Cheese Fondue
This is the best cheese fondue I’ve ever had—Megan got the recipe when she was in France. You can use most kinds of hard white French or Swiss cheese, but be sure not to use store-bought grated cheese. Those cheeses are tossed in cornstarch so the pieces don’t stick together. If you use them in cheese fondue, the cornstarch forms a hard lump in the pan. Note that this recipe uses a cup of wine—it’s very French to cook with wine—which is one of the things that makes this fondue classic.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 2
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
One hour before mealtime, cut the bread into 1-inch cubes, place in a serving bowl, and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Cut each of the apples into 8 wedges, remove the cores, and cut each wedge in half crosswise. Place the apples in a bowl and sprinkle with the lemon juice. Add enough cold water to cover the apples and refrigerate until ready to use. (Holding the apples in water with lemon juice keeps them from browning.)
Step 2
Fifteen minutes before mealtime, peel the garlic, cut it in half, and rub the cut sides over the bottom of a saucepan. Pour the wine into the pan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the cheeses and cook, stirring frequently, for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cheese is melted. (The wine will not be completely incorporated into the cheese. Some of it will stay on top of the cheese.) Pour the fondue into a serving bowl.
Step 3
Drain the apples and serve immediately with the bread and hot fondue. Spear a piece of bread or apple on a fork, dip it into the fondue, and eat.
food trivia
Step 4
They say necessity is the mother of invention, and that holds true here in a very tasty way. In the 1700s cheese was central to the diet of most Swiss villagers, because it could be made in the summer to last through the winter months. The Swiss found that heating stale cheese over a fire improved the taste and made it much easier to eat, and that hard bread would soften when dipped into the melted cheese. They soon learned that mixing in wine and other seasonings made it even better, transforming old cheese and bread into a flavorful meal.
