Comments on: Living in the seventies: Fondue, baby!

By: Prince Harold

Prince Harold — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:57:53 +0000

Charlotte,

Long time lurker, first time poster. Loving the blog, although somehwat disturbed re the piece on fondue.

I commend Senor’s efforts in extracting said rare volume from jumble sale although expect that he was more interested in yet another excuse to don the hotpants rather than melt some cheese in the Sydney summer.

Here in cold and snowy Zurich, I have had occasion to fire up the Caquelon, load it with a proprietary mix of Gruyere and Vacherin Fribourgeois (well actually one from the local Co-Op), squirt in a lot of the local Chasselas wine and Kirsch, and serve it up to the extended family, including Maureen who hosted many a Wollongong dinner party (of the pre random breath testing progressive sort I believe)with a loud and proud orange fondue set.

So to you dear Charlotte, I say get over the early 70′s recurring Cooma food nightmares and see if you can seriously scald a number of guests with a fondue. I’m off to Davos next week with family and friends and the first items in the bag, will be the fondue set, two cases of Chasselas, half a case of kirsch, and 20 kilos of special gruyere/fribourgeouse cheese mix from the Co-Op.

Cheers,

Crown Prince Harold von Thalwil

PS some HOT fondue photos to follow by personal email (this is a family site I understand)
PSS Happy Xmas to all

By: doctordi

doctordi — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:13:32 +0000

I’ve never added curry powder, though. That’s not turned up in any of my fondue recipes, and I can’t say I am sorry for the omission. Keens Curry Powder. Now that drags me back someplace I don’t want to go.

By: doctordi

doctordi — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:10:44 +0000

I love cheese fondue (I just love cheese), and am periodically seized – SEIZED, I tell you – by the need to make and eat it. Over the culinary years, I have owned several fondue sets I’ve bought with my very own money – no parental influences here. Currently I have a white ceramic number that seems to be calling to me from the back of the cupboard as I type… I got rid of the last cast iron jobby because it kept flaking bits of black tar into my bubbly cheesy wine-y peppercorn-y perfection, and we can’t have that.

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:19:42 +0000

Well well, whodathunk we had fondue aficionados right here in our own ranks. I can see the appeal of a bit of melted cheese on bread (cheese on toast, what’s not to love?) – but it’s the kirsch and curry that gets me … urrrgh. Tender filet though … hymmm.

And of course the ‘Oriental’ version is just your yummy steamboat / hotpot of every Asian persuasion, specially if in stock or broth as per your boat Jules. As to the chap with the germ phobia, woebetide if he ever set foot in my kitchen, specially now it’s an open affair.

(hastens to add that her kitchen is really quite sanitary in case dinner guests watching ..)

By: julie

julie — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 11:15:39 +0000

“parents’ fondue”? Being precocious/ancient I had my own. Delicious in small doses when well made and small chunks of bread – despite memories of trying not to gag on a mouthful of expanding cheese. Raclette’s more approachable and horizontal?

I graduated to the steamboat- one you cook in, not a paddle steamer)- which had an eastern charm and burnt a ring in my table. Only one guest refused to partake, fearing communal germs. No doubt they had a point (in fact they had two – the end of my chopsticks, right where it hurt) but surely boiling broth sterilised the prawns? As far as i know, no guest ever required hospitalisation.

By: screamish

screamish — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 09:36:53 +0000

the cheese one and the oil one are both authentic….a bourgignon fondue is hot oil with fine slices of fillet steak dipped, with lots of crunchy salad on the side and several sauces pre-prepared. much better for you than the cheese one, the oil just slides off and you get tender filet slices and salad…yum….

we have friends here who run a fondue restaurant…it’s pretty mainstream…i adore cheese fondues but always end up regretting it later…