Last Friday, the Baltimoron goons gathered at our house in the burbs to make fondue. We may all be geeks, but we always eat and drink well.

Fondue Neufchâtel (classic Swiss fondue)

Ingredients:

16 ounces Swiss Gruyère, shredded (about 5 cups)
8 ounces Emmentaler or aged domestic Swiss, shredded (about 2 1/2 cups)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 1/2 to 2 cups dry white wine
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
large pinch salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 to 2 tablespoons kirsch, to taste

Combine your shredded cheeses with the cornstarch and set aside.


Gather remaining ingredients. Get a medium, heavy sauce pan and rub the smashed garlic around the inside. Leave the garlic in the pan and add 1 1/2 cups of the wine and the lemon juice.


Heat over medium heat until the wine simmers. Remove the garlic now, if you want to, or just leave it. Add the blended cheese in handfuls. Stir gently after each addition until the cheese melts and becomes smooooth.

Try not to look like a wierdo as the alcohol fumes make you giddy.

Stir in salt, pepper, paprika, and nutmeg. Stir until fondue bubbles around the edge. DON'T LET IT BOIL. If it's too thick, warm the rest of the wine and carefully mix in. Stir in the kirsch

Pour into a fondue pot and place over a lighted burner. Adjust the flame to keep it bubbling, but not burnt.



Cheddar-Beer Fondue

This was the big winner of the evening, idea courtesy of Disease Girl. The omnivores in the group bemoaned the presence of vegetarians, because pigs in a blanket would be the ultimate dipping food for this.

Then we discovered that Guiness contains fish byproducts, so serious vegetarians might have to try something else.

Ingredients:

1 pound cheddar cheese (we used some mild wisconsin)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup beer (we used Guiness)
1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
dash cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons Worcestershire (optional for omnivores, it was excellent without)

Do it just like the other kind. Shred the cheese and mix in cornstarch.


Heat the beer over medium heat until simmering.


Add in the cheese by the handful, stir each addition until melty. Add seasonings. Pour into fondue pot and light.

Eat every last bit and scrape the crusty bits from the pot.


Foods for Dipping

Everything has to bite sized, and able to fit on a fondue fork or skewer, like this:


We had:
french bread
rye bread (homemade!)
apples
carrots
celery
cherry tomatoes
little potatoes, boiled

You can use pretty much anything that would taste good, like broccoli, sausage bites, etc...

Wash down with booze. We had lots of beer, wine, and three pitchers of rum swizzles.


Basic Chocolate Fondue

Ingredients:

1 pound good chocolate (Hershey's Special Dark, Ghiradelli bittersweet, something like that)
1 cup cream
shot of liquer (like kirsch or khalua or something)

Chop up the chocolate into little pieces. Heat the cream (do not boil) and pour over the chocolate stir until smooth, then add booze. If it's too thick, add a little more cream.

Pour into fondue pot and eat with marshmallows, fruit (strawberries and bananas), cookies, and pound cake.

This one's pretty thick, so be careful with your goodies.


Enjoy fondue, but not too often, or your arteries will clog up.