Swiss Fondue

I love communal meals. The idea of just sitting around a table, feasting and laughing, is absolute perfection to me. Wrapping spicy Ethiopian vegetables with chunks of shared injera bread or dipping croutons in a warm gooey fondue, are perfect examples of a blissful evening. Many people are squeamish and may not enjoy sharing food from a plate, so this is definitely not for everyone. I had some divine fondue in Switzerland last Thanksgiving. I think I ordered a moitié-moitié (or half 'n half): Gruyère and Fribourg Vacherin which is a soft fatty cheese. There were places in Switzerland which had over a hundred varieties of fondue but I was over cheese by that time. I came back home and did not touch cheese for a whole month. However, after a while I find fondue bland and boring, which explains the absolute love I had for this version of Masala Fondue, I found in a great restaurant in Pali hill, Mumbai. So, I had a fondue party a few days ago. My friend brought over his fondue pot. My partner wasn’t feeling great but he pulled it off.

We started off with a cheese hunt at the local grocery. The idea was to mix emmenthal, gruyere, and brie together. Emmental is a Swiss yellow, medium-hard cheese with large holes. It is fruity, sweet, creamy, and nutty with almost no acidity and melts exceedingly well. We could not find any Emmental at the local grocer so we substituted it with Jarlsberg. Jarlsberg is a mild Norwegian cheese with similar holes. Jarlsberg has the consistency texture and hole-formation of Swiss Emmental but its flavor is more nut-like and sweeter. We also easily found the Gruyère medium-hard, sweet but slightly salty, with a flavor that varies widely with age. I use Gruyere for mac and cheese; it has a saltiness to it which balances the sweetness of the Jarlsberg. Gruyere has some close imitations - Beaufort and Comte from France, and Appenzell from Switzerland, and there are versions made in the US. We also added some Brie, which is a soft cheese. I don’t think we would add Brie again; it does not melt well and interferes with the smooth consistency of the fondue. We used half a pound of each cheese which was more than enough for four hungry people.

And as for the dippings, we included croutons made from Italian bread, chicken sausages, blanched broccoli, boiled potatoes, cherry tomatoes, and granny smith apples. We also did a chocolate fondue, which frankly I don’t care for – I ate my dippings, which included pineapple, marshmallow, strawberries, and wafers, without the chocolate. But I digress, coming back to the cheese fondue dinner, we definitely had to do a lot of cutting and chopping so it is always great to have company over whenever you plan one. My friend had an electric fondue pot and you want a temperature of around 200 Fahrenheit; the idea is to get the perfect temperature since cheese gets stringy at a higher temperature. You may allow the fondue to bubble, but never boil.

You also need cornstarch, around 2-3 tbspns. The best way to do this is to coat the grated cheese with the cornstarch. The cornstarch will thicken the sauce and keep it from separating. You also need a cup of white wine. The addition of alcohol to fondues lowers the boiling point so that cheese proteins will not curdle, but take care not to boil it. The idea is to cook it slowly, and whisk the cheese to avoid lumps. For fondue that is too thick, increase the heat, add a little wine, and stir vigorously. For fondue that is too thin, combine 1/2 teaspoon of flour or cornstarch with an equal amount of wine. Stir into fondue until thickened. We added 1 tbspn of lemon juice to the fondue as well which serves the same purpose as the wine. We also added cayenne pepper for taste, ad rubbed a clove of garlic on the pot.

Fondue
½ pound gruyere
½ pound jarlsberg
½ tspn cayenne pepper
1 cup wine
2 tbspn cornstarch
1 tbspn lemon juice
1 clove garlic
a pinch of nutmeg

1. Rub the fondue pan with a clove of garlic. Set the temperature at 200 degrees.
2. Cut the cheeses into small cubes or grate them. Coat with cornstarch.
3. Heat the wine and lemon juice in the pot on low heat. When it starts to simmer, start adding the cheese.
4. Keep adding the cheese, handful at a time till it melts. Let it simmer. Never boil.
5. Keep whisking the pot with either a whisk or a wooden spoon.
6. Add cayenne pepper and nutmeg.

Dippings

1. Make croutons with the crusts for a loaf of French or Italian country bread. Cut the bread in pieces and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.
2. Heat the sausages and cut into bite size pieces.
3. Slice a granny smith apple.
4. Either boil some potatoes, or cut them in bite sized pieces and cook them with some olive oil, salt and black pepper.
5. Blanch broccoli or asparagus for a minute in boiling water and then shock with cold water.
6. You can also use pearl onions which have been pickled in vinegar.
7. Cherry tomatoes and carrots work too.