*  Exported from  MasterCook  *
 
                    Basic Fondue (Fondue Neuchateloise)
 
 Recipe By     : 
 Serving Size  : 1    Preparation Time :0:00
 Categories    : Appetizers                       Cheese/eggs
 
   Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
 --------  ------------  --------------------------------
    2 1/2   fl           Dry white wine
                         Clove garlic
    5 1/2   oz           Emmental and Gruyere cheese*
    1       t            Cornstarch
      1/2   fl           Kirsch**
                         Shake pepper
                         Grind fresh nutmeg
    6       oz           White bread, cubed
 
   (Note:  the above measurements are for *each* person.
    Multiply by your number of guests.)
   
   * Grated and mixed half and half.  ** This is Swiss
   cherry firewater: clear, dry-tasting -- *not* “cherry
   brandy”, which is dark and sweet.
   
   Most good liquor stores should carry it, at least one
   of the US brands like Hiram Walker, or else maybe
   Bols.  The best Kirsch is “Etter” brand from
   Switzerland, but the odds of your finding it are
   minuscule. -- In Switzerland, fondue is usually
   perpared in a “caquelon”, an earthenware dish with a
   handle, glazed inside;  but any enamelled saucepan can
   be used, or a not too shallow fireproof dish. Rub the
   inside of the pan with half a cut clove of garlic, and
   let it dry until the rubbed places feel tacky. Put the
   wine in the dish and bring it to a boil. Slowly start
   adding cheese to the boiling wine, and stir constantly
   until each bit is dissolved, then add more.  When all
   the cheese is in, stir the kirsch into the cornstarch
   well, then add the mixture to the cheese and keep
   stirring over the heat until the mixture comes to a
   boil again.  Add freshly ground pepper and nutmeg to
   taste.  -- Remove the dish to on top of a small live
   flame (Sterno or alcohol burner) and keep it bubbling
   slowly. Bread should have been cubed ~- about 1-inch
   cubes -- for spearing with fondue forks and stirring
   around in the cheese.  The old custom is that if you
   accidentally lose the bread into the cheese from the
   end of your fork, if you're male, you have to buy a
   round of drinks for the table: if you're female, you
   have to kiss everybody. (Hmm.) .
   
   Other fondue info:  Do not drink water with fondue --
   it reacts unkindly in your stomach with the cheese and
   bread.  Dry white wine or tea are the usual
   accompaniments.  Another tradition:  the “coupe
   d'midi”, or “shot in the middle”, for when you get
   full:  a thimbleful of Kirsch, knocked straight back
   in the middle of the meal, usually magically produces
   more room if you're feeling too full. Don't ask me how
   this works...it just does.  -- The crusty bit that
   forms at the bottom of the pot as the cheese keeps
   cooking is called the “crouton”, and is very nice
   peeled off and divvied up among the guests as a sort
   of farewell to dinner.
  
 
 
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