Simmer Till Done

For our first true family meal in the new old house, we made fondue. My family did fondue night often in the 70′s, the meat-in-oil version, complete with little round plates and five “special sauces.” Our bright yellow pot had a wooden handle, and everyone’s fork was a different color. Chunks of beef – simply boiled in oil – never tasted so good.

In college I stirred up my own fondue parties, but the style I adopted was traditional Swiss, and that eventually became my family’s style, too. It’s such a gooey, decadent treat that you really can’t have it very often; but how often do we build a new old house?

Start with the cheeses – Gruyere and Emmenthaler. You’ll need a small mountain of cheese, and a second mortgage to buy it.

Don’t worry about calories. This is not the time. Think…calcium.

Shred it all with the glorious invention that is the food processor.

Rub a split and smashed clove of garlic inside the fondue pot. Mmm…garlic hands for two days!

Pour a few cups of white wine and a bit of lemon juice over the garlic. Heat on medium until just bubbling, and – this is important, now -

- drink the remaining white wine.

Add your cheese, and a little cornstarch mixed with a lot of Kirschwasser liqueur.

Stir like you’re Swiss, like you’ve been fondue-ing all your yodeling life.

Slice up a baguette – here we also added excellent cranberry-walnut bread – as well as Granny Smith apples and, for the extra-carnivorous, some thick diced ham.

If at all possible, eat in front of the fireplace. Light that Sterno can, and…wow.

The fondue scene transformed our prim English Tudor…

…into a groovy Better Homes & Gardens recipe card, circa 1975.

At the risk of stating the obvious, fondue is sooooo delicious. And if you make your own fondue night, don’t forget our favorite custom: if you lose your bread in the fondue, you must kiss someone on your right.

Someone who loves Gruyere cheese.