How to Throw a Fondue Party

I have always heard that when throwing a fondue party you only want to have one pot of fondue a night, either cheese or chocolate. Not both, or it is considered tacky, and fondue overload.

I disagree.

Unless you and your friends are genuine food snobs, I say the more fondue the better. When I throw fondue parties I usually make three different types of fondues. Fondue is such a fabulously kitsch style of dining, that allows your inner kid to come out and play with your food. What better way to get your guests talking and laughing while at the same time developing their “keep the food on the fork” skills.

Foods to dip
♥ Steamed or boiled broccoli, carrots, baby potatoes, and cauliflower are great for dipping. Make sure not to cook the broccoli or cauliflower for too long, they should still be slightly firm so they don’t fall apart in the pot.

♥ A French bread baguette is a classic accompaniment to fondue. When cutting French bread for fondue, cut about one inch pieces. Make sure each piece has some of the crust, so the fork can hold on to the bread easier.

♥ Meats such as chicken grilled on little wooden skewers, frozen meatballs or little smokies are great meat options for dipping. If you want to get more creative, you could wrap little smokies in bacon, and secure with a toothpick.

♥ Strawberries, donut holes, marshmallows, sliced apples, and tiny baked goods such as bites sized brownies are excellent for dipping in dessert fondues.

Other Tips
♥ When serving chocolate or cheese fondues use a ceramic fondue pot as apposed to the metal ones. You can even find metal ones with a ceramic insert (you put water in the metal part, to act like a double boiler). The metal fondue pots are for broth based fondues, and will burn the chocolate and cheese fondue. Believe me, that is quite a task to clean up if it happens.

♥ Because the dinner and dessert is already so colorful and fun, you really don’t need more than a few bottles of wine and some beer to serve your guests. Choose your wine according to the cheese you use for your fondue.

♥ Count on having about four to six people per fondue pot. There are forks for more, but you don’t want your guests to be scraping the sides of the pot to get the little bits of cheese. Not including the fondue expect each guest to eat about 1 1/2 pounds of food throughout the evening. Plan accordingly.

♥ Set the fondue pot in the middle of a small table so guests can gather around it. I like to have the dipping food on a different table, and have small plates, so they can fill up and return to the fondue pot. To make it even more intimate, sometimes I put my fondue pot in the middle of my coffee table, and we all dine cross legged in our stockinged feet.

♥ If you use wine in your cheese fondue plan on serving the same kind of wine to drink.

Fondue Etiquette
♥ Never touch your mouth to the fork and absolutely NO double dipping!

♥ According to tradition; if you lose your food in the pot, you owe the group a round of drink!

Recipes
Swiss Cheese Fondue
Ingredients:

• 1 Clove of garlic halved
• 1 Teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup Gruyere cheese, grated
• 1/2 cup Emmenthaler cheese, grated
• 1 cup Cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 tablespoon flour

Directions:

1. In a medium sized pot, rub the halved garlic along the sides.
2. Add wine, lemon juice and flour, stirring to break up any clumps that may be in the flour. Add cheese, stirring. Place pot over low heat.
3. Stir every few minutes, until cheese is melted and a good consistency for dunking. Transfer to a fondue pot.
4. Serve with cooked chicken or beef chunks and vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, and baby potatoes, cooked not too soft, so they don’t fall apart in the fondue pot.

Chocolate Fondue
Ingredients:

• 1 small bag milk chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon Frangelico
• 1/3 cup half and half

Directions:

1. In a double boiler (or like I used a metal bowl, with a towel in my hand over a slightly smaller pot), bring water up to a boil.
2. In the bowl combine all ingredients, stirring frequently, until melted.
3. Transfer to a fondue pot.

For lots more fondue recipes go to Go Fondue or Fondue Bits.

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