Category Archives: Fondue

Fondue Bourguignone

When working up steaks on a hot grill, nothing goes better than cubes of steak served as a grilling time appetizer. Break out the oil and the Fondue and let your guests get the taste buds ready for action with this one.

INGREDIENTS:
2 pounds of steak fillet (at least 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick)
1 Tablespoon oil
2 shallots, chopped into fine pieces
1 clove garlic, crushed
14 oz can of chopped tomatoes
2 Tablespoons tomato puree (from paste tube or tin)
1 Tablespoon lightly chopped parsley
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Heat oil in a saucepan until it pops. Add the shallots and cook until soft. Lower heat to medium. Add the garlic and the chopped tomatoes with their juice from the can. Bring to a simmer add the tomato paste and season with salt and pepper.

Simmer the tomato sauce mix for about 30 minutes allowing it to thicken. Stir in the parsley and pour into a dipping bowl or into individual dipping trays. In the meantime fire up the fondue and bring about 1 to 1 – 1/2 to 2 inches of oil to a boil. Control heat to avoid smoke.

Slice the steak into 1 inch cubes, lightly season with fresh ground black pepper and coarse Sea Salt directly before serving ready for immersion into the hot oil of the fondue. Pass out the fondue forks and offer the tomato sauce as a finishing dip.

Attributed to: A memory of Switzerland all along the Alpe de Suisse.

Fondue of Butterscotch

Set the Fondue pot out with a huge platter of pear, plum and apple slices. Small biscuits and fudge brownies that can survive a fork skewering are great candidates for this sweet after dinner treat.

INGREDIENTS:
2 ounces of butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
4 Tablespoons of Lyle’s Golden Syrup
No Lyle’s? Try 3 Tabs light corn syrup to 1 Tabs molasses
14 oz can of evaporated milk
6 teaspoons of cornflour
4 tablespoons of lightly crushed unsalted peanuts
Sliced and cut into bite sizes – apples, pears, plums

DIRECTIONS:
Place the butter, the golden syrup and the sugar into a saucepan. Heat on low to medium until mixture begins to bubble. Keep an eye on it stirring a few times. Slowly bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute.

Add the evaporated milk and cook for 3 more minutes. Add the crushed peanuts.

In a mixing bowl place two Tablespoons of cold water. Add the cornflour and blend until smooth. Add this mixture to the sauce pan. Heat for a few minutes until mixture begins to thicken, stirring constantly.

When mixture is starts to thicken use a spatula to add it to the fondue pot. Serve with hard cubed or sliced fruit pieces. Sit back and enjoy your friends and family enjoying your fondue.

Fondue Vaudoise

Serves: Four

This four cheese combination might sound like it simply blends into a single flavor. However, the perfect balance of each maintains a wonderful combination that strikes each unique character in different areas of the tongue.

INGREDIENTS:
7 ounces Gruyere cheese
5 ounces Emmental cheese
5 ounces Raclette cheese
5 ounces “Vacherin de Fribourg” cheese
1 clove garlic
1 – 1/4 cup dry white wine
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
2 Tablespoons Kirsch
freshly ground pepper
nutmeg (dash)
Baguette or cubed french bread (about 2-3 days old)

DIRECTIONS:
Grate the cheese. Cut the bread into hefty cubes. Peel the garlic and cut in half. Rub the inside of a fondue pot or cast iron sauce pan with the garlic.

Pour in the wine. Heat the wine on a medium to hot burner. Add the cheese and stir constantly until the cheese melts. Blend the corn starch with the kirsch. Then stir the mixture into the cheese fondue. Bring to a light even boil, stirring constantly. Season with salt and pepper. Add a hint of nutmeg to your preference.

Transfer the cooking pot to a burner under a rack. Offer fondue sticks around and watch as friends and family stab the bread and fight over soaking it into gooey and wonderful aromatic cheese sauce.

Goes well with (optional): A dry white wine or a cordial of gheist or kirsch

Inspired or Credited to: This recipe comes from a search for fondue, way back in the earlier days of the Internet, when the only browser was Mosaic!