Fondue

The fondue [pronounced /fɔ̃dy/] is a typical Swiss food, native to the mountain ranges of Jura and the northern Alps, near the border Franco-Swiss Italian. The original fondue, which spread to the bordering regions of France and Italy, was a cheese fondue. It has given rise to numerous variants and its fame has spread to many countries around the world.

It consists of dipping small pieces of food with a skewer in hot liquids such as melted cheese, oil or chocolate, in a small clay or cast iron pot, common for all diners and placed in the center of the same table.; The typical container is called caquelon, or fondue for Spanish speakers. Diners serve themselves using a two- or three-pronged metal skewer, with which they insert pieces of bread into the cheese, pieces of meat into the oil, or fruit in the chocolate variant.

In the case of cheese fondue, it is a preparation with many calories, typical of cold climates, but, above all, it generates an atmosphere of camaraderie. Fondue is, for example, known in some countries for its use for celebrations such as Friends' Day, which invite several people to share this typical dish.

Etymology

The word fondue comes from the French language, it is the passive participle of the past, feminine gender (melted) of the verb fondre (melt, melt) which is now used as a noun, with probable influence of the Arpitan language ^{[citation required]}.

The first mention of the noun fondue in its culinary meaning seems to have been made in 1735 in the French work Le cuisinier moderne by Vincent la Chapelle.

To heat the fondue

To keep the cheese melted and the oil to maintain its temperature, place the caquelon on a small tabletop stove. There are modern versions of caquelon with a portable burner based on butane gas, alcohol and even electric ones, generically called fondue. Some of this equipment includes, in addition to the stove and the container, trays for preparing raclette.

Cheese fondue

It is what gives its generic name to the dish, fondue, meaning melted in French. It is one of the national dishes of Switzerland, and is the original dish from which other fondues are derived.

History

The origin of the recipe could be found in the ancient custom of shepherds and mountaineers of heating the pieces of old cheese, therefore hard, not only to soften them, but also to make a plate of hot food. The first version of fondue appears in 1825 in the book by the French chef Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin La physiologie du goût, who claimed to have discovered it in the Canton of Vaud. The cheese was melted in a mixture of eggs and butter. This old version is repeated throughout the 19th century (Alexandre Dumas Sr. names it in his Grand dictionnaire de cuisine in 1873) until the publication of a recipe without eggs and with white wine, in the cookbook La cuisine pratique (The practical kitchen), awarded at the Swiss culinary exhibition in Zurich in 1885. It can be deduced from the above that Swiss fondues in their current form, with cheese and kirsch, predate 1885.

Cheese fondue is also a traditional dish in the French regions of Savoy and Franche-Comté, and in the Italian regions of Aosta Valley and Piedmont. In Savoy, fondue became fashionable in the 1930s and has since become a classic of regional tourism.

Features

Cheese fondue is made by melting a mixture of cheeses, such as Gruyère, Comté, Emmental and Tomme de Savoie, in white wine flavored with Kirsch (cherry brandy). Hold the piece of bread with the two or three-pronged skewer, and stir it in a figure eight so that the melted cheese is not cut.

In French and Swiss cheese shops, the cheese mixture for fondue is sold ready-made to make it easier for neophytes to choose cheeses. Each region uses its local cheeses, which gives rise to a series of variants.

Meat fondue

Meat fondue is traditionally called bourguignonne (burgundian). Despite its name, it is of Swiss origin and its name only refers to the French province of Burgundy as this is a region traditionally dedicated to raising beef and veal for consumption. According to tradition, it is made with beef, choosing top quality cuts, these being the most tender.

There are variants in which chicken or turkey breast, or pork tenderloin, are used.

Preparation

It is necessary to carefully prepare the ingredients for meat fondue and have them ready in advance. Estimated between 200 and 250 grams of meat per person, approximately, and a minimum of 4 to 6 kinds of sauces are served, which can be varied to taste by modifying them with personal touches.

The meat has to be very fresh. It should be cut to bite size, not smaller, so it doesn't dry out.

There are two ways to serve it, depending on the type of meat used. The beef or veal is kept dry and unsalted to avoid splashing and so that it remains juicy when fried. It must be covered with parchment paper or aluminum, kept in the refrigerator and removed an hour before cooking, so that it reaches room temperature. Chicken and pork can be previously prepared by marinating it Spanish-style, in a mixture of water, salt, paprika, garlic and vinegar. The meat must marinate for at least 6 hours before serving. This way, the food takes less time to cook in the fondue and acquires a slightly stronger flavor.

To bring the fondue to the table, fill a third of the pot with oil. It can be preheated over the kitchen fire and then placed in the heater. To test the temperature, drop a piece of bread into the oil. When it browns in less than 1 minute, you must adjust the heat so that the meat cooks evenly and the oil does not cool.

To flavor the oil and meat, a couple of whole garlic cloves and fresh herbs, such as thyme, bay leaf, rosemary or oregano, are usually added to the oil.^{[citation needed]}

When you submerge the meat, a crust should instantly form that enhances the flavor of the bite. The meat is eaten with a wide range of cold sauces available to diners: mayonnaise, béarnaise sauce, tartar sauce, pink sauce, barbecue sauce, mustards, etc.

Chocolate fondue

At the beginning of the 1960s the concept of fondue was extended to baking; at that time chocolate fountains appeared. Through a simple mechanism with a heater at the base of the chocolate fountain and in continuous cascades on different bases, the chocolate is made to flow in an impressive and very attractive way. In it you can dip fruits, meringue, cakes, cookies and other foods.

To season the sweet bites, cinnamon, powdered ginger and even pepper are used.

Friend's Day Celebration

Fondue in any of its varieties has been used to celebrate Friends' Day in some places. Its use originates from two fundamental premises, the first of which is to share the same dish with those with whom we are united by a special bond of friendship or familiarity. Secondly, the fact that this celebration of friendship occurs during times of low temperatures in the aforementioned countries, prone to extremely caloric food.

Other varieties

There are the following varieties apart from the previous ones:

• Chinese Fondue: consists of fine slices or fetishes of meat and vegetables that are cooked sinking them in a broth that stays warm in a wok. When it is made with pieces of fish and seafood (wigs, trepang, shrimp, mussels), in France it is sometimes called fondue mongole (fondue mongola).
• Fondue Vietnamese: based on fine slices of ox meat (cut as for a carpaccio) and shrimp that are cooked in a vegetable broth. This one drinks in a bowl at the end of the fondue.
• Japanese Fondue: is the name given to the sukiyaki, which consists mainly of pieces of meat cooked with vegetables.
• Fondue Bacchus: based on slices of meat cooked in wine next to the vegetables.
• Fondue bressane: pieces of chicken meat (eventally packed with breadcrumbs) and fried in oil. This fondue receives its name from the French region of Bresse, known for the high quality of its chickens.

Types of pots

There are three types of fondue pots, some of them currently almost out of use due to the complexity of making a fondue with them.

• Gas Fondue: It is the most traditional and complex fondue, you have to acquire a small burner to be able to perform it. You must carry a manual temperature control to carry a perfect cooking.
• Electric Fondue: We are the most sold today, these fondue have a thermostat to keep the perfect temperature at all times.
• Sailing Fondue: Ideal for desserts, it heats by a small candle placed on the base.

Curiosities

• During the fondue you can play a garment or punishment: when one of the diners falls a piece of bread (cheese phone), of meat (meat phone) or fruit (colate phone), you have to pay a garment or submit to the judgment of the other diners, for those who will have to perform a "act of punishment" (penitence). This tradition appears in the comic Asterix in Helveciaduring a cheese fondue.
• There is a curious instrument to collect fallen pieces within the pot. It is a mini-colator that sometimes accompanies the puncture game.