22 December, 2006

Traditional Swiss Cheese Fondue Recipe

Tesco Chaos
(Scroll down if you are here for the recipe alone ;)

So, perhaps foolishly, we went to finish off the last few bits of Christmas food/drink shopping (£183!!!!!!!), okay, mostly drink, and lots of cheese...got a big bacon joint to cook up too...conditions in Tesco can only be described as "absolute bedlam", a totally chaotic nightmare, I estimate one aisle in three had at least one abandoned trolley clogging it up, tempers were fraying...amazingly though, the shelves were stocked almost as normal, the only thing we couldn't get from our list was a bottle of Malibu (I'll live)...

Went from there into Redhill (still loaded down with the shopping), spotted this (which I hope isn't a portent for tomorrow) in the market-
Happy birthday pants
- then home to cook dinner, decided to have my annual naughty Christmas Swiss Cheese Fondue (all to myself as Flyingpops doesn't like it...what a terrible shame... ;)
Swiss Cheese Fondue ;)
Anyway, if you want to enjoy this awesome and very naughty treat (I *do* only have it once a year) you will need the following -

  • A clove of garlic (chopped in half down the middle)
  • Half a pint from a nice bottle of white wine (fruity Hardy's Chardonnay works a treat)
  • A teaspoon of the juice of a lemon
  • A tablespoon of Kirsh (Willisauer is ideal, but any clear cherry liqueur will do)
  • A teaspoon of cornflour
  • 110g/4oz emmental cheese grated (per person)
  • 110g/4oz gruyère cheese grated (per person)
  • Half a French stick (per person)
Procedure -

  1. Get a non-stick saucepan (or if you have a cast iron fondue bowl, put that on the hob) and rub the garlic half all over the inside, push hard, get plenty of flavour all over the cooking surface
  2. Put the cornflour into a glass and pour in the Kirsh, mix well, if it doesn't look like you will be able to easily pour it out then add a splash of tap water, mix again and stand next to the hob
  3. Pour the half a pint of wine into the saucepan and add the lemon juice then bring quickly to the boil
  4. Turn down the heat (a little) and *slowly* add the cheese, stirring *constantly* with a wooden spoon, waiting until each batch is melted before adding more
  5. Pour in the Kirsh mixture and stir well (this is when it all comes together!)
  6. Pour the whole lot into your Fondue bowl, light it up and sit (on the floor) dipping tiny cubes of French stick into the glorious sweet sticky yum sauce, curling up the trails of cheese so as not to make too much of a mess before popping into your mouth, washing it down with much, much more of the wonderful wine...
  7. Fall asleep in front of a Christmas film

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FINK XXXX

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Fink! Have a good one. Shame I have forgotten when Flying Pops celebrates hers.... oops. Answers on a postcard please.

Anonymous said...

18th Jan - not long to go!!!!!

Anonymous said...

That looks really yummy, gonna try that very soon and to hell with the diabetes. Happy Birthday me old mate, wishing you many more of them.

Unknown said...

Thanks everyone! :)

Anonymous said...

Cheese fondue in a steel pot? I thought they are only used for meat fondues...

Next year, try gruyere and raclette cheese. Actually, try the raclette meal next year for xmas, it's great!

Unknown said...

Hrm, what gives Aussies the right to comment on Swiss classics exactly? ;)

Cheese works really well in the cast iron, but I've had no problems in the steel either, apart from a bit of crunch at the end (which I believe is coveted in Swizzerland anyway)... ;)

Ta for the recommendation though, I'll give it a try... :)