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The Hottest Old Trend in Cooking Fondue
The Hottest Old Trend in Cooking Fondue
Bell bottoms are back; martinis are back. So is fondue. And like easy-fit bell-bottoms or flavored martinis, there's a distinctly '90s twist to the new fondue.
"People want to cook things that are delicious, fast and easy. The fondue fits into today's lifestyle," says Rick Rodgers, author of Fondue: Great Food to Dip, Dunk, Savor and Swirl (Morrow, $14), which includes the two recipes on this page.
During this holiday season, there's another important plus: Fondue is "good for home entertaining, or if you want to involve your children in cooking," says chef Norman Van Aken of the acclaimed Norman's restaurant in Coral Gables, Fla. "It's a social situation. People will construct something themselves, dip it into cheese fondue, add a few greens and say, 'Hey, try mine!' "
Tips from the pros:
- Use the right pot. Use a large ceramic pot for cheese and large batches of dessert fondue, a metal-lined pot for oil-based or fried fondues. Small ceramic pots are perfect for desserts. For cooks put off by the teetering pots of old, the new generation of fondue pots is sturdier and more versatile. Rick Rodgers likes those by Calphalon and Le Creuset.
- Do the two-step. Cook the fondue in a pan on your stove, then transfer it to the fondue pot for serving.
- Always make the cooking liquid a little acidic. Use a dry or semi-dry wine. The acids help the proteins in the cheese melt smoothly, Rodgers says. And use flavorful liquids and seasonings
- beer or broth, not water.
- Go beyond bread cubes for dipping. Rodgers suggests dipping bagel chunks into a fondue of cream cheese and smoked salmon. "Why not chunks of cooked chicken or shrimp with a traditional Swiss fondue?"
- Not all cheeses make good fondue. Work in families of cheeses. "I might mix a Swiss and a cheddar," says Van Aken. "But I wouldn't mix Swiss, cheddar and Gorgonzola."
Sold on fondue pots- Williams-Sonoma reintroduced fondue pots to last year's holiday catalog and nearly sold out. Needless to say, they're back this year, and in Crate & Barrel's holiday catalog.
- Sales of Le Creuset cast-iron fondue pots are up 20 percent over last year, the biggest surge in five years.
- As West Bend's fondue sales bubble, a 3-quart pot, the Entertainer, was just added to its line of electric pots.
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