Fondue

2 cups Gruyere cheese (shredded)
1 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons of the same white wine
1 tblspn cornstarch
1 teaspoon Kirsch
½ tspn garlic

Heat 1 cup white wine with the garlic.
When the wine is at a low simmer, add 1 handful of cheese.
Create slurry with the 2 tblespns wine and 1 tblspn cornstarch.
Add half of slurry to pot.
As cheese melts and becomes integrated into wine, add one more handful, whisk and integrate and so on until all the cheese is smooth.
Add Kirsch, stir in and serve with crusty bread cubes and assortment of dippers.

Fondue means “Melted” in French. That’s pretty much the extent of my Fondue history knowledge. However, I’m hoping that will change over the next few months as I explore the gooey and delicious world of Fondue.
You see, my step-son, (Carl), and his beautiful wife (Shayna) sent Walt and me at Fondue pot for Christmas. When we visited them in early November, we had mentioned that we were looking into Fondue pots.
They sent us the most lovely set from Amazon. It’s an electric Fondue pot (exactly what I was looking for).
For a moment, and I know you won’t bring this up to me later, allow me to proffer a bit of information involving my Fondue experience. I am a product of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. So I do remember those pots over sterno or candles that used to burn the bottom of the cheese. But I love the idea of the communal pot, dipping scrumptious morsels into a pot of warm gooey cheese. Who doesn’t, really?
Also I don’t remember my first experience with fondue, I do have a recollection of my first “Fondue Restaurant”. I was visiting my friend Jo-ann, and she and a friend of hers, went to a Fondue Restaurant. I don’t recall the name of the restaurant; I think it was something like “The little dipper”. There was a huge bough of a boat in the restaurant, which also boasted a “live white alligator”. I was very excited at the prospect of going to a restaurant that would serve us yummy gooey cheese. I had forgotten about the “other” fondue. You know the one, where you cook small bites of raw meat in a pot of oil. This fondue is the one that my sophisticated companions wanted to enjoy. A small bond fire was lit under a pot of oil at our table. Bits of raw meat of an assortment (beef and chicken) were brought to our table. I recall mushrooms and other sides being brought as well.
From this experience, I learned two things:
1) I don’t like raw meat being brought to my restaurant table.
2) If I wanted to cook my own steak one bite at a time, I could do that at home.

That, plus concept of “boiling oil” at the table (maybe one too many fairy tails or Disney films as a child, I guess) had me very skittish.
But to be honest, the food was good and the experience was a fun adventure for me.
Many years later, Walt, as a romantic evening, too me to Melting Pot.
A split of sparkling wine, a lovely salad and a spinach and artichoke cheese fondue later, I was in love with Fondue again. To finish, we had chocolate fondue, which was decadent and sensual.
So we decided to try to find a fondue pot and enjoy the experience at home. Thanks to Carl & Shayna, we were able to do just that last night.
Although the recipe calls for Kirsch, I had none in the house. The fondue was wonderful luxuriant.
I was concerned that it might be a more difficult process, than it appears and recipes had led me to believe. It is a very simple dish, heat the wine, whisk in the cheese and slurry and eureka! Fondue!!
The recipe we had filled our pot up to ¾ full, which I was sure we would have leftover cheese. Bit by bit, bite by bite, before we knew it, the fondue disappeared.
I’m doing the fondue again for my bereavement group, meeting tomorrow.

Until next time;
Eat something wonderful
and live a life worth loving.
--Kim