Cheese Fondue Adventure

Cheese fondue is ridiculous to think about right now. It’s a dish meant to share with a group, which still isn’t possible. Several ingredients are pricey, even on sale. Prep takes a while. Not the kind of thing that goes in a container to swap with friends in the parking lot. And, speaking from experience, fondue can break easily.

But here I am, going for a pot of the melty stuff.

Trying to make it through the past 11 months has been exhausting and isolating. Some days we go in the kitchen, open the fridge, look at the random ingredients that remain, sigh heavily, and then order pizza. Or a torta. Or Tibetan noodles. There are a bunch of wonderful local places we support.

Despite all the punting, it turns out that the one thing with real power to pull me back to the stove is melty cheese. Maybe this feels like a little reward for surviving such a difficult time. And, honestly, I have unfinished business with fondue.

Daniel Gritzer’s recipe for foolproof cheese fondue on Serious Eats called for Emmentaler, which Guillaume finds to be awfully boring. One commenter suggested Fontina, so we got that instead.

The first couple times I made the fondue, the recipe really did seem foolproof. I even revived leftovers in the microwave by adding a splash of white wine and reheating it incrementally on super-low heat. Then, I don’t know if I got impatient or too ambitious or what, but the next round broke. Not dramatically. Not inedibly. Just, frustratingly.

Were the Fontina chunks too large? Probably. Should I have removed the tougher edges from the cheeses? Yeah. Did I throw in the cheeses too fast? Maybe. Did I let the heat get too high? Likely.

Forget coming up with guidance on how to successfully reheat cheese fondue. I was having trouble from the start. More wine didn’t work any magic, and neither did Nigella Lawson’s re-emulsification tip to add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon of water. Plus, the cheeses were already coated in cornstarch before going in. Yet even slightly broken cheese fondue is still pretty tasty. With the lights dimmed and our forks dunking in pieces of bread and potato, we hardly noticed.

Guillaume suggested that next time we just do half the recipe to avoid dealing with leftovers. So I weighed the cheeses, carefully trimmed off the tough parts, and chopped the Fontina into a small dice. Periodically pulling the cheese pot off the double boiler to see how much the water was boiling and then lowering the temperature also helped. I finally had a smooth fondue again. A perfect antidote to a bitterly cold night.

Cheese Fondue for Two
Adapted from Serious Eats

1 small garlic clove
½ C. dry white wine (plus extra for reheating, if needed)
4 oz. Fontina cheese
4 oz. Gruyère cheese
½ Tbsp. cornstarch, plus extra in case it splits
½ Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Salt for seasoning
Ground white pepper

To Serve:
Crusty bread cubes
Boiled fingerling potatoes, tossed in olive oil and a little salt
Cooked sausage pieces
Apple chunks tossed in lemon juice to prevent browning

Trim any tough outer parts off the Gruyère and then grate it. Remove any wax coating and tough edges from the Fontina, and then dice it into small pieces, about ¼-inch in size. You want the cheeses to melt evenly. Add the prepped cheeses to a mixing bowl and toss them with the cornstarch until they seem fairly evenly coated.

Peel the garlic clove and cut it in half, removing the germ if needed. Rub the cut side of the garlic clove around the inside of a fondue pot or a metal mixing bowl. Discard the garlic.

Set the fondue pot or metal bowl over a small pot of simmering water. You don’t want the fondue pot to come into direct contact with the water.

Add the wine and heat until it’s steaming.

Maintaining low to medium-low heat, start by adding a small handful of cheese and stir until that is mostly melted before adding another handful. Continue doing this until all the cheese has melted into the wine, hopefully forming a smooth, glossy melted cheese sauce. Be patient. This can take a while. Check to make sure the water isn’t boiling too hard.

Try to keep the fondue below a simmer. If it does break, try lowering the heat even more and adding a splash of white wine. Another option is to take a small lidded jar, add 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water, put the lid on and shake it well. Then slowly pour a little bit into the fondue while stirring.

Prior to serving, stir in the lemon juice until fully incorporated. Season with salt and white pepper to taste. Rewarm the prepared potatoes and sausages, if needed. Keep the cheese melty with a setup that elevates the pot or metal bowl over a tealight candle.

Leftovers: Refrigerate in a covered container. Prepare yourself mentally that, once reheated, the fondue will not be as good as it was before. Set a fondue pot or metal bowl over a simmering double boiler. Add a splash of white wine and heat until it’s steaming. Lower heat to medium-low. Scrape the solidified cheese into the pot and stir until it melts completely and gets incorporated into the wine. Add some salt to taste, if needed.