How to properly prepare cheese fondue. What is fondue, how to eat it and where to look for it

How to make fondue at home?

Take a thick-walled, deep, but not wide pan, pour in a lot of sunflower or other vegetable oil, heat it high, as if for deep-frying, and put in whatever you want, for example, shrimp in batter, or crab sticks in batter, or lamb balls kept in the refrigerator , or dip the meat steaks into the deep-fry for 3 minutes, then into the sauce. , or mashed potatoes with garlic, salt and pepper, formed into balls and rolled in beaten egg with herbs. And there is also sweet fondue...
Basic cheese fondue "Nchâtel"
Rub the pot with a clove of garlic and stir 450 g grated Gruvière cheese, 225 g grated Emmental cheese, 3/8 l dry white wine (Neuchâtel is best), 1 tsp lemon juice, add 4 tbsp starch and stir with a wooden spoon (not in circles, and in figures of eight) until the cheese has melted. Lemon juice is important as it makes the cheese melt faster. Add 1 1/2 tbsp kirsch, a pinch of black pepper and nutmeg and cook a little more. Transfer the pot to the burner and serve with bread cubes.
Scout fondue
Finely chop 250 grams of processed cheese and drain 1 can of canned mushrooms. Combine in a fondue pot over medium heat until the cheese has melted. Add 2 tbsp kirsch, season with black pepper, serve with slices of bread. You can leave the mushrooms whole to make them easier to skewer on a fork.
Fondue with meatballs
Prepare fondue according to the basic method (Neuchâtel fondue). Make meatballs. To do this, soak a piece of bread in water for 20 minutes. Then squeeze and crumble. Add 150 grams each of ground beef and pork, grated onion, 1 egg, salt, pepper, parsley and marjoram. Mix, form small balls, roll them in bread crumbs and fry in oil. Serve them with fondue instead of bread. They can be served raw with butter fondues.
Onion fondue
Stir 450 grams of grated Gruvière cheese, 225 grams of grated Emmental cheese, 1/4 liter of dry white wine, 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, add 1 tablespoon of starch and stir with a wooden spoon (not in circles, but in figures of eight) until the cheese has melted. Add 2 tbsp cognac. Meanwhile, puree 1 or 2 onions, fry in butter until soft, add to hot cheese and let simmer a little.
New Zealand lamb fondue
Cut 1 kg lamb into small pieces. Heat about 3/4 liter of vegetable oil in a pot. Place thin onion rings on plates or boards and divide the meat between them. Serve with garlic bread.
Fondue with sausages
Fill half the pot with oil and place on the burner. Divide between the guests' plates 1 kg of cooked sausage (mortadella), 10 large sausages, 600 g of sausage, 450 g of raw ham, 8 Frankfurter sausages, 450 g of small cocktail sausages and 600 g of cold smoked meat. Serve with a basket of bread, prepared dipping sauces, mustard, freshly chopped herbs and pickled vegetables.
Fondue with fish fingers
Cut 16 frozen fish sticks into 3 pieces and place on a plate. Heat the oil in the fondue pot, put the chopsticks on the forks and fry in the oil for about 2 minutes.
Seafood fondue
Cut 225 grams of peeled squid into small pieces. Boil and drain 450 g of shrimp, wipe dry so that the oil does not splatter. Arrange beautifully on a platter. Place on forks and fry in oil. Serve with sauces, dill and boiled rice.
Wine fondue
In a pot, combine 500 ml of white wine, 60 grams of grated almonds and 2 tarragon leaves, heat over low heat; do not bring to a boil. Pour in 250 ml chicken broth. Add a pinch of salt and 2 pieces of ginger root (or 1 teaspoon ground) and place on the burner. Dip pieces of baked chicken meat and cubes of bread. You don't have to serve sauces, but you need to put black pepper and cranberries on the table. Serve with forks and plates like other meat fondues.
Chocolate fondue
Combine 225 grams of semi-sweet chocolate, 80 ml of condensed milk and a little liqueur to taste in a saucepan. Melt the chocolate over low heat. Or you can do it in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. When the mixture is completely homogeneous, pour the chocolate into the fondue pot and place it in the center of the table. Light a candle under the fondue pot and serve chocolate with pieces of fruit.
Buy a fondue maker, cut the meat into strips: chicken, veal, pork and fry in boiling oil on a stick!
I'm telling you from my own experience.
Of course you need to have a fondue maker. But you can do it without it, if you adapt some kind of saucepan so that it can be heated on a candle, that is, build a stand or hang it somehow, well, like a cauldron on a fire, something like that. Find some chopsticks to come up with so that you can stick food with them. Or you can use regular forks, if it’s simple.
You don’t have to show off with cheeses either. There is no need to look for overseas cheese, you can drown Russian cheese with Gouda - that will also be fine. Just buy your favorite cheese and drown it.

Initially, the cheese is heated on the stove, in an ordinary saucepan. I'll describe it step by step:
Grate the cheese, put it in a saucepan, and place it on the stove over low heat. Add either 200 grams of milk or dry white wine. With wine, the taste is specific, for everyone. I personally don’t like this taste; milk tastes better and “cheesier” to me.
Add 1-2 tablespoons of starch. You can also use regular flour.
Stir this whole thing vigorously until the cheese melts in the milk, add black pepper, a pinch of crushed nutmeg, or any other spice you like. You can splash a couple of tablespoons of the liqueur, if you have one.
As soon as the cheese is melted, pour the mixture into a fondue pot and place it on a candle. These are small, round candles. It’s better not to experiment with burners - you can burn the cheese due to inexperience! And the candle burns quietly and heats up exactly as much as needed, and there’s less hassle with it.
You can dip anything into fondue - regular bread, croutons, meat, vegetables - I cut them into cubes, not small, but not huge, medium.

Chocolate fondue is prepared according to the same principle - melt milk or dark chocolate, mix with milk, dip fruit and whatever else your heart desires.
In general, it’s better to do it not according to hackneyed recipes, but as you like best, in your opinion :) the essence is the same - diluted with something liquid, melted on the stove, poured into fondue, put on a candle, dipped in what you’re most passionate about)) Then everything will turn out delicious :)
Cheese feast
This fondue is made from 3 different types of cheese (according to the classic Swiss recipe, these are Gorgonzola, Emmental and Gouda cheeses). By the way, the history of fondue is also unusual. According to legend, it was invented by Swiss shepherds who went to the mountains to herd sheep for long periods of time. All they took with them in terms of provisions was bread, cheese and wine. The bread quickly became stale, and in order to “reanimate” it, it was soaked in cheese melted over a fire with the addition of wine. And so, in fact, the first fondue was born.
The modern “version” of the dish is just as easy to prepare. Three types of cheese are melted over a fire for several minutes, after which they are immediately mixed, and dry white wine and 36% fat cream are poured into the resulting mixture one by one.
For thickness, add a teaspoon of starch to the fondue. The main thing here is not to overdo it, otherwise the fondue will be too thick and the cheese will start to burn, while its task is to melt. If, due to inexperience, you have “thumped” too much starch, a few tablespoons of milk can easily save the situation.
After this, keep the fondue on low heat for a few more minutes, stirring with a spoon. Bread, meat and all kinds of raw and boiled vegetables are served as a side dish for cheese fondue.
Chocolate "two in one"
Another very popular version of fondue is chocolate. It’s even easier to prepare it at home; you don’t need to look for any rare cheeses; a regular chocolate bar will do. Or rather, two chocolates. For chocolate fondue, use dark and milk chocolate in equal proportions. Each tile is melted in a separate bowl over low heat for 2-3 minutes. The main thing is to stir the chocolate all the time. After this, cold milk is poured into each container with chocolate, and the mixture is boiled over the fire again to a denser consistency for a couple of minutes, no more, otherwise the chocolate will “burn.”
Sweet fondue is served hot; for a piquant taste, you can add a little cinnamon, coriander, vanilla sugar or sweet liqueur.
COUNTED
To prepare fondue at home, you will need, first of all, a special vessel for this dish, popularly called a “fondue dish”, most often it is for 6 people. Fondue is eaten using special fork sticks.
Swiss fondue
For the fondue recipe, take:
700 g hard cheese,
400 ml dry white wine,
20 ml cherry vodka,
10-20 g rice or corn flour,
600 g bread, cut into 3-4 cm pieces.
To prepare fondue, rub the inside of a fireproof dish with garlic. Pour in the wine and bring it to a boil on the stove. Without removing from heat, add grated hard cheese and stirring, dissolve it in dry white wine. Pour in rice or corn flour ground in cherry vodka. While stirring, add pepper and nutmeg.
Swiss fondue is eaten by putting a piece of bread on a fork and dipping it into melted cheese.
Dutch fondue (serves 4-6)
0.5 small onion, 1 glass of milk, 500 g of grated Gouda cheese, 2 teaspoons. spoons of cumin grains, 3 teaspoons. spoons of corn flour, 3 table. spoons of gin, ground pepper, rye bread and small mushrooms for serving.
Rub the fondue pot with half an onion. Pour in the milk and heat until it starts to boil, then gradually add the cheese. Continue heating until the cheese is melted, stirring constantly. Add cumin. In a small bowl, stir the flour and gin, then stir into the cheese mixture and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly, until the mixture is rich and creamy. Pepper to taste. Serve with cubes of rye bread and mushrooms.
"Fondue in Russian"
Place a saucepan with cheese or chocolate in a water bath on the stove, everyone sits at the stove and dips tidbits into the melted mass!!!
It’s better not to pervert without a fondue maker... neither with butter, nor with cheese, not with sweets... Fondue is not so much a dish as it is a culture... a kind of table decoration and a dish that brings people together in communication over it. Therefore, thoughts about steaming pans over the stove, or about all sorts of deep-frying methods... It's better to leave it.

At home it’s not at all difficult and very exciting! In French, "fondue" means "molten." Indeed, the basis of the delicacy is the melting of cheese in wine, and for this process a special fondue bowl is used, installed over a burning candle or burner to maintain the mass in a molten form. Then bread, meat, fruits, fish are dipped into the cheese mixture and the taste is enjoyed.

Special dishes for fondue

Melting is carried out in a special cauldron - caquelon. In our country it is known as a fondue maker and you can buy it in dishware or hardware stores.

It is difficult to replace such a device with something, since it must be constantly heated above the burner. Caquelon may have a cast iron or ceramic bowl. As a rule, for preparing a dish there are special fondue kits, which include the pot itself, a burner, special forks with elongated handles, and in some cases dry alcohol for the burner. You will also need a wooden spatula for stirring the cheese mass so that it does not burn and stick to the walls and bottom of the pot, and a special cheese knife to easily cut the cheese at the very beginning of cooking

How to cook a hot cheese dish

Preparing fondue is a very entertaining activity, and the result will not leave you or your guests indifferent: pieces of your favorite foods, wrapped in aromatic cheese mass, will give you new taste sensations.

Ingredients for making cheese fondue:

assorted cheese (preferably semi-hard and hard varieties, processed cheese cannot be used) - 0.4 kg;
garlic – 2-3 cloves;
dry white wine – 0.2 l;
ground black pepper - a pinch;
nutmeg - on the tip of a knife;
lemon juice - 0.5 tsp;
starch - 1 tbsp;
pieces of delicacies.

How to make cheese fondue at home:

Rub the inside of the fondue pot with garlic.
The cheese is cut into small pieces or grated and put into a kettle.
Pour in wine, approximately 0.2 liters. There should be enough to completely cover the cheese.
Place the fondue pot over the burner and turn on the heat to minimum.
Add spices and lemon juice if desired.
As for starch, it is added to melted cheese if you want to get a very thick mass. To do this, dissolve 1 tbsp. starch in a small amount of water and pour into the cheese mass. You can replace it with flour.
During the melting process, constantly stir the cheese mass with a wooden spatula until it becomes homogeneous.

When the cheese mass is prepared, take pieces of bread, shrimp, ham, meat, fruit, etc., string them onto forks, dip them into a pot, cool a little and enjoy.

Fondue- great snack. If you complement it with a light vegetable salad, it can be a wonderful dinner. Today the best recipes will tell you, how to make fondue at home. So, fondue can be cheese, meat and chocolate.

HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE FONDUE AT HOME

Place a non-stick saucepan or fondue maker over the lowest heat, pour in a little cream or milk, and add a chocolate bar broken into pieces. You need to stir not in a circle, but with the number 8, this will make it more gentle. Wait for the chocolate to dissolve, if it turns out thick, add more cream (only warm, not from the refrigerator!), pour in a glass of dry white wine or liqueur (Bailies, Sheridan, coconut, orange, etc.), wait until the alcohol vapors disappear.

HOW TO MAKE CHEESE FONDUE AT HOME

For cheese fondue, it is important to choose the cheese. Don’t buy cheap varieties - they will end up with little vegetable matter and some white lumps. It is better to take good, proven cheese, rather than a cheese product. Before cooking, you need to rub the fondue pot or saucepan with garlic, this will make it easier to clean later and will give you a piquant aroma.

Now, by analogy with chocolate fondue, add diced or grated cheese to heated milk or cream, add salt, white pepper, then add white wine and 1 tbsp. starch diluted with water. You should get a uniform creamy mass. Under no circumstances should fondue boil! You can dip shrimp, crab sticks, ham, any smoked meats, and slightly dried pieces of loaf into cheese fondue.

Pairs perfectly with wine and beer!

HOW TO MAKE MEAT FONDUE AT HOME

Meat fondue will be appreciated by gourmets. There are two options - hot vegetable oil (Chinese fondue) or vegetable broth with herbs (dry basil, rosemary, etc.) and white wine. The bowl also needs to be greased with garlic, and the oil or broth with wine should be brought to a boil. The idea is to then cook thin pieces of beef or poultry in it. In hot oil you can make “chips” from thin slices of potatoes.

Well, in general, the process itself is fascinating. My friends and I come up with something new every time and the feast is different from the standard “drink and eat”, and you don’t even need to stand near the stove. I made a delicious vegetable salad and that’s it - the feast is ready! Be sure to try it! You will like it, I guarantee!

Fondue with slightly warmed champagne

To cook champagne fondue, you need the following ingredients:

1 clove of garlic
400g cheese (Gruviere)
1 lemon
1/2l dry champagne
2h. l potato starch
ground pepper (black to taste)

This fondue is very special because it contains a little warmed champagne.

First you need to take a pot and rub it inside with a clove of garlic. It is better to take hard cheese (you can use Swiss cheese), then grate it on a coarse grater. This fondue can be prepared from two hard cheeses. Set the pot on low heat (on the stove), add champagne, potato starch, and a little lemon juice to the cheese. Move all this carefully until all the cheese is melted. Then you can add a little pepper and cook for another 5 minutes until you see that the mixture has become homogeneous.

In order for the fondue to boil a little, you need to put the pot on the burner and leave it there for 10-15 minutes. Remember, if you want to feel the subtle aroma of champagne, add a little white wine to the fondue.

Champagne fondue should be served with thinly sliced bread, preferably rye. Or you can also serve it with special crackers (soda).

Fondue "Neuchâtel"

This fondue uses the following ingredients:

1 clove of garlic
400 grams of cheese (Swiss hard)
200 grams Emmental cheese
some dry white wine (Neuchatel)
freshly squeezed lemon juice
3st. l potato starch
1st. L Kirsch
a little ground pepper
one nutmeg

In a fondue pot you need to boil milk with boiled water, unless of course it is cast iron or covered with glaze. Then rub half the garlic inside the pot.

Take Emmental and Swiss cheese and grate them on a grater (large) and mix them in a pot. Add a little wine, lemon juice, potato starch to the cheese and simmer it all over low heat until the cheese is completely melted. To make the cheese melt faster, it is better to add freshly squeezed lemon juice; it gives the dish a wonderful smell and unusual taste. Stir the resulting mixture thoroughly so that the cheese does not become completely stringy and fibrous. You need to add spices to taste, and one grated nutmeg, to the fondue, and leave to simmer for 10 minutes, until ready.

It is advisable to serve it with small cubes of any bread, and on a separate plate, arrange beautifully with herbs and a few sprigs of mint.

Fondue "Geneva"

Fondue "Geneva" very unusual, because the pieces of bread that we need for the dish are not dipped.

To prepare this fondue you will need the following ingredients:

500g mature cheese
5ml white wine (to your taste)
double cream 200g
4 egg yolks
black pepper
a little nutmeg

It is best to add hard, mature cheese to this dish, which you just need to grate. And once you have prepared the cheese, you can now mix all the ingredients in the pot. It is necessary to stir when you put the pot on the stove, the main thing is to keep the heat low. And watch carefully so that the resulting mixture does not boil. After all, if the cheese suddenly boils, then the egg yolks that were added will certainly curdle.

Before serving the dish, it is poured strictly into plates and served with boiled potatoes or pieces of bread that are slightly dried.

If you want to add a good flavor to the dish, you will need to add caraway liqueur. You can also pour liqueur into a separate plate so that each guest, before dipping a piece of any fondue bread, first dips it in liqueur. Or you can add Tabasco sauce to the fondue before serving. After this, the dish will turn out very spicy, so it is better to serve it with pancakes. You can also add powder (curry) to give a yellow color to fondue, the taste is excellent.

Mushroom fondue

To cook mushroom fondue, you will need the following ingredients:

20 grams dried mushrooms
100ml boiling water
1 clove garlic (minced)
1st. l butter
50g thinly sliced champignons
100ml good red wine (Marsala)
100g cheese (Mascapone)
Pepper, salt
1st. l fresh parsley

Before cooking, you must first pour a small amount of water (boiling water) over the dried mushrooms. And leave the mushrooms for 20 minutes, until they increase in size.

Heat the fondue pot and melt a piece of butter, then fry fresh and preferably thinly sliced mushrooms and garlic for 8 minutes. Then carefully pour in the wine and simmer for another 5 minutes until done.

The dried mushrooms now need to be drained and the liquid added to the fondue. Before adding mushrooms to the fondue, chop them as finely as possible. Once you've done everything, you need to add cheese. Mix the whole mixture thoroughly and cook over low heat.

When the cheese has completely melted, you can add finely chopped parsley and add seasoning to taste (salt, pepper).

It is better to serve this fondue with ravioli and tortellini laid out separately on a plate.

Fondue with seafood and dill

Fondue with seafood and dill prepared from the following ingredients:

400g cheese (Gruviere)
? l wine (preferably apple) or you can add cider
lemon juice
1st. l potato starch
1 hour l Kirsha
1 hour l fresh and chopped dill (can be dried)
Black pepper
400g scallops boiled in salted water
450g shrimp, completely peeled and boiled

Before cooking, you need to grate the cheese on a coarse grater, then pour it into a pot and stir. Add wine, juice (lemon) and potato starch. All this must be put on low heat until the cheese is completely melted. Then add kirsch (a little bit so as not to overwhelm the smell of fresh dill) and, of course, the dill itself. All this can now be put on the burner, where the fondue will simmer quietly.

Serve this excellent and aromatic fondue with scallops (cut into medium pieces). You can put everything beautifully on a plate along with shrimp (boiled in salted water) and then pour juice (of lemon) over this dish. The main thing is not to forget about seafood (mussels, crayfish, lobsters, shrimp), which need to be dipped like pieces of fresh bread in fondue.

Fondue with three different cheeses

For this type you will need the following ingredients:

200ml white wine (preferably dry)
1 clove garlic
200 grams of cheese (Cheddar)
120 grams of Swiss cheese (Gruviere)
120 grams of cheese (Mozzarella)
1st. l potato starch
ground pepper

Take the garlic and crush it (you can just cut it in half), after that you will need a large bowl to rub the inside of the garlic with. Don’t leave the garlic, you can throw it away, we won’t need it. Then pour the wine into the bowl and, without covering, heat in the microwave, only on high power for 5 minutes.

Cheddar cheese, Gruvière Mozzarella need to be kept in the freezer for a while and then grated. And little by little you can add cheeses to the bowl, making sure to stir (it’s better to add Mozzarella cheese at the very end). Stir thoroughly until the cheese melts. Mix starch with cold water (if diluted in hot water, there will be small lumps) and add everything to the cheese.

Now you can cover the bowl and cook on medium power for 10 minutes. Take a long baguette and cut it into cubes, vegetables too, just not into small cubes.

Serve this delicious dish from various cheeses, preferably with vegetables, mushrooms (champignons), or cauliflower. Be sure to break the baguette with your hands on a separate plate and serve.

Cheese fondue with liqueur

For cooking cheese fondue The following ingredients are needed:

250 grams of sweet, hard cheese
250 grams of salted, hard cheese
1 glass of good white wine
1 glass of cherry liqueur (you can add cognac, only good age)
1st. l potato starch
1 clove (not wilted) garlic
A little nutmeg and spices

Take the garlic and rub the inside of the pot, and leave it there for a while (at the bottom). Both salty and sweet hard cheese will need to be grated on a (large) grater; if you like it, you can simply cut it into small cubes.

Place the cheese in a pot and on the stove (the heat should be low). Until the cheese is completely melted and begins to boil, stir thoroughly. Then dilute the potato starch in a glass with liqueur, stir, and pour it all into the pot (if you don’t have any liqueur, you can use a glass of vodka).

Add all the spices to your taste, and chopped nutmeg.

Recently, fondue, a traditional Swiss dish, has become widespread on restaurant menus. Translated from French, this word means “molten.” Fondue is prepared from cheese and wine in a container called a caquelon right at the table, so everyone involved in the meal can watch the process. But what is fondue and how is it eaten? Let's figure it out.

A little history

Seven centuries ago, in the Swiss Alps, shepherds took a wheel of cheese, bread and wine with them to herd sheep. When it was already getting dark, they decided to eat, but all the food became stale during the day, and then the shepherds came up with the idea of placing cheese and wine in a cauldron and heating it on the fire. The result was a delicious, hearty mixture that you could dip your bread into. This is how fondue was born. Gradually, the dish moved to the tables of rich people; they began to prepare it from the best varieties of cheese and wine.

Soon people learned about fondue in Italy and Holland, and later in China and France. Sweet fondue made from white or dark chocolate mixed with cream has become very popular. Pieces of fruit or biscuit were dipped into this mixture and washed down with liqueur or champagne.

In Switzerland there is another legend about the origin of fondue. A lone traveler knocked on a small private hotel late in the evening asking for an overnight stay and dinner. The owner received the traveler, but refused dinner: the cook had long since left, and no one could cook. However, he allowed the traveler to go to the kitchen and cook something for himself. And in the kitchen by this time the fireplace had not yet cooled down. There was a pot of hot vegetable oil on it. The traveler found pieces of vegetables, some slices of meat and threw everything he found into hot oil. The food warmed up there, and the traveler dined with pleasure.

How to properly eat a traditional Swiss dish

It is recommended to take the fondue pot and place it in the center of the table. Each guest is given a plate and two forks. Place a bowl with pieces of bread (cut into cubes) in the center of the table. The guest pricks a piece of bread on a fork, dips it into the hot fondue (we will look at recipes for it below), turns it so that the mixture stops dripping, and places it on his plate. Then you need to prick the piece with a second fork and put it in your mouth.

If the fondue is fish or vegetable, then a fondue pot with broth or hot oil is placed in the center of the table, and plates with pieces of meat, vegetables or fish are placed near the guests. The guest pricks a piece of the product, dips it in oil and places it on his plate. Bowls with sauces and seasonings, as well as garlic bread, are placed nearby. The meal usually ends with salads, which go well with the main course.

How to eat sweet fondue

It is usually only heated up and eaten immediately after the main course. It should be noted that this fondue (photo above) is quite simple to prepare. In front of each guest is placed a bowl with sliced fruits, muffins, cookies or other sweets that need to be dipped into the liquid mixture. This dish is served with glasses of schnapps, liqueur or glasses of champagne or sweet wine. If alcohol is not consumed, herbal sodas can be served.

Let's take a closer look at what a fondue set is and how it is used to prepare a traditional Swiss dish.

Utensils for preparing delicacies

The fondue set consists of a metal, clay or ceramic pot (depending on the type of dish), one or two long forks with special tips, as well as a burner with a heating temperature regulator and a stand. In addition, the set may include various accessories: plates, gravy boats.

Classic fondue

Ingredients:

one clove of garlic,
450 grams Gruyere cheese,
250 grams of Emmental cheese,
one and a half glasses of dry white wine,
one spoon of lemon juice,
four tablespoons of potato starch,
nutmeg,
ground pepper.

Preparation

Before preparing the fondue, you need to smear the cauldron with a clove of garlic, after cutting it. The vessel is placed on a stand with a burner and a grate, grated cheese is placed in it. Starch is diluted in wine, lemon juice is added, cheese is poured into the mixture, salt and spices are added, and the burner is lit. The contents of the pot are stirred with zigzag movements. When the mass melts, it is kept on the fire for about seven minutes. Then they take pieces of bread with a long fork and dip them into it. At the same time, a plate with spices is placed near each guest. Wine or coffee is served with the dish.

Seafood fondue

Ingredients:

230 grams each of flounder, halibut, cod and large peeled shrimp fillets,
180 grams of mussels without shells,
juice from two lemons,
one spoon of oyster sauce,
two spoons of corn flour,
vegetable oil.

Preparation

It is necessary to marinate the fish before preparing seafood fondue. Place the fillet in a bowl, pour over lemon juice and sauce, cover with a lid and place in a cool place for twenty minutes to marinate. Then the fish is taken out and sprinkled with flour, laid out on a large dish, which is placed in the center of the table. In a cauldron, heat the oil to a boil and begin to prepare the dish. Using a long fork, prick pieces of food and place them in hot oil for a few minutes to fry. Transfer the finished pieces to your plate and eat with a second fork. The dish is served with sauces and spices.

Flounder fondue

Ingredients:

three flounder fillets,
900 grams of fish broth,
two tablespoons of grated ginger root,
three spoons of sherry,
one spoon of chopped cilantro.

Preparation

The fillet is cut into strips and placed on a plate. Pour broth into the cauldron, add ginger and cook for ten minutes over medium heat. After time, add sherry and cilantro and cook for five minutes. Each guest dips pieces of fish into the broth themselves.

Fondue in German

Ingredients:

garlic clove,
250 grams of milk,
230 grams each of Gouda and Eden cheeses,
one spoon of grated nutmeg,
one spoon of corn starch or corn grits,
two spoons of gin,
ground pepper.

Preparation

Let's tell you what fondue is in German. First, the cauldron is rubbed with garlic, which is then thrown away, milk is poured into it and heated to a boil, gradually adding grated cheese. Then turn down the heat and add nutmeg. The starch is diluted with gin and poured into the mixture, ground pepper is added and the mixture is cooked for three minutes, stirring constantly. During this time, the fondue should thicken. The dish is served with vegetables and crackers. Gin gives it a special aroma and piquancy.

Fondue in Italian

Ingredients:

15 grams of butter,
50 grams of chopped champignons,
one clove of garlic,
250 grams of canned tomatoes and grated fontina cheese,
one spoon of corn starch,
170 grams of milk,
half a spoonful of onion salt and dry oregano.

Preparation

You should start preparing the fondue by rubbing the cauldron with chopped garlic. Then melt the butter in a cauldron, add mushrooms and saute them for two minutes, stirring constantly. Then add tomatoes and bring the mixture to a boil. The cheese is mixed with starch and placed in a cauldron, stirred until completely melted. Then gradually pour in milk, sprinkle with salt and oregano. When the mass boils, turn off the fire. The dish is served with ciabatta.

Belgian Fondue

Ingredients:

50 grams of butter,
80 grams of flour,
600 grams of milk,
five yolks,
salt and pepper,
one pinch of cayenne pepper,
half a spoon of grated nutmeg,
50 grams of grated Parmesan cheese,
one beaten egg,
two spoons of breadcrumbs,
vegetable oil.

Preparation

Before preparing fondue, you need to melt the butter and add flour to it, mix well. Then milk is gradually poured into the mixture and stirred until the mixture boils. Then add salt and pepper and nutmeg. Separately, beat the eggs with grated cheese and pour this mixture into the milk, stir and cool. Using cookie cutters, cut out circles from the frozen mixture and roll them in flour. The egg is poured into a separate bowl, the crackers are poured onto a flat dish. Each circle is dipped in an egg, and then in breadcrumbs, then fried in a cauldron in hot oil until golden brown.

Worcestershire fondue

Ingredients:

250 grams of milk,
350 grams of smoked cheese,
four tablespoons of corn flour (starch),
two spoons of horseradish,
one spoon of prepared mustard,
two spoons of Worcestershire sauce (soy).

Preparation

Milk is poured into a cauldron and heated to a boil. Then add grated cheese and cook over medium heat until the mass becomes smooth. Flour or starch is mixed with prepared horseradish, sauce and mustard, mixed and transferred to fondue. Cook the mixture for three minutes, stirring constantly. During this time, the mass should become thick. This dish is served with boiled sausages, apple slices, and diced bread.

Classic chocolate fondue

Ingredients:

350 grams of dark chocolate,
250 grams of cream,
a pinch of salt
fruit to taste.

Preparation

Chocolate fondue is very easy to make (you already know what it is). The cream is heated until tiny bubbles appear, then the chocolate broken into pieces is added and stirred constantly with a whisk until the mass thickens. The fire is turned off, the cauldron is placed in the center of the table. Next to each guest there are plates with pieces of different fruits, which will need to be dipped into hot chocolate, after pricking them on a skewer. If the mass becomes very thick, add a little cream and mix.

Fruit fondue with chocolate

Ingredients:

one third glass of sugar,
one spoon of starch,
one glass of cream,
one glass of milk,
two spoons of ground coffee,
half a spoon of cinnamon,
one vanilla pod
200 grams of dark chocolate,
three tablespoons of butter.

Preparation

It must be said that this fondue is prepared quite quickly. It is necessary to mix cream, starch, sugar in a bowl, add vanilla, coffee, cinnamon and milk. This mixture is heated for four minutes, stirring constantly. Then softened butter and grated chocolate are added to the mass. The fondue is poured into a cauldron and served. A plate with pieces of apples, pears, pineapple, biscuit and marshmallows is placed next to it. Wash down dessert with sweet liqueurs, wines or champagne.

Fondue with marshmallows

Ingredients:

400 grams of dark chocolate,
85 grams of butter,
300 milliliters cream,
300 milliliters of milk,
marshmallow toffee.

Preparation

Place all the ingredients in a cauldron, melt them, stirring constantly. Pieces of marshmallow are threaded onto a fork with a long handle, dipped in chocolate and eaten. If desired, marshmallows can be replaced with strawberries, pineapple, custard balls, etc.

In conclusion

Fondue today is a common delicacy that can be prepared by all family members directly at the table. It should be noted that paper napkins are placed on the table to be able to wipe away drops of oil.

A few words should be said about what Batman fondue is. Many, having heard this name, think that this is a type of tasty delicacy that came to us from Switzerland. However, this opinion is fundamentally wrong. The term "batman fondue" has nothing to do with food - it is a smooth movement of classical dance.

According to popular belief, fondue is the national Swiss dish. The culinary classic V.V. Pokhlebkin claims even more: “fondue is the main and practically the only national dish of the Swiss.” There is no point in arguing about the origin of the dish; the truth has been established long ago and reliably, but in the history of the origin and introduction of fondue to the world there are several points that will certainly be of interest to inquisitive gourmets.

What later became known as “fondue” was born thanks to Swiss shepherds about seven centuries ago, according to one version of the origin of the dish. To the snow-covered alpine pastures, shepherds took bread and cheese, as well as wine, among their food supplies, to keep warm during the cold hours. And among the utensils they always had with them was a clay pot." caquelon", in which the remains of hardened cheese along with wine were melted over a fire. The Swiss dipped pieces of bread into this warm, tasty and satisfying mass. This is exactly what the fondue ceremony looked like at the dawn of the invention of this dish.

From the fields and meadows, a typical dish of peasant cuisine gradually moved to rich houses, where it first became a favorite among the servants, and only then ended up on the tables of the aristocracy. Of course, for high society, the dish was prepared from the best varieties of cheese and wine and was accompanied by a rich assortment of the freshest breads.

History cannot say for sure exactly what the Swiss called their culinary invention at that time. The fact is that the Swiss, unlike their French neighbors, did not pay much attention to the designation of dishes. But the name “fondue” itself comes from the French fondre, which means “to melt.” Yes, yes, it was the French who gave the Swiss dish its name. And this is not surprising if we remember the geographical location of Switzerland. Without a doubt, fondue was served at the tables of the Swiss nobility during feasts on the occasion of the arrival of neighboring aristocrats from Austria, Liechtenstein, Italy, Germany and, of course, France. And the French are known for their passion for giving their names to everything that deserves culinary attention. After all, somehow they had to tell their compatriots about the Swiss miracle!

According to another version, fondue appeared in the 18th century in the canton of Neuchâtel. This happened thanks to quick-witted peasant women who collected “from the bottom of the barrel” and melted dried pieces of different types of cheeses in a common cauldron.

Be that as it may, traditional Swiss fondue usually consists of a combination of two cheeses - Gruyère and Emmental, which are drowned in dry white wine, sometimes with the addition of kirsch - cherry vodka. This is the most common recipe, as each canton in Switzerland has its own "traditional" fondue recipe. For example, in Freiburg Fondue is made from Gruyère and Vacherine cheeses with the addition of wine and kirsch, but the latter ingredients are optional. If the fondue is prepared without wine, then the bread is first dipped in plum schnapps and then in melted cheese. IN Geneva Fondue is prepared from three cheeses: Gruyère, Emmental and Walliser Bergkase; pieces of morels can be added to Geneva fondue. IN Glarus Gruyere and Schabziger are melted in a sauce made from butter, flour and milk. In Eastern Switzerland, a combination of Appenzeller and Vacherin with dry cider is preferred for fondue. In the canton In(Vaadt Fondue is made from Swiss cheese and garlic. And finally, in Neuchâtel combine two-thirds Gruyère and one-third Emmental (or in a 1:1 ratio) with local wine.

The famous Frenchman Jean Anselm Brillat-Savarin played a decisive role in popularizing fondue throughout the world. Fleeing the French Revolution, Savarin spent two years in the United States, where he gave French lessons and played violin in a New York theater orchestra. But his true passion always remained cooking and his love for French cuisine. It was Savarin who introduced the Americans to fondue au fromage- cheese fondue, which has become one of the favorite dishes of the French.

But general interest in this dish appeared a little later and reached its apogee in the 1960-70s, when pop idols could envy the popularity of fondue. By this time, there were a huge variety of recipes and variations of fondue, and many of them had a very distant relationship with the original Swiss dish. The same French even managed to cook fondue without cheese! They simply heated olive oil and cooked pieces of meat in it. This fondue was called Burgundy, and chef Conrad Egli was the first to serve it in his New York restaurant “Swiss Chalet” in 1956. Somewhat later, in 1964, Egli introduced the world to a new gastronomic miracle - chocolate fondue, which immediately won the hearts of all the sweet tooths in the world. Pieces of fruit, berries or biscuits are dipped into melted chocolate.

Fondue is not just a dish, it is a style of communication; people held friendly and family meetings while preparing fondue. Even certain traditions regarding fondue have developed. For example, if a woman accidentally dropped her piece of bread into the fondue, she had to kiss all the men sitting at the table, and if a man dropped a piece, he had to buy a bottle of wine. If the same person dropped the bread a second time, the unspoken rule was that the next time he would hold a fondue party at his home and invite everyone present. At least that's what the book says The Fondue Cookbook American publishing house Hamlyn Press. Fondue etiquette itself is simple. Place a piece of bread (or other side dish) on a long fork and dip it in melted cheese. The fork should be held over the fondue pot for a few seconds so that the excess cheese drips off and the cheese itself cools down a little. The bread should be removed from the fork carefully so as not to touch the fork itself with your mouth - after all, it will have to plunge into the common dish again. In Burgundy fondue, a piece of meat skewered on a fork must be kept in hot oil for as long as necessary for it to be ready, then the piece of meat is removed from the fondue fork onto a portion plate and eaten using a regular fork.

In the 1990s, fondue somewhat lost its position, as the concept of healthy eating came to the fore in food, and it was difficult to apply it to fondue, after all, it is a very high-calorie dish. But experiments with fondue recipes continued, and the result was even an oriental fondue (Fondue Orientale) - a Burgundian fondue in which butter is replaced with broth; vegetables are usually cooked in this fondue.

Analogs of Swiss fondue can be found in other cuisines around the world. In Italian cuisine, for example, there are two similar dishes - fonduta and bagna cauda. Fonduta is made from fontina cheese and egg yolks, while bagna cauda is a hot sauce made with butter, olive oil, garlic and anchovies, in which pieces of vegetables are dipped. Something similar to fondue also exists in Holland, the dish is called KaasDoop.

Fondue is an excellent dish for winter evenings. Today, fondue is again popular and can satisfy all tastes; fortunately, there are a great many recipes for fondue - so many that it will be enough for every day of a long winter. And even more...