Simply fondue.....................

        The first thing that you think when you hear the word “fondue” is a group of people sitting around a bubbling pot of gooey cheese mumbling about their lives, probably business men discussing their corporate goals or group of college kids who are debating who is “hotter” The Fondue or their new chemistry professor or just a bunch of ladies bitching around.

         French claim their invention over Fondue and the Swiss fight over theirs, but no matter who the f..... made it…!!!! God bless their souls who gave us this wonderful Melting Pot. Making fondue is simple-it is not some Exotic meal to dine on, but just a sleazy cracker to bite on- if you understand what it exactly is. Most of the restaurants I have been to which state that they make the best fondue but let me get this straight, cutting a pack of fondue mix in a pot and heating it with wine doesn’t do the job right. It is a precise science how you make a fondue, frankly speaking it is not that hard all you need to understand that it is just a warm emulsion. You blow up the temperature or proportion, man, you mess with the fondue.

Let us look at the components of fondue:

CHEESE:

A leap of mortal milk towards immortality. Cheese contains milk proteins and fats that are aged to a period of time in order to attain certain characteristics and flavors. It is one of the most important component of fondue. It provides proteins that forms the base has to say the matrix to hold the liquid oil emulsion formed by water from the wine and the oil from the cheese. The protein denatures and forms a mesh which holds this emulsion and gives fondue its texture.

Well aged cheese has this protein fragments (casein and kappa casein), dispersed in more number which stabilizes the fondue. Fondues made with cheeses like Camembert and Parmesan are more stable, this is the reason why you will find parmesan in most of the fondue recipes.

WINE:

The second most important component of fondue, which provides water to emulsify and gives the solid cheese a liquid form. Along with water, wine also provides acids which stabilize the protein mesh formation. Dry wines are always recommended because they are excessively acidic. My personal favorites- Wines like Proseecco and Moscatto -which are fruity enough to bring out the nutty over tunes of the cheese, whereas, Equs Sauvignon Blanc also works pretty well.

HOW TO MAKE A FONDUE

                                Olive oil                               5ml

                       Garlic dents (sliced)                  2 nos

                                Gruyere                              50 gms

                             Emmenthal                           50gms

                             Appenzelar                           25gms

                              Parmesan                             25gms

                                 Cream                                50ml

                            White Wine                           75ml

Place the fondue pot high flame add olive oil and sauté the garlic, 
Add white wine and let it fumet.

Reduce the flame to low and add spoon of cheese at a time continuously whisking it.

When cheese has melted add cream and seasoning.

Serve the Fondue warm.

(Temperature must be 120-140 degree Fahrenheit)

Accompaniment

Let your imagination run free when you think or paring food, literally sky is the limit, selection is vast and combinations are limit less. What I am telling u is just a basic guideline of what u can accompany with fondue,

The best accompaniment and most common thing that is served with fondue is bread croutons, depending on what cheese you are using, if you use cheese like Parmesan or Appenzelar I suggest sourdough bread, if you are using mild cheese like Gruyere or Emmenthal use brioche croutons.

Fruit are second best thing to accompany fondue, tart fruits like plums, Grapes, Granny Smith Apples, Californian Oranges strawberry etc will do the magick.Coccant vegetable crudits can be used if lady accompanying u thinks she is calorie conscious.



A variety of cured meats are also served for an elegant display. Meats like salamis, chorizo, and pepperoni can be commonly seen. Pickles are also served with fondue. Olives gherkins pickled onions pickled vegetable is very common

cheers..................

Nilesh