Classic Swiss Cheese Fondue
Ingredients
- 3 cloves garlic
- 600 millilitres dry white wine
- 800 grams gruyere cheese
- 200 grams Emmental cheese
- 100 grams Vacherin Fribourg cheese (or Fontina)
- 100 grams Tilsit cheese (or Muenster)
- 30 grams corn starch
- 30 millilitres kirsch
- 1 pinch nutmeg powder
- pepper from the mill
- 1 pinch paprika
- 1200 grams crusty bread
Instructions
- Mix the cornstarch with the kirsch.
- Break the garlic cloves and rub the crockery fondue pot (caquelon) with it. Add the white wine and bring to boil.
- Sprinkle in the cheese mixture gradually, stirring the mixture constantly with a wooden spoon.
- Slowly bring the cheese to temperature (do not boil). At this stage it is important that you keep the cheese hot, but not boiling and stir it to a homogeneous mass. If the cheese mass would split or separate, it can often be mended by adding a little lemon juice.
- Season the cheese with pepper, paprika powder and freshly grated nutmeg.
- Thicken with the kirsch diluted cornstarch, bring one more time to boil and serve immediately on the prepared Fondue Rechaud (in general a Fondue set includes a Rechaud, meaning a alcohol burning heater where the fondue is set on top of it. The fondue will continue to keep warm on it until the end of the dinner.
- Serve the bread cubes separate in a basket.
Notes
A finished cheese Fondue is supposed to be a thick coating, creamy mass.
It is important to get the right wine for an authentic outcome of the dish. The wine can have a high acidity, as it needs to "cut" the rather rich and fatty cheese.
The above recipe uses 4 different semi hard cheeses, but you may alter the cheeses as you please, but it is wise to keep Gruyere as your main cheese. Too much Emmental cheese will make the Fondue very stringy. Depending on the cheese used, the amount of thickening agent (cornstarch/kirsch) needs to be adjusted.
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