Hey there Honey's and New-Bees!

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, I’m feeling pretty indulgent but not in the mood to cook anything too elaborate. So since I have a lot of cheese (I went a little overboard at Costco) I figured why not make one of my favorite indulgences: Cheese Fondue. I mean how can you not love dipping food into warm and gooey cheese and calling that a meal?

When I first moved out on my own I inherited a fondue set from my dad who upgraded his own; I was so excited and had all these plans to make fondue every other weekend, but I kept putting it off because I thought would be super complicated and that I needed to up my cooking skills before trying to pull off fondue 😔.

Not long after I starting working in a deli during the Christmas season and was tasked with stocking the cheese fondue kits with our store cheese sommelier (this is probably not the right term but I really don’t know what to call someone who is a certified cheese expert – we just called her the “cheese lady”).  She made it no secret that she disdained these kits but had to stock them because they sold really well…she continued her rant by telling me (and teaching me) how easy it is to make cheese fondue from scratch.

That night I came home with a couple of blocks of cheese (that she picked out), followed her instructions and made my very own homemade fondue….and you know what…she was right, not only was it SUPER easy to make but it was infinitely better than those pre-packaged kits!

Since then I’ve made cheese fondue more times than I can count and love to serve it as an appetizer when I host or serve it on it’s own as a romantic dinner for two. Either way it’s an incredibly fun dish to serve that always impresses, and if I could do it so can you!

I hope you get to try this out soon and enjoy!

Before actually making your fondue you want to prep your dippers, as you need to serve the fondue immediately once its ready. The first couple of times I made cheese fondue I only served it with baguette which is great but it got stale (pun intended) pretty quickly. Now I like to create more colourful options such as steamed broccoli florets, sliced apple, sliced bartlett pear, roasted brussell sprouts, roasted cauliflower, sautéed mushrooms, steamed baby potatoes and even grapes (basically anything you would want to eat with cheese). You can really get creative here and I strongly urge you to add some diversity to your fondue and provide a couple of dipping options. Your guests (and your gut) will happily welcome the variety!

Once all your dippers are prepped, slice a clove of garlic in half and rub it all over the inside of your fondue pot. The garlic will add a very subtle garlic taste to your fondue, but you can omit it all together if you want; the choice is yours.  Once all that is taken care of, set your fondue pot aside and move to step 2.

Cheese is the main ingredient when making a cheese fondue (go figure) so make sure to use good quality cheese that will melt smoothly. Stay  away from processed cheeses which are unstable and have a tendency to separate once they are melted (it will be a giant mess).

I like to use a combination of Gruyere and Emmental, you can play around with ratio of the two cheeses but keep in mind that Emmental is much less flavourful then Gruyere so if you had choose between just one of these two I would opt for Gruyere (however, it’s a little pricier that’s why I use a combo) – btw this was all part of the cheese ladies rant…

Grate the cheese with a cheese grater or in a food processor, then coat it with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch which will prevent your cheese and wine from separating… so it is very important that you don’t miss this step (I have missed this step before…it was a disaster)! Once your cheese is evenly coated set it aside and move to step 3.

In a double boiler bring your wine and lemon juice to a gentle boil. Like the cheese, it’s important that you choose the right kind of wine, meaning choose a dry white wine like a Sauvignon Blanc or an un-oaked Chardonnay.  The goal is to use a dry wine that’s high in acid – the acid is what gives your fondue that smooth texture. Don’t stress to much about the acidity though as the lemon is there as a backup in case your wine isn’t acidic enough 😉. Also keep in mind that you also want to choose a wine you would actually drink on it’s own – why infuse your food with wine that you wouldn’t drink? I like to pick up a bottle that I’ll drink with the fondue since it’ll pair nicely and so the rest of the bottle doesn’t go to waste (it’s hard to believe but that does happen).

So once liquid has reached a gentle boil lower the heat and gradually add your shredded cheese one handful at a time. Patience is key here and make sure to stir consistently but slowly while doing this. ONLY add the next handful of cheese once the previous handful has completely melted.  If you add all your cheese at once it’ll clump together and become stringy – not the texture you want for fondue. So be patient, enjoy the moment and gradually add your cheese while stirring constantly (either in a figure 8 or zig-zag pattern) 😊.

While you’re melting the cheese make sure the temperature is kept low to avoid boiling the cheese – the temperature only needs to be hot enough to melt the cheese, if it’s to hot you’ll scorch/burn your cheese.

Once all your cheese has been melted, stir in a tablespoon of good quality brandy and a pinch of nutmeg (optional) then transfer your cheese into the fondue pot. Keep your fondue burner on the lowest setting so that it’s just hot enough to keep the cheese warm and that it doesn’t burn.

Serve with your dippers and enjoy!