INFO
You got to have it. A traditional Swiss recipe adapted to the US Market conditions…
Details
Ingredients
Count about 5-6 ounces of cheese per person and about 1/2 cup of White Wine per person + 1/2 cup of White Wine for the pot (go light if you do not have many people, like forget the pot or keep some cheese on the side (best) in case it is a bit liquid). Bread (cut is piece about 1/2 a inch square or so, not too small, not too big).
You will need, in terms of proportions
- 50% of Gruyere
- 50% of Vacherin Fribourgeois
If you do not find the Vacherin, you can do:
- 33% of Gruyere
- 33% of Appenzeller
- 33% of Tilsit (Swiss) or Comte (French) or in crisis situation some Emmentaler
You will also need:
About 1 shot of unflavored Kirsch (warning US Kirsch usually come flavord…avoid it at all cost), in that case you best use Cognac. If you have doubts or do not know if your Kirsch is flavored, use cognac.
- 2 TSP of cornstarch
- 4-5 cloves of garlic
- Freshly crushed black pepper
Method
- Cut all the cheese in small strip or better grate/shred it
- Mix the cornstarch and the cognac, set aside.
- Peel the garlic cloves and rub the inside of the pot with it
- Add the wine in the pot.
- Heat the mix at medium heat
- When the wine is hot, add the cheese, stir (from now on, you always stir, never leave the pot un-attended
- Stirring is a serious matter 😊 tradition says you need to stil in a 8 shape using a wood spoon..preferably a slotted spoon.
- If you have a lot of people, hence a lot of cheese, you may want to add the cheese bit by bit to make it easier.
- Stir, Stir and stir…until all is melted.
- Once all the cheese is melted, get someone to light the burner on the table.
- Throw in the mix of cognac and cornstarch, continue to stir for about 1 minute.It should foam a bit.
- Fresh black pepper and dinner is ready!
Bring the pot at the table, keep the heat on medium or so (light boil), you will see the cheese tends to firm up if it gets too cold (btw, until someone throw a fork with bread into the pot, you are still stirring the fondue ).
You will notice, there is no salt, usually the cheese has plenty of< salt. I never had to add salt.
Instruct the people around the table to not-scratch the bottom of the pot. You want this intact until the end.
Once the cheese is all gone (watch the burner when the cheese get low, you do not want the cheese at the bottom to burn black), you should have a crusty layer of cheese, you can scratch these and eat it. Some people love it, some people hate it. Some also first throw an egg right at the end on top of the scratched bottom.
Good link for the cheese (in the US): www.murrayscheese.com
in Switzerland you can fine packs with the half/half mix and as well as a traditional fondue set.
You can also buy the cheese separately and mix it yourself.
Quick View
| Traditional | |
|---|---|
| Serve | 4 |
| Preparation Time | 30 mn |
| Cooking Time | 10 mn |
| Temperature | |
| Authors | Pascal Crausaz |
| Special |
