I would like some, please.
I’m going to be prepairing a Festival of Fondu with three different pots -
Cheese (ementhaler, guyrere)
Meet (beef)
Seafood (Prawns and Scalops)
Does anyone have any yummy dip recipies they would like to share? Or fondu suggestions in general? 
Heh. I just had a chocolate fondue thread, and it went swimmingly well. People here know their fondue.
The biggest, most important thing to do is to melt the fondue/boil the oil on the stove. Don’t rely on the little Sterno candle to melt anything. It’ll only keep the food warm.
White bread was mentioned as something good to have in the chocolate fondue thread. At my last fondue party, it was the first thing to go (five people went through two fresh baked loaves!)
How is your meat being cooked? I had a vat of gruyere and a vat of oil. Everything got cooked in the oil, and then dipped in the gruyere or in one of a half dozen sauces I had available. Are you planning on cooking the meats in the fondue sauce, or having it pre-cooked?
Last thing - have something on the light side for dessert. Fondue is a heavy meal, even thoug hyou don’t tend to eat too much. I made creme brulee, and it was too rich by far.
Here’s what I remember from my life in Switzerland:
Regular fondue is cheese (I think you have the types correct, although you may be missing one) with kirschwasser (a sort of cherry liquor), dry white wine, garlic and fresh ground black pepper. Only dip crusty bread into this if you’re a purist. If you shred the cheese before hand you can probably melt it over the flame thing, but it is easier on a stove top. Always stir in figure eights (I have no idea why, but they were insistent on this point). The swiss would also say that you should only drink warm liquids or alcohol with a cheese fondue so it doesn’t congeal in your stomach. Better safe than sorry.
There is also Fondue Bourgognon (Burgundian), Fondue Chinois (Chinese) and the much more rare Fondue Bacchus. They are cooked in oil, broth or wine, respecitvely. The Fondue Bacchus we had was great, I think it was veal. I couldn’t tell you which wines to use, but not something too expensive. You might also consider some nice, lighter sides like salads or veggies. Again wine is called for to drink, just because it is right.
Oh, and let us know what time to show up and what to bring (I have some nice reds set aside for just such occasions).
The cheese fondu will be for bread and blanched veggies only (carrots and brocolli stems for sure, other things if I can think of it.)
The beef will be cooked in a seperate pot in oil and then served with a selection of dipping sauces.
I may also do a batter for some mushrooms and cheese cubes to be done in the oil fondu.
The seafood will be precooked and then I’m going to make a warm lobster saffron bisque to dip the seafood in. I was thinking of sticking to prawns and scalops for this. I may also have some dipping sauces for the seafood, but that could get quite saucy :eek:
I’m going to serve a spinach salad (just because the spinach will cut all the fat!)
For desert I’m not sure. I’m thinking of doing chocolate fondo and making a whole theme of it. However, I could also do something like a light lemon souflee - it tends to be more of a lady desert though (for some reason the fellas don’t seem to enjoy it as much - too fluffy maybe).
Keep the suggestions comming! Does anyone have a must have sauce for the beef? I don’t eat the stuff so I’m not sure what to dip it in - my mom has recommended a “Gentleman’s Sauce” that has horseradish and some other stuff in it as a must have with beef. A couple more suggestions would be great!
You missed the most interesting of the tradidional types of cheese for a swiss fondue, the Appenzeller. I don’t know how common (and affordable) it is in your area. Have you tried it? It is a bit spicier than the other two and has a unique aroma. Even if you don’t put it into your fondue, it is also very nice on bread.
As I alluded to in a previous thread, the fondu is going to be enjoyed by a pregnant lady so I have to make sure all the cheeses are North American and pasturized. So, I suppose if I can find some North American, pasturized Appenzeller, I might toss it in.
No such thing. Actually, I have my doubts about pasturized, North American Gruyere or Emmental. Do such things exist? Do they taste good? Besides, wouldn’t the cooking of the cheese have much the same effect as pastuerization? And why is North American important in pregnancy? (Not trying to be a wise guy, I just don’t know)
For cheese fondues, rub a split clove of garlic all around the pot.
Also, a white wine mixed in with the cheese and served (chilled, of course) by the glass really complements the fondue. There’s a Swiss wine (yes, Swiss) called Chateau d’Auvernier Neuchâtel (about $25 a bottle) that works oh so well with this concept. In a pinch, I’ve substituted a Gewürztraminer that worked well too.
If you’re doing the meat and shrimp (a.k.a. oil) courses at home, make sure to get the ventilation going early on. The smell of cooking with oil can really permeate for a while in fabric.
I know it takes the romance or airs out of it a bit, but I’ve kinda moved away from the whole sterno/tealight fondue pots and am working with electric pots. The temperature is much easier to control that way (and you can even heat up the cheese in them instead of going from stove to pot).
I hate the electric pots - then you have the nasty looking cord draging accross the table, people or puppies tripping on it, spraying hot oil everywhere. Ugh! Did I mention that we’re a clumsy lot?
Shibb - yes, you can get pasturized, North American ementhaler and gruyere and they’re quite tasty - very similar to the European ones.
The reason for North American cheeses is that they can’t be sold without being pasturized. I don’t believe that just melting the cheese will kill all the badness that lurks within, but I don’t actually know for sure. Anyhow, better safe than sorry - if the kid is born with a third arm, I don’t want it to be my fault. 
If it’s any consolation, the electric pots I have, have the magnetic attachment at the pot so that it will release before it’s moved. That certainly doesn’t help the ugly factor and it’s only worse if I’ve got more than one pot running at the same time.
Oh, as for sauces to go with the beef, I’d definitely go with horseradish, teriyaki sauce, and a ginger plum sauce too.
Ginger plum sauce recipe:
1 cup (250 mL) hot strong tea
½ cup (125 mL) chopped, pitted prunes
1 shallot, minced
1 tbsp (15 mL) tomato paste
1 bay leaf
¼ cup (50 mL) white wine
1 cup (250 mL) chicken broth
1 tbsp (15 mL) finely grated fresh ginger
Salt and pepper
Sauce: Purée tea and prunes in a blender or food processor until smooth. Add minced shallots to pan used to sear the duck, reducing heat to medium. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, bay leaf and any marinade remaining in bowl. Increase heat to medium-high.
Pour in wine and cook, stirring to scrape up any cooked on bits. Add broth, prune mixture and ginger. Boil until reduced and thickened. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Strain sauce.
Chunks of apple are great for dipping into cheese fondue.
Are you looking for 100% homemade for this meal? That’ll be a lot of work. If not, Lowry’s has a bunch of stirfry sauces and marinades that are good for dipping as well. I got the lime-ginger one, and everybody loved it! You could also have some sort of barbecue sauce for the beef.
As for the warm lobster saffron bisque, recipe, please? 
A simple and excellent dipping sauce can be made with mayonnaise, curry powder and a little salt. Trust me on this. Just blend in curry powder until it looks about right, add a little salt and let it sit for awhile to develop. Goes great with beef, chicken, shrimp, etc.
Also, I like to fondue small meatballs. You can make them with whatever you like and they dip well in most anything, including the above sauce. I like to make mine with about a quarter-cup of bottled chili sauce.
Sweet and sour sauce and hot mustard sauce work well with seafood; and peanut sauce (peanut butter and soy sauce, with a dash of hot sauce) works well with chicken.
When making the cheese fondue, dredge the grated cheeses in a little flour to help thicken the dip.
At the end of the melting, add a shot of brandy or Kirsch and some grated nutmeg.
A good chablis works about as well as anything; if your wine isn’t dry enough, when the bubbles start to form (and before adding the cheese), add about a tablespoon of lemon juice.
Oh hell, I hit the button too soon. A nice compement to the cheese fondue is to provide plates with poppy, toasted sesame and caraway seed. After dipping the bread in the cheese, touch it to a seed plate for a nice flavor.
What? no chocolate? I used just regular chocolate with a bit of Kirsh (sp?) to keep it liquid. Have M.cherries, bits of apple and pear, pineapple, strawberries, or any in-season fruit and angel food cake cut into cubes and lightly toasted in the oven.
Clearly someone didn’t read the whole thread…
I’m deciding between doing chocolate fondu for desert, or going with something lighter like a lemon soufle - I haven’t quite made up my mind yet.
Chefguy this:
looks like an excellent idea! I’ll probably skip the meatballs - the only reason there’s going to be beef is because I can get it precut from my butcher - I try to avoid touching meet whenever possible.
For the lobster bisque recipe, let me finish my experimenting and when it’s done I’ll post it here - I’m still tweaking it a little.
I did a fondue night at my house a few weeks ago. We skipped the meat/oil thing, and just went for the cheese and chocolate. My friend made the cheese fondue, and instead of doing a traditonal one, she made a “Pub Fondue” made with Newcastle Brown Ale and cheddar cheese. We used a good, chewy sourdough bread and salted, boiled baby Yukon Gold potatoes for dipping into the cheese. I really loved this fondue even more than the traditional Gruyere-based kind.
I made the chocolate fondue from Dark Chocolate Toblerone bars, heavy cream and honey, and used pound cake, strawberries (expensive and crappy this time of year), orange sections, and apples for dipping.
Cubed ham is good with cheese fondue for the carnivores in the woodpile.
Ew. That’s really nasty.
alice_in_wonderland I just wanted you to know that you caused me to buy all kinds of expensive groceries today. I needed to drop off my movies at the rental place that’s right next to the grociery store. This thread had me drooling the other day, and I thought I’d just pick-up a cheese soup mix. Really, just cheese soup mix. I didn’t intend to do a fondue thing, but after reading this I needed a cheese fix. Ha! Now I have scallops, crab clusters, several different types of cheese, two bottles of white wine, assorted aromatic veggies… then I started thinking about rice dishes… hmmm… seafood and smoked sausage, yep, gotta have sausage… and if I make cheese soup it has to have some good beer in it… Oh! I better have a fresh lemon… Hey! I’ve never had limburger cheese, I’ll just buy some to try.
So now I’m sitting here drinking Bock beer, trying to decide what to eat first!
Have you had your party yet? If so, How’d it go?