Two Fondues

There’s just something about winter nights that puts me in the mood for melted cheese and crusty bread… don’t mind it on summer nights either. Fondue is an alluring feast for any cheese-lover, but most traditional recipes are annoying and expensive. Traditional fondue calls for French-ified swiss-type cheeses like Emmenthaler and Gruyere that can as much as $11 a pound as an ordinary grocery store. Not only are they expensive, but they’re difficult to melt and have a tendency to re-congeal when cooled off.

As an antidote to these difficulties I came up with an alternative fondue recipe, one that is not only easier and cheaper, but it is versatile and lends itself well to a number of creative variations. After you see a few of my specific fondue recipes, you’ll get the gist and see how you can bring your own creative freedom to the kitchen table.

Two weeks ago, I had a eureka moment and came up with another new twist on my fondue recipe. Thinking about a log of goat cheese that had been sitting, neglected in my cheese drawer for a few weeks, I recalled one of my favorite recipes from my vegetarian days and decided it might just be the next big thing in fondue… that is, the stellar combination of sundried tomatoes with goat cheese. This is the recipe that resulted:

SUNDRIED TOMATO & GOAT CHEESE FONDUE

1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
3/4 to 1 cup half n’ half or light cream
3oz sundried tomatoes, not packed in oil
1 (8oz) package of cream cheese
4oz log of goat cheese
dash or two of white pepper (optional)
1/2 to 1 cup white wine
1 tablespoon cornstarch (optional)
bread cubes or vegetables for dipping

Process the garlic and tomatoes with a little of the cream in a food processor until they for a paste. Combine the paste with the rest of the cream, the cream cheese, the goat cheese and the pepper in a medium saucepan. Melt over medium-low heat, whisking frequently until the cheeses are melted and well combined. Whisk in the white wine until combined. If the fondue is too runny for your taste, then mix the cornstarch with a bit of additional wine (just enough to dissolve it) and then whisk it into the fondue, heating until it thickens. Serve with bread and/or vegetables.

So, this fondue turned out to be tasty, but I wasn’t a hundred percent happy with it. If I had it to do over again, I believe I would either reduce the number of sundried tomatoes I used (i.e. use perhaps half of the 3 oz package) or increase the amount of goat cheese (double, maybe?) or both. I felt that the tomato flavor overpowered the goat cheese, and why are we eating fondue after all if not to enjoy bread dripping with cheese?

I believe further that this recipe, inventive though it was, also simply didn’t satisfy my craving for fondue. There’s just something about the ever present memory of traditional fondue, that marriage of swiss cheese and white wine, that represents fondue is my reckoning, and this variation just strayed too far from the founding ideal.

This past weekend I sought to sate my unfulfilled craving for fondue with a more traditionally-geared recipe. This recipe is, however, by no means authentic… call it a designer knock-off if you wish!

SARAH’S SWISS FONDUE

1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
1 to 1 1/2 cups milk or cream
1 (8oz) package of cream cheese
8oz block of swiss cheese, cubed
4oz sharp white cheddar, cubed
dash or two of white pepper (optional)
1 to 1 1/2 cups white wine or dry sherry
bread cubes or vegetables for dipping

Combine the garlic, cream, cream cheese, swiss cheese, cheddar and the pepper in a medium saucepan. Melt over medium-low heat, whisking frequently until the cheeses are melted and well combined. If cheese does not melt smoothly, use an immersion blender to smooth is out. Whisk in the white wine until combined. If the fondue is too runny for your taste, then mix the cornstarch with a bit of additional wine (just enough to dissolve it) and then whisk it into the fondue, heating until it thickens. Serve with bread and/or vegetables.

Now this recipe neatly scratched the itch for swiss fondue! Hearty and rich with the heady flavors of swiss and wine… I’m already excited about the leftovers.

A couple notes about the flexibility of these recipes. You’ll notice that there is a range of amounts listed for some ingredients. I do this because I know that not everyone’s tastes parallel mine, and hey, depending on the day and the crowd, I might want to make my own recipe differently. To be on the safe side, when trying one of these recipes for the first time, start with the minimum amount and then add gradually until reaching your desired result.

In terms of the garlic, I generally keep a jar of minced garlic in the fridge, and it’s best to use a small amount because the garlic can very easily become overpowering in fondue. Traditional recipes call for merely rubbing a halved garlic clove inside the pot and then discarding it. I can’t be bothered to peel and halve fresh garlic, so I just use a dash of minced. Garlic lovers should feel free to use more.

The amount of cream you use depends on the dryness and melting abilities of the cheese. As the cheeses melt, if the mixture seems too tacky (more of a glue-like paste than a melty sauce), cream should be added as needed to make the sauce more like a thick gravy.

Adding wine is another matter of taste. I personally prefer a heavy wine flavor and fondue that is thinner in consistency. That’s because I like the cheese to soak into the bread. If you’re serving the fondue with vegetables, you probably want a thicker consistency so that the vegetable cuts will “grab” more fondue. Some people have found my fondue to be too heavy on the wine, so again, start with the minimum and add to your tastes.

One thought on “Two Fondues

  1. Dude, if there was a pot of your fondue in front of me with a secret tube underneath that just kept refilling it as I ate, as if by magic, I’m pretty sure I would just keep eating it until I died. That is the conclusion I reached the last time you had us over for fondue, anyway. You should totally do that again. Ahem.

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