Fondue is the ultimate party food. Janine Washle from Cloverfields Farm & Kitchen joins shows us how to host a fondue party. She also has some great recipes for both cheese and dessert fondue--including a white chocolate raspberry and butterscotch!
Fondue used to be a popular dish for dinner parties in the fifties, sixties and seventies, and it is gaining popularity again riding on a nostalgia wave. Many people get fondue pots as gifts, but they may not know the history behind the cheese parties.
The lore surrounding fondue:
Two shepherds in the Alps met up at the end of the season. Their food rations had practically been depleted and all they had among themselves was some hard cheese, stale bread, and wine. Putting their ingenuity to the test, they heated the wine and added the cheese in hopes that it would melt and at the least provide them with a hot meal. It worked! The odd mixture became a silky smooth sauce. They dipped their bread in it and brought the recipe home to their families. The wives, intrigued, made the recipe and proclaimed it a family favorite. The recipe spread to other villages and that is how fondue as born.
Whether or not any of it is true, who knows, but one thing is for certain, the Swiss have been credited for creating fondue. Many countries have their variations, but Swiss fondue is the classic.
Etiquette for fondue forbids double dipping, and to eat directly from the fork banishes one from future fondue parties. If a person drops their skewered bit in the cheese and cannot retrieve it, they must kiss the person to their left. After the fondue is finished, a crispy bit has formed at the bottom of the pot from the direct heat in this area. The crispy cheese is meant to be lifted from the pot and divided among guests. Everyone shares well wishes and the fondue pot is retired for the evening.
The specific steps, ritual even, of preparing fondue is what makes it so special. Nothing can be rushed or short cut. Like risotto, and other time-honored dishes, fondue is meant to be lingered over, enjoyed.
The recipes showcase three styles of fondue from 3 different countries. Each is unique and worth trying. The dessert fondue recipes are a twist on the typical chocolate fondues. The white chocolate-raspberry cheesecake fondue is delicious with a variety of fresh fruits. The butterscotch is hearty with a smoky undertone from the scotch. Try it with salty favorites like pretzel sticks and even popcorn.
Classic Swiss Fondue
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:
1 garlic clove, peeled, crushed
2 cups dry white wine, Chablis, Sauvignon Blanc, or my favorite Halbtrocken Reisling
6 cups grated swiss cheese; I use 3 cups Jarlsberg, and 3 cups of either Gruyere or Emmentaler
1-1/2 TB cornstarch
1 TB Kirsch
Nutmeg
Preparation:
Rub garlic clove over sides and bottom of a large saucepan. Pour in white wine and heat over medium high until small bubbles are visible (do not simmer or boil).
Meanwhile, toss cheese with cornstarch. Add handfuls of cheese to warm wine. Stir constantly to melt cheese. When cheese is fully melted, add the next handful. Continue until all the cheese is added and melted. Never let the cheese boil. You may have to adjust the burner temperature during this process to prevent boiling.
Add kirsch to melted cheese. Stir to incorporate. Grate a light dusting of nutmeg over top and stir to incorporate. Pour into fondue pot. If mixture thickens, stir in a small amount of warmed wine.
Serve with a variety of fresh vegetables that have been washed and cut into bite-size pieces, French bread that has been toasted, apples, grapes, and/or roasted beef or pork tenderloin, cut into cubes.
Fonduta (Italian)
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients:
1 cup half and half
4 TB unsalted butter
5 cups shredded fontina cheese
4 egg yolks
½ tsp white pepper
Preparation:
In a large saucepan, heat half and half, and butter over medium high heat (do not boil). Add handfuls of fontina, stirring constantly. Once the cheese is melted, add another handful continuing until all cheese is added and melted. Put yolks in a medium heatproof bowl. Whisk in about a ½ cup of cheese mixture into yolks to warm (temper) the yolks. Then whisk the warmed yolk mixture back into the cheese mixture that is in the saucepan. Add white pepper, whisk to blend.
Pour fonduta into fondue pot.
Serve with crusty bread like ciabatta, or Tuscan bread; grilled vegetables, or cooked potato chunks, even crispy French fries.
Queso Fundido (Mexican)
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:
1 TB vegetable oil
½ cup chopped onion
6 oz (approx. ¾ cup) chorizo, casings removed
2 10 oz packages Oaxaca cheese (I use Cacique brand)
1 cup crumbled goat cheese
½ cup whole milk or half and half
1 fresh jalapeno, finely diced
2 roma tomatoes, seeded, diced
¼ cup chopped cilantro
Preparation:
Heat oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add onions and sauté until translucent, 3-4 minutes. Add chorizo, break up into small bits. Sauté until chorizo is browned and thoroughly cooked, 5-7 minutes.
Meanwhile grate cheese. Stir cheeses into chorizo mixture. Add milk. Stir until cheese is completely melted. Add jalapeno, tomatoes, and cilantro. Stir to combine. Pour mixture into a fondue pot or small crock pot.
Serve with tortilla chips, and fresh vegetables.
White Chocolate-Raspberry Cheesecake Fondue
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:
¾ cup frozen raspberries, thawed
2 TB granulated sugar
¼ cup heavy cream
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup white chocolate wafers, or 8 squares of Bakers' (do not use candy coating wafers)
2 TB amaretto, framboise, or white chocolate liqueur
Preparation:
Press raspberries through a fine sieve to remove seeds. Stir in sugar. Add heavy cream and cream cheese to a large saucepan set over medium heat. Whisk until cream cheese is melted (do not boil). Whisk in white chocolate. Continue to stir until chocolate is fully melted and mixture is smooth.
Stir in raspberries. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Stir in liqueur of choice. Transfer fondue to a fondue pot or small crock pot.
Serve with chocolate cookies/wafers, pound cake cubes, angel food cake cubes, apple wedges, pear wedges. Make mini marshmallow kabobs by skewering 4-6 mini marshmallows on small bamboo skewers/toothpicks.
Butterscotch Fondue
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 cups light brown sugar
½ cup light corn syrup
2 TB water
¼ tsp salt
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 TB scotch
Add butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt to a large saucepan set over medium high heat. Cook until sugar is dissolved (wash sugar crystals from sides of pan with a brush dipped in cold water, if necessary). Once dissolved, boil undisturbed for 9-12 minutes, or until mixture reaches 280 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove pan from heat. Stir in heavy cream, vanilla, and scotch (mixture may clump; keep stirring to smooth it out). Transfer mixture to fondue pot or small crock pot.
Serve with pretzel sticks, popcorn skewered on small bamboo skewers/toothpicks, apple/pear wedges, banana chunks (sprinkle w/ Fruit Fresh to maintain color), crisp cookies, ladyfingers, or cubes of angel food cake or pound cake.
CloverFields Farm & Kitchen
www.cloverfields-ky.com
3720 Mt. Olive Rd.
Hardin Springs Area
Big Clifty, KY 42712
270-862-3762
info@cloverfields-ky.com
Janine Washle and her family live at the Cloverfields Farm and Kitchen in Big Clifty, Kentucky in Hardin County. CloverFields Farm & Kitchen, part of a century old farmstead, is our home and business. The McGuffin house, the original farmhouse, is a registered state landmark. CloverFields Farm has a prosperous farming history. They are continuing this rural story in their own unique way by the addition of CloverFields Kitchen a place to explore the past through food and merge it with our modern lifestyles.
CloverFields Farm is dedicated to the preservation of southern, especially Kentucky, food traditions. The kitchen is commercially-outfitted compliant with Health Department standards. In this kitchen I develop new recipes based on original ideas, inspirations from my culinary research, and most often according to what is in season.
On the farm, they make many gifts and specialty items. She is currently working on her first cookbook, but she also has a long resume developing recipes for several companies. She has also won several contests and cook-offs with her original recipes.
Swiss Fondue
Butterscotch Fondue
White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Fondue
