Simmer Till Done » cheese

Fondue Night, Swiss Kiss

Marilyn — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 07:46:21 +0000

At least once every winter, inspired by glittery snow that is not yet gray heaps, we break out a red enamel pot, sit in front of the fire and have ourselves a traditional Swiss fondue. We can trace this ritual to our shag-carpeted childhoods, when both our families – maybe every 70′s family – enjoyed bright fondue sets and three-packs of Sterno.

I like everything about fondue.

In the early 90′s Greg and I would go to Geja’s Cafe, the fondue institution in Chicago’s Lincoln Park, a subterranean place with stucco, flamenco tunes and delightfully curtained booths. Called “Chicago’s Most Romantic Restaurant,” it features a massive fondue menu with cheese, beef, lobster, scallops, flaming chocolate. You drink wine for two hours while you wait. You drink wine with four fondue courses, watch wine blaze your dessert, clink champagne. Then, if you are me, you pass out on the table in cheese-wine coma and, for an encore, fall out of a taxi and hurl.

Still, I like everything about fondue.

I like going to buy the cheese, and griping about the cost. Oh well, I always say, handing the cashier our mortgage, it’s only once a year. I love that it’s a one-pot meal, and prying open Sterno, and piling tart apples in bowls and drinking wine while I stir in the wine. I like forks flying, diving, and tangling under cheese. Enough tangled dipping and someone’s bound to drop an apple, or lose their bread. When that happens, tradition dictates that you kiss the person to your right…

…especially if that person is a Josie-loving Lab. Now break out that set – you know, up in the high cabinet, in the back. Pour, stir, bubble and smooch: enjoy your own fondue night.

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Traditional Swiss Fondue

adapted from The Book of Fondues

1 garlic clove, peeled and halved
1 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 cups (8 oz.) shredded Gruyère cheese
2 cups (8 oz.) shredded Emmentaler cheese
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons Kirschwasser (cherry brandy)
dash white pepper
pinch grated nutmeg

crusty French bread, cut in cubes
1 – 2 tart, firm apples (I prefer Granny Smith) cut in chunks

Rub inside of fondue pot with cut garlic clove.

Pour in wine and lemon juice; cook over medium heat until bubbling. Turn heat to low and gradually stir in cheese with wooden spoon or, for easier cleanup, a heatproof silicone spatula. Cheese will melt, but cheese and wine will appear separated.

In a small bowl blend cornstarch with Kirschwasser. Add to melted cheese mixture and continue to cook, stirring for 2 – 3 minutes, until mixture comes smoothly together. Watch carefully and do not allow fondue to boil. Season with white pepper and nutmeg, and serve immediately.

Serves 4 as a first course; double recipe to serve as main course.

A word about heat: whatever your fondue heat source, it’s a balancing act. You want it high enough to keep fondue melted, and low enough not to burn. Despite best efforts, you’ll nearly always find a small patch of burnt cheese on the bottom. French-speakers and true fondue fans love this treasure and call it “la religeuse,” the nun. I call it holy good snacking.

No-Vin Zone

Marilyn — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 20:43:34 +0000

It’s all politics right now, but – this is not so much a political blog. If I could trail the candidates from diner to diner, I’d certainly blog about their pancakes, and how they like their eggs, and that would be tasty, but frivolous – so I’ll leave greater discussion to the pundits.

Still, it’s no secret that I support a certain senator from my native midwestern state whose rearranged name makes Maraca Kabob. I support his message of inspiration, change, and also his wife’s Amaretto cookies.

We watched Maraca Kabob do an especially tricky interview with Bill O’Reilly – you know, he of the No-Sin – I mean Spin – Zone and all that. Candidate Maraca held his ground, but before the interview, Mr. O’Reilly described the reporters criticizing Sarah “Moose Meat” Palin – and indeed, he surely meant all who question the guns n’ lipstick governor – as “sniveling.”

He also called them “left-wing…”

and “…wine-drinking,”

and my personal favorite, “brie-eating.”

Well. If demanding the truth equals more brie for me, then guilty – and clearly sniveling, leftist and water-cracker-eating – as charged. Pass the slicer, pour the red, and don’t forget to vote!

It’s the Cheesiest

Marilyn — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:05:13 +0000

I am so in love with this Beemster cheese.

So much that I gave it a golden cheese halo. It is a storybook wedge – amber and firm, curls beautifully and melts like a dream. Similar to Gouda but stronger-flavored, it’s good for snacking – it’s good for anything, and here’s how the delightful Beemster people describe it:

Beemster Classic is the perfect age for any kind of cheese connoisseur to enjoy. One can enjoy Classic on a lunch sandwich in grade school or with fine wines at a dinner party.”

One can also enjoy it by eating a whole wheel. Oh, the Dutch. The only flaw is the name…it’s like I’m hangin’ with the Beemster.

And…I am. I go through little cheese infatuations. In the honeymoon stage there are peeks in the fridge, afternoon love bites and long, curling slices. Then it’s marriage, and I’ll use it every day – in eggs, grilled cheese, in chicken on Tuesday. Finally, indigestion and the oversaturated breakup: Beemster, I’m just not that into you.

But right now, the Beemster is melting my heart. We’re going steady…

…and every day is a Dutch treat.