Once upon a time in a Swiss village, one of the housewives almost ran out of food. And the guests arrived. The quick-witted woman collected the dried fragments and the remains of the cheese, melted them in a cauldron, added a little wine - and invited the guests to dip slices of bread into the cheese. So there was almost the only national Swiss dish - fondue.

More precisely, it got its name much later, when the French tasted and fell in love with the melted cheese. It was they who gave the name to the Swiss shepherd's dish. The French verb fondre means "to melt", which is where the name of the dish comes from.

From France, fondue spread throughout Europe and then around the world. It has become not just a dish, now it is a whole ceremony. Fondue is always eaten with a company, taking turns dipping slices of crispy bread into the cheese mass and much more, no less tasty.

Swiss shepherds cooked fondue on the coals of a fire, but today there is a special utensil for preparing this dish, in everyday life it is called "fondue pot", but in general this utensil is called "caquelon". It can be easily purchased or ordered online. The main thing is to choose, because fondues are different.

fondue bowl

They are ceramic, cast iron and steel. The first ones do not withstand high temperatures, so they are more suitable for sweet or cheese fondue. And in cast iron and steel, you can safely cook meat fondue. That's just a cast-iron bowl keeps heat better, and a stainless steel bowl is easily scratched. The disadvantage of a ceramic bowl is that it is too fragile and can be easily broken.

In addition, ceramic fondue pots are usually made in the form of a wide ladle, which is convenient for cheese and sweet fondue. And for meat - you need a narrow throat so that the heat does not go away.

What happens in the set

Bowl, stand and burner - it's always. There are also long-handled forks to prick bread and dip it into the cheese mass. Very often there are gravy boats and spoons in sets - they will come in handy if you cook meat fondue in the first place, when a cooked piece of meat is dipped in sauce and sent to your mouth.

You can also put a mixture for batter in such gravy boats. A piece of meat is dipped into it before cooking, then into oil, and then onto a plate.

V gift sets there are also bowls for bread, meat and vegetables, for all those products that you are going to dip in fondue.

What to heat?

There is usually nothing combustible in a fondue set. Therefore, you need to buy separately gels for the burner or tablets.

In principle, both are convenient. The gel can be packaged in large bottles, and sometimes in small portions, and one serving may not be enough for all fondue gatherings. You can also use dry combustible tablets. They also need to have several pieces on hand, as one or two may not be enough.

The gel does not need to be poured to the brim. But it must not be allowed to burn out completely. It is necessary to extinguish the burner, pour the gel and light the fire again.

Attention! Do not pour gel into a burning burner, it may flare up in your hands.

Serving

Fondue is the most important dish, usually the only one. Therefore, the caquelon is placed in the center of the table. Guests are seated around, and it is necessary to make it convenient for everyone to dip various pieces into fondue.

Plates are placed around the fondue bowl with what will be dipped. It can be bread, vegetables, meat, fish, seafood, fruits, biscuits…

Each guest should also have his own plate, on which he can put a piece of meat already cooked so that it cools down, soaks in the sauce, etc. If the dish involves batter, then a bowl with batter dough is placed next to each guest.

Fondue accompaniment

We have already casually talked about what to dip in the sauce, but we will repeat:

For cheese fondue:

Bread, toasted or fresh, vegetables (cherry tomatoes, bell pepper slices, fried eggplant), boiled or canned seafood (shrimp, mussels), smoked or Fried fish, sausages and other smoked meats, various sausages, mushrooms, pickled onions ... In general, everything that can be held on a fork and combined with cheese, in your opinion.

For meat fondue (broth or butter):

Marinated pieces of meat or poultry, fish and seafood (raw or marinated), raw vegetables(usually in batter and in oil).

For sweet fondue

Fruits and berries, especially acidic (strawberries, kiwi, apples, oranges, tangerines, pineapple, peaches, etc.); bananas, cookies, custard buns, sweet bread.

Various sauces will be appropriate for meat fondue, both purchased (ketchup, mayonnaise, tkemali, soy), and homemade.

From drinks to cheese fondue, white wine is very suitable, since the cheese mass itself is made with its addition. For lovers of stronger drinks, kirsch, grappa, chacha and other fruit distillates can be offered.

Wine goes well with meat fondue (red, white or pink, depending on what you dip in the broth). Great cold beer. And for sweets - herbal chilled tea or sweet-sour lemonades.

fondue recipes

Simple cheese fondue

• 2/3 hard cheese, like parmesan
• 1/3 soft cheese(maasdam, emmental, gouda)
• 1-2 glasses of white wine
• 30 ml cognac (or grappa)
• 1 tbsp starch
• Garlic, salt, pepper, nutmeg

Step 1. Grate cheese on a fine grater.

Step 2. Pour in white wine and put in a saucepan to melt on the stove for no big fire. Stir vigorously. Pepper, skip a couple of cloves of garlic through the press.

Step 3. Add starch, mix. Add cognac, stir.

Step 4. Grate the fondue bowl with garlic, add a little salt and put the cheese mass.

Step 5. Put the bowl on the burner and serve.

Turkey fondue

• 500 g turkey thigh fillet
• 2-3 garlic cloves
• 2-3 tbsp lemon juice
• Paprika
• Salt pepper
• Refined oil for frying

For sauce

• 200 g dor blue cheese
• 1 glass of milk

Step 1. Cut the meat into small cubes, salt, pepper, pour over the juice, squeeze the garlic and leave for a couple of hours.

Step 2. Chop the cheese, pour in milk, beat with a blender until smooth.

Step 3. Pour oil into a fondue bowl, heat and dip turkey pieces into it. Eat with sauce.

Chinese fondue

• 500 g beef tenderloin
• 1 liter meat broth
• 1/3 cup white wine
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tsp soy sauce

Step 1. Cut the meat into very thin strips.

Step 2. Mix the wine soy sauce and spices. Pour the marinade over the meat, leave for an hour.

Step 3. Warm up the broth, dip the meat in it, leaving it to boil in the broth for 2-3 minutes. Can be served with sauces.

Tartar sauce for meat fondue

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 pickled cucumbers
• ½ white onion
• 2 tbsp chopped chives
• Some chopped greens

Step 1. Cucumbers and onions are very finely chopped.

Step 2. Add cucumbers, onions, green onion and greens. Mix, salt and pepper.

chocolate fondue

• 1 cup whipped cream
• 2.5 chocolate bars
• 1 shot of dark rum

Step 1. Heat the cream in a saucepan, add the chocolate grated on a coarse grater.

Step 2. Stir until everything is homogeneous, pour in brandy.

Step 3. Immediately pour into a fondue bowl and serve with fruit.

The Swiss fondue dish has become so widespread that today there are hundreds of variations of recipes...

Swiss cheese fondue (recipe)

Fondue for 6 portions:

What do you eat cheese fondue with?

• Take 300 g of bread (baguette, peasant, walnut or any other nasty pastries) and cut into small pieces.
• Prepare 300 g vegetable mix with mushrooms (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, sweet peppers, champignons, dried tomatoes, petiole celery) and also cut into small pieces.
• Blanch cabbage and carrots in salted water.
• Wash and, if desired, peel 300 g of pears and apples, prepare grapes. Additionally, you can serve potato chips.

Blue cheese fondue (recipe)

This sauce is also suitable for fried chicken wings.

Mexican fondue (recipe)

Can be served with potato chips.

Chocolate fondue

1. Break or chop chocolate (500g), place in a bowl and melt in a hot water bath.
2. Add 15 g of coconut oil and mix until a mass of a homogeneous consistency is obtained. Place fondue pots on the heater.
3. Or melt 400 g of chocolate in 200 ml of hot heavy cream. Remove from heat and add 1 tsp. a spoonful of orange liqueur.

What do you eat chocolate fondue with?

• Cut the lemon or walnut biscuit into small cubes.
• Wash any fruits (apple, kiwi, grapes, strawberries, melon, pineapple, banana), peel if necessary and cut into small slices.
• You can also serve pastille.
• Any biscuit.
• Sweet cupcakes, waffles.
• dried apples(rings), dried apricots, dates and other dried fruits.

Chocolate fondue for children

Chocolate fondue is a super treat! This version of fondue will especially please the little fidgets. And adults will not refuse this idea!

Divide puffed rice into bowls cornflakes, various nut crumbs ... Prick a piece of biscuit or biscuit on a fork, dip in hot chocolate sauce and immediately roll in any of the "sprinkles".

In general, the Swiss use cherry vodka, which they call Kirsch, to prepare this dish. In a small amount of this alcohol (42%), corn starch is stirred and poured into the cheese mass. How to cook cheese fondue and what cheese to take for this, there are many options. However, the basis here remains the same, it is cheese, bread and white wine. But not everything is as simple as it seems at first glance!

Ingredients

- 200 g salted cheese

• - 400 g sweet cheese
• - 1 glass of dry champagne
• - crackers, crackers, bread
• - 1 garlic clove
• - 1 tbsp starch
• - 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• - ground black pepper and salt.

Cooking

How to make cheese fondue from two types of cheese with the addition of champagne? To do this, grate the dishes in which the fondue will be prepared from the inside with a clove of garlic cut in half. You can cook right in the fondue pot, which then will need to be transferred to the burner and put on the table. Grate both types of cheese, mix and transfer to a fondue bowl. Then you need to fill the cheese with champagne. In a small amount of freshly squeezed lemon juice, stir the starch, and then pour it into the cheese. Mix everything well, salt and pepper to taste. Place the fondue pot on the stove and stir over low heat to melt the cheese. Transfer the fondue bowl to the burner and serve. The fondue must not be cold. What do you eat cheese fondue with? White bread with a hard crust is usually taken, but crackers or crackers can also be served.

Classic cheese fondue

The classic of cheese fondue lies in its ingredients. These are Swiss cheeses, kirsch cherry vodka and french baguette.

Ingredients

• - Gruyère cheese 200 g
• - Emmental cheese 200 g
• - 2 tbsp corn starch
• - 200 ml white wine
• - 1 garlic clove
• - salt, ground pepper
• - vodka kirsch 2 tbsp
• - 1 French baguette.

Cooking

The basis for cheese fondue is the Swiss Gruyère cheese. You can also use other Swiss emmental fondue cheese. Cheese for fondue which one is better to take, everyone decides for himself. To some, these cheeses with an unfamiliar aroma and taste will even seem unpleasant and they will undertake to prepare such fondue from Dutch, Russian, Kostroma and other cheeses familiar to us in Russia. It is better to cook fondue from cheese in a small saucepan, and then pour it into a fondue maker. And whoever has a slow cooker, then cheese fondue in a slow cooker is great to prepare. Cut the garlic clove in half and rub the inside of the pan. Pour white wine into a saucepan and turn on the heat. Grate two types of cheese and put in a saucepan with wine. Melt cheese over low heat. Dissolve starch in kirsch cherry vodka and add to cheese, salt and pepper to taste, mix, pour into a fondue bowl and serve.

Cheese fondue at home can be prepared from the usual white bread by drying the cut pieces in the oven. Or cut a French baguette into pieces and dunk each piece on a fork into a fondue bowl with melted cheese and send it to your mouth. In general, it is best for each guest to have two forks from the fondue set. With one you prick the bread and dip it into the common cheese mass, where everyone present dips their forks. And the other you eat ready-made fondue.

Cheese fondue without wine

Fondue is from Switzerland. This dish was invented by Alpine shepherds who took cheese, white wine and bread with them to the mountains. Fondue means "melted" in French. If earlier only slices of bread were dipped in cheese fondue, now it can be various vegetables: bell pepper, cauliflower, broccoli, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, gherkins, grapes, pitted olives, etc.

Ingredients

Cooking

Cheese fondue recipe without alcohol is perfect for children. For cheese fondue, it is best to buy a French baguette. It is soft on the inside and has a hard, crispy crust on the outside. When slices of bread are lowered into melted cheese, it is precisely due to this crust that the bread does not soak. If you do not have such a baguette, then you need to dry the pieces of white bread in the oven. Such pieces will just become hard on the outside and soft on the inside.

Grate a small saucepan where the fondue will be prepared with a clove of garlic, cutting it in half. Then pour in milk and bring to a boil. Of course, you can also use cream to make fondue. But cheese fondue with cream will be more nutritious than with milk. Then gradually add cheese and stir. Cheese should melt and acquire a uniform consistency. Mix corn starch with lemon juice and pour into the cheese mass. Add a little nutmeg, rubbing it on a fine grater. Add salt and ground pepper to taste, cook, stirring for another 2-3 minutes and pour into a fondue pot. The recipe for fondue with cheese has its own peculiarity. The cheese mass should thicken so that the cheese does not drip when you prick slices of bread on forks, lower them into fondue and bring them to your mouth.

Discussion: 10 comments

Good afternoon.
I have never mixed cheese fondue with champagne. It is interesting to try what can come of this: mail: .

Answer

I don’t know, this recipe did not seem simple to me. Although, apparently, it is delicious.

Answer

Two types of cheese, dry champagne, lemon juice - the fonda will turn out just gorgeous!

Answer

We know from experience that if you do not plan anything for the long New Year's weekend, they will be boring and stupid. Therefore, we suggest devoting one of the next few days to fondue - preparing this winter alpine dish and spending time with your family talking and dipping bread in hot cheese. With our detailed instructions you will succeed!

cheese fondue

Fondue is a whole ritual that creates an atmosphere of warmth, comfort and unites everyone who has gathered at the table. This dish is not only Swiss; it would be more correct to call it a friendly dinner of the Alpine region, which includes France, Italy, Germany. Fondue is considered a winter food and is most popular thanks to the local ski resorts. But there are devoted fans who eat fondue all year round.

Ingredients (4 servings):

• Gruyère cheese - 400 g
• Emmental cheese - 400 g
• Dry white wine - 400 ml
• White bread - 400 g
• Garlic - 1 clove
• Seasonings (pepper mix, nutmeg, dried garlic, dried onion, ground paprika)

1. Prepare the fondue pot for use: cut a clove of garlic in half and rub it on the bottom and inside of the pot. Finely chop the clove and set aside.
2. Grate both types of cheese. Pour the wine into a pot and put it on the stove over a fairly high heat. As soon as small bubbles appear in the wine, start gradually pouring in the cheese, stirring constantly.
3. Regulate the heat so that the cheese does not start to burn in any case, but gently and gradually dissolves in the wine. You can add chopped garlic cloves at this point.
4. Once the cheese has melted evenly, light the burner and transfer the pot of fondue to it.
5. Prick a piece of bread on a fork, dip it into the cheese, make a few circular motions, as if wrapping the cheese on the bread, then lift the fork over the surface of the fondue, letting the cheese cool for just a few seconds, and enjoy the taste.
6. Do not forget to sprinkle the boiling cheese from time to time with spices to taste. At the end of the meal, you can scrape off the bottom of the pot cheese crust— religionuse. It is not only edible, but extremely tasty.

If the fondue turns out to be too liquid, then you can thicken it by adding a little corn or potato starch. In the same way, the problem of uneven consistency of fondue is solved when the liquid is cut off from the cheese. Add starch gradually, no more than 1/2 teaspoon at a time, and mix until you achieve the desired consistency. If, on the contrary, the fondue seems too thick for you, add more wine or kirsch.

Choice of cheese

The basis of fondue is, of course, cheese. It is he who is the main factor determining not only the taste of the dish, but also its success in general. Here are the types of cheese most commonly used for Swiss fondue: Gruyère, Vacherin, Appenzeller and Emmental.

Due to the fact that fondue culture has already spread far beyond the Alpine region, many shops around the world sell fondue cheese mixes: these are grated cheeses that are selected by competent specialists. If you managed to buy one, you can be sure that the result will meet your expectations.

If you are looking for cheese yourself, then here are some tips that can help you in your search:

• choose cheeses with a high fat content and a buttery texture;
• the pulp of the cheese should be quite soft and elastic, avoid too hard crumbling cheeses;
• remember that cheese changes its taste when melted, so do not cross off the varieties you do not like from the list in advance: perhaps they will open differently in fondue;
• do not buy a lot of cheese at once. It is better to grate small pieces of different varieties and melt them one by one in hot wine. Those that melted evenly, did not exfoliate, acquired a viscous consistency and you liked the taste and smell, and will be the best choice;
• be sure to combine different cheeses available in your area, feel free to experiment with different proportions. And very soon you will find the recipe for the perfect fondue.

Wine selection and alternatives

As a rule, fondue is prepared with white wine. Therefore, wine is the second important component of the dish. Ordinary table dry white wine is best suited for this purpose (fondue is not made on red and rosé wines), unsweetened sparkling wines, including champagne, are allowed. White wine should be sufficiently sour, this is what will allow the cheese to melt evenly and make the fondue gooey. Permissible use light beer or apple cider. The Swiss also like to add a little kirsch or other fruit brandy to fondue, which makes the dish even more aromatic.

Can fondue be non-alcoholic? Yes maybe. In this case, instead of wine, apple or grape juice is used, as well as regular milk. Of course, such fondue will be completely different from the classic one, but it also has the right to exist, in particular as an option for children.

Choice of bread

Fondue is traditionally eaten with white bread. Here are some recommendations:

• choose a dense, non-crushing bread that will hold firmly on a fork: a piece of bread that has fallen into boiling cheese is very difficult to catch;
• avoid bread with additives in the form of seeds, nuts and fruits;

• whether the bread will be fresh or yesterday is a matter of preference;
• if desired, a piece of bread, planted on a fork, can be dipped first in kirsch, and only after that - in cheese.

Choice of utensils and equipment

If you are going to cook Swiss cheese fondue, then the most correct dish for it is a thick-walled cast-iron or ceramic pot with a large handle, called in French "caquelon" (Fr. caquelon). In Russian, they have already given him common names: “fondyurnitsa” and “fondyushnitsa”. However, the most correct and accurate, although not so short, is the name "pot for (cheese) fondue." Such pots have a very different caliber: from miniature ones for one person to giant ones, for ten or more people.

The fondue pot is mounted on a special base with a burner that can be operated with alcohol, combustible gel or dry fuel. Less commonly, the burner is replaced by an electric heating element. As a rule, the set is complemented by plates and long thin forks.

Fondue sets are different. On sale you can find metal saucepans with a curly insert-shield, which is installed on top. Such dishes are primarily intended for Burgundy fondue (fondue bourguignone), which has little in common with cheese: it warms up in a saucepan vegetable oil, in which pieces of meat are then fried on a fork, and a metal shield protects against splashes of boiling oil.
If you remove the metal insert, then such dishes may also be suitable for Chinese fondue, when the broth is heated in a saucepan and fish, chicken or meat planted on forks are scalded in it.
For cheese fondue, such thin-walled metal pans are not suitable: the cheese in them can burn instead of melting evenly. Pay attention to the shape of the forks in the set: three-pronged forks are used for cheese fondue, while two-pronged forks are used for meat fondue, each of which has an additional notch for more secure fixation of pieces of meat.

Champagne fondue. Instead of white wine, dry champagne is used with the addition of a few drops of lemon juice. Such fondue can be a little thinner than table wine. In this case, the proportions change somewhat, reducing the amount of liquid and increasing the amount of cheese.

Goat cheese fondue. Instead of cheese cow's milk used solid goat cheese. The taste of such fondue is sharper and richer, somewhat similar to blue cheeses with noble mold.

Cheese fondue, the recipe of which we will consider a little further, is good to serve at the festive table. But, unfortunately, not everyone knows how to make such a dish. In this regard, in the presented article, we decided to raise this particular culinary topic.

General information about the cheese dish

As you know, cheese is part of many dishes. However, there is one dish in which the mentioned ingredient is the main one. This is cheese fondue. The recipe for such a dish is known only to those who very often make it for the festive table. If you do not belong to this category of people, then we will present different ways his creation. But before that, I want to say that preparing such a dish does not take much time.

What do you need to buy to make your own cheese fondue? The recipe for this dish involves the use of many ingredients. But the main one is cheese. It should be noted that there are no clear rules regarding his choice, except that he must only be firm.

Cheese fondue: a classic recipe

To prepare such a dish, we need:

Cooking method

How do you make your own cheese fondue? A simple recipe for this dish involves the use of simple and inexpensive ingredients. First you need to take a pan and grease it inside with a clove of cut garlic. And the product itself should be left at the bottom. Next, pour dry white wine into a thick-walled dish, bring it to a boil, and then reduce the heat.

All purchased cheese must be grated, poured into boiled wine and heated until milk product will not melt completely. In this case, it should be stirred regularly with a spoon.

The final step in preparing a delicious dinner

After all the steps described, starch must be added to the melted cheese. By the way, it must first be diluted in cognac. Continuing to stir the ingredients intensively, they should be cooked for about 6 more minutes to fragrant sauce became thick and uniform.

What should be done to get a tasty and fragrant cheese fondue? The recipe at home at the very end recommends squeezing two cloves of garlic into it, as well as adding chopped pepper and nuts (nutmeg).

How should it be properly served at the table?

After turning off the fire, the fondue must be transferred to a beautiful plate and placed in the center of the table. Guests should serve such a dish only when hot, along with fresh bread, which must be dipped in a fragrant dish with a fork or special skewers.

Cheese fondue without wine: step by step recipes

If for one reason or another you do not like or cannot drink alcohol, we recommend making such a dish without the use of wine or cognac. In this case, you will need the following products:

• hard cheese - about 300 g;
• egg yolks - from 2 large eggs;
• milk as fat as possible - 150 ml;
• creamy natural oil- about 50 g;
• crushed black pepper, as well as iodized salt - use to taste.

Cooking process

How to make delicious and fragrant cheese fondue? A recipe without alcohol requires the use of simple and affordable ingredients.

To make such a dish, hard cheese should be cut into small cubes, and then placed in milk and kept in this state for several hours. Next, all the ingredients need to be melted in a water bath, adding 25 g of natural butter.

The ingredients should be thermally processed until the entire mass becomes viscous and homogeneous. After that, it is required to introduce egg yolks into it, while not forgetting to stir the components regularly. You should especially pay attention to the fact that the cheese mass should not boil. If you neglect this advice, then the yolks will curl up very quickly, and the dish will not turn out as we would like.

Serve a delicious and hearty cheese dish

Now you know how to make cheese fondue without wine. Recipes for this dish recommend serving it to the table, after setting it on a heating pad. By the way, before that, the rest of the butter, pepper and iodized salt should be added to the cheese mass. It is recommended to use this dish with black or white bread.

Quick Cheese Dinner Recipe

As mentioned above, cheese fondue is prepared very quickly and easily. If you suddenly decide to make such a dish yourself, but you do not have the right ingredients, then we recommend using the following simple recipe. For him we need:

• dry wine white - half a glass;
• cheese of any kind, but only hard - about 300-400 g;
• garlic cloves - 2-3 cloves.

Step by step cooking method

Rub a thick-walled pan with a clove of garlic, and then leave it at the bottom. After that, put in the same bowl chopped on a grater hard cheese. Set the pot on water bath, wait until the milk product has completely melted. Next, pour wine into it and heat it a little more on the fire so that it evaporates a little. Remove the dish from the stove, put it in the center of a festive or simple dining table(preferably on some kind of heating), and then eat together with croutons or fresh bread.

Cheese fondue with herbs

Cheese fondue, the recipe of which we will consider right now, will be especially appreciated by those who love the combination of the mentioned dairy product and greens. For such an unusual but a simple dish we need the following products:

• hard cheese - about 400 g;
• Calvados - about 50 ml;
• dry white wine - about 150 ml;
• rosemary, nutmeg, mint and thyme - use to taste.

Step by step cooking process

To make cheese fondue with greens, you should take a saucepan (thick-walled), pour white wine (only dry) into it and heat it up a little. After that, the solid dairy product must be grated (large), and then poured into a heated bowl. Stirring regularly, the cheese must be cooked until it is completely melted. After that, Calvados, all prepared greens and nutmeg should be added to the ingredients.

How to present a cheese dish to the table?

After the cheese fondue is completely ready, it should be poured into a metal container, and then placed in the center of the table. By the way, so that the dish does not freeze, but remains viscous, it is recommended to place it not on the table, but on a heating pad with hot water. Only in this way can you freely dip slices of bread, croutons or smoked meats into self-made fondue.

Summing up

Now you know how easy it is to make cheese fondue at home. It should be noted that such a dish is very fragrant and tasty. A dish of cheese and other products is especially suitable for holiday table. As a rule, it is served to the table along with croutons or small pieces of bread. But for lovers more hearty meals can offer not only flour products, but also, for example, smoked breasts, sausage and even sausages.