskets of bread on the table. (A word about the bread: stale is better than fresh for a fondue. Too fresh, and it will break apart and fall into the cheese. The price for having that happen, according to tradition, is an extra shot of liquor. The French really like their liquor.) So, there are baskets of baguettes torn up into little pieces, placed in strategic locations around the fondue pot. Under the fondue pot is some kind of flame, depending on the type of pot you've got. I have yet to figure that part out, but I'm sure I'll come up with something by Friday. When the fondue comes out from the kitchen, everyone oohs and ahhs for a bit, but it's a very short bit because fondue is best right off the stove. You can take turns going around the table, or simply all fight for the right to dip at the same time. It's the most communal meal I've ever eaten. Oh, and it's very bad form to use your fondue fork to actually eat the fondue; you use the fondue fork for the dipping, then transfer the cheesy morsel to your plate and eat it with the other fork you have there. Alternatively, you very carefully pick the morsel off the fondue fork with your teeth, so that your mouth doesn't actually touch the implement which will shortly go back in the cheese.
When the fondue is gone, you go on to something light and fruity, probably with a zinfandel or something similar to wash it down. As I said, the French really like their alcohol.
That's the ritual. By the time it's done, you have a pleasant buzz from the apèritif, the white you were drinking with the fondue (did I forget to mention that? A good chardonnay works) and the zinfandel with the dessert. You've collectively inhaled one whole kilogram of cheese (two and a half pounds) and three or four baguettes' worth of crusty French bread. You're ready for some serious gaming at that point, with no more distractions from food. At that point, you're unlikely to eat again for at least a week.
So, whaddya'll say? Shall we do this on Friday? And who's bringing the wines?
As a wedding present from some friends of Piet's family who are actually Swiss (at least, Aunt Jo is) we received a fondue maker. I was absolutely certain of this. Also, the last time I was in Europe (a year before I was married) I picked up, in a little discount bookstore in Geneva, a lovely little recipe book called "Fondues, Raclettes, et Fromages." It cost me three swiss francs (which, at the time, was almost exactly three dollars cdn) and it contains fifty or so recipes for things to do with cheese. It also uses some aspects of the metric system that I've never seen outside of Europe or a textbook. This thing actually mentions cL and dL! I'm savvy enough to convert that to measurements I can give the deli clerk, but it was rather weird. I got used to that in France, but it's been a while.
Anyway, it occurred to me that I have never actually used either of these items. I remember taking the fondue pot out of its box and trying to figure out how it worked, preparatory to actually making a fondue, but we never did it.
If
sassy_fae, etherlad, and danaeris are agreeable, I would like to rectify that on Friday when they come over for gaming and supper. Now, for those of you who have never participated in a proper cheese fondue (very, very different from the fruit-and-chocolate kind) here's how it works:
You take about one cup of cheese per person, mostly gruyère but that can be played with at will. (Gruyère is a bit like what North Americans call Swiss cheese, but it doesn't have holes in it and it has a stronger flavour. It's the cooking cheese of choice in Northern Switzerland and much of Eastern France, including the region I stayed in.) The book says the cheese should come from several different rounds if it's going to bond properly. Then you take some very dry white wine (the key word here is dry; it must be acidic for the recipe to work), a bit of garlic, and a small glass of kirsch. (I have no idea if other kinds of sherry would work as well, but I may find out the hard way. I have reason to believe kirsch will be hard to come by this week in Hamilton.) You heat all of this in varying stages in a nice ceramic pot that comes with your fondue set. When it's ready, the whole pot comes to the table.
At the table, your guests have been sitting and imbibing freely of whatever strikes their fancy in the way of apèritifs. (In France, there would have been salty stuff and liquor. My guests for Friday can decide what they want to bring for that section of the feast.) In front of each guest is a small plate with a long fork on it, and there are several baskets of bread on the table. (A word about the bread: stale is better than fresh for a fondue. Too fresh, and it will break apart and fall into the cheese. The price for having that happen, according to tradition, is an extra shot of liquor. The French really like their liquor.) So, there are baskets of baguettes torn up into little pieces, placed in strategic locations around the fondue pot. Under the fondue pot is some kind of flame, depending on the type of pot you've got. I have yet to figure that part out, but I'm sure I'll come up with something by Friday. When the fondue comes out from the kitchen, everyone oohs and ahhs for a bit, but it's a very short bit because fondue is best right off the stove. You can take turns going around the table, or simply all fight for the right to dip at the same time. It's the most communal meal I've ever eaten. Oh, and it's very bad form to use your fondue fork to actually eat the fondue; you use the fondue fork for the dipping, then transfer the cheesy morsel to your plate and eat it with the other fork you have there. Alternatively, you very carefully pick the morsel off the fondue fork with your teeth, so that your mouth doesn't actually touch the implement which will shortly go back in the cheese.
When the fondue is gone, you go on to something light and fruity, probably with a zinfandel or something similar to wash it down. As I said, the French really like their alcohol.
That's the ritual. By the time it's done, you have a pleasant buzz from the apèritif, the white you were drinking with the fondue (did I forget to mention that? A good chardonnay works) and the zinfandel with the dessert. You've collectively inhaled one whole kilogram of cheese (two and a half pounds) and three or four baguettes' worth of crusty French bread. You're ready for some serious gaming at that point, with no more distractions from food. At that point, you're unlikely to eat again for at least a week.
So, whaddya'll say? Shall we do this on Friday? And who's bringing the wines?
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Why, oh, why...
Date: 2005-03-21 12:29 am (UTC)Re: Why, oh, why...
Date: 2005-03-21 01:04 am (UTC)Why, oh, why, can't you live in Ontario? Or at least, upstate New York?
Re: Why, oh, why...
Date: 2005-03-21 01:10 am (UTC)Re: Why, oh, why...
Date: 2005-03-21 01:14 am (UTC)You will hopefully be better able to stand the cold soon. I've never been more warm-blooded than I was when I was pregnant.
Re: Why, oh, why...
Date: 2005-03-21 01:15 am (UTC)Re: Why, oh, why...
Date: 2005-03-21 01:19 am (UTC)So will he be staying put for a while, or is he going to be posted away again?
Re: Why, oh, why...
Date: 2005-03-21 01:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-21 03:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-21 12:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-24 04:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-24 11:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-24 05:36 pm (UTC)