Hello! In case you were in the mood for more fondue after 14-1: Chocolate Fondue, here’s your opportunity.
5-3: Cheese Fondue is the last new recipe I have for Group 5, and is a NEW BOOK recipe (hence why it’s being covered last). I also got to use my mini electric fondue pot again, which is exciting.
Did you know there are actually 4 types of fondue? We’ve covered chocolate and now cheese, but not yet oil or broth.
Someday I’ll figure out how to cover 7-15: Pork Fondue (since I don’t eat meat), but I don’t see any broth fondue recipes in what I’ve got left, so we may never get all 4 varieties. Simply Delicious wasn’t hip on hot pot, evidently.
Also, happy 11th birthday to this beast of a project.
Note that they do not actually list bread in the ingredients–yet, you will need some. They suggest white bread, but you can branch out if you’re feeling adventurous. You can also consider other types of veggies besides what they list here–Reddit has a good list of ideas.
Ingredients. I had the list of things to get from the market (all the cheeses and the kirsch), and then while looking for the cheese in the fancy cheese section, I found this “fondue” cheese. I mean, that looks close enough, right? I really didn’t want to buy yet another obscure liqueur for 1 tablespoon worth, and then the rest will linger in my hall closet for way too long.
I also got a kalamata/olive bread (half price!), some prepped asparagus, and the remainder of this week’s broccoli stash. If we’re eating fondue, we’re going to at least make it dinner.
A closer look at the fondue cheese (especially to compare ingredients). Other than some stabilizers/emulsifiers in the prepped version, it’s the SAME thing. I realize this kind of defeats the purpose OF this project, but I stand by my decision.
They also give you some additional ideas for dipping options, if you were still looking for some.
Cubing the bread. I only cubed half, and we ate the rest of the loaf over the course of the week.
Cleaned up the broccoli and tried to make it “fondue-sized”.
After prepping the broccoli, I took the ends off the asparagus, but mostly left them as-is–they’re already dippable.
Both the broccoli and asparagus need to be cooked in some way first–I chose steaming. First the broccoli, then the asparagus.
I decided to crisp the bread up a bit by giving the cubes a quick oil spray on a sheet pan and popping them into the oven/air fryer for a few minutes.
While the veggies steam and the cubes crisp, I’ll start trying to prepare the cheese. I cranked it to “MELT” and tried to get the cheese to soften up.
Veggies are prepped and ready–still struggling with getting the cheese to melt with the little electric pot.
Bread is crisp–cheese is STILL trying to melt. We’re going to have to resort to more serious measures…
I put the fondue insert on a real stove burner and that got things moving.
After melting the cheese and plating it all up (don’t forget to flip the pot to “WARM”), we’re ready for a fondue dinner party for two!
My lovely model, demonstrating the proper method for dipping the broccoli in the cheese.
Demonstrating the viscosity of the fondue cheese. It is like thin macaroni and cheese sauce (made with Swiss), but thin because someone spilled a bunch of wine/liqueur into it.
Now demonstrating the bread.
Dip, eat, and enjoy your fondue!
To be honest, no one should eat this as their entire dinner–we had a bit of the “itis” after this. That wasn’t entirely the recipe’s fault though. Not that I actually followed the recipe…oh well.
Happy 11 years?
Grade: A
