Cheese fondue fresh

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 300 g cheese, Emmental, old
• 400 g cheese, Gruyère, recent
• 100 g cheese, Gorgonzola
• 1 piece(s) cheese, Glarner Kräuterziger
• Garlic
• 1 tsp cornstarch, maizena (potato flour)
• 5 dl wine, sparkling white wine (e.g. Fendant)
• nutmeg
• black pepper
• 5 cl cherry brandy
• 1 kg white bread
• Onions, pearl onions, pickles, etc.

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Rest time approx. 2 hours; Total time approx. 2 hours 20 minutes

Rub a fireproof pan—or better yet, a proper fondue pot—with a sliced ​​garlic clove. Add the Gruyère and Emmental cheeses grated through a Bircher grater. Cut another garlic clove into wafer-thin slices and add them as well. Fill the pot with the white wine and mix everything well. Cut the Gorgonzola into fingerberry-sized pieces and add them as well. Before serving, remove any green mold if you have sensitive guests. Grate a third of the Zigersöckli (about 30 g) through a Parmesan grater. Dissolve two level teaspoons of potato flour in 5 cl of Kirsch and pour it in. Stir again, adding finely ground pepper and nutmeg to taste. Stir again, then take a break for an hour. If your guests are already there, serve a glass of white wine or a cup of black tea. Important: No snacks! The bread is cut into bite-sized cubes, the table is set, and the fondue pot is ready. Now look for someone in the neighborhood who happens to have a bottle of methylated spirits and beg them for it. Fill the burner generously. Slowly boil the fondue mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly (!), until it is creamy (takes about ten minutes). After simmering briefly, invite your guests to the table and place the fondue pot on the burning burner. Oh yes: You eat the fondue as follows: put a piece of bread on the special (long) fondue fork, add an ingredient of your choice, and stir it briefly in the fondue pot. Normally, you eat it straight from the pan, but you can also set the cheese-soaked piece of bread aside to cool on your plate and add other ingredients or sprinkle it with an extra portion of freshly ground pepper. Japanese tourists have developed a different method: Since they don’t have much time on their European trips, they sometimes order this ominous cheese dish at nine in the morning. It’s served promptly. Then they ask for soup spoons, toss all the ingredients, including the bread, into the pan, and spoon them out. Twenty minutes later, they’re back on the road. Fondue is only eaten in the evenings with a cozy group, and then let it go on late with music, card games, or other social gatherings. Tips: If the fondue isn’t possible (the cheese becomes lumpy and the liquid floats to the top): Hand blender… If the guests don’t show up (rave party) or leave right away (radio program): A week of cheese slices… If the fondue pot is too small: Prepare the cheese mixture in a pastry bowl and cook it in two or more batches. In between, serve salad with a mild sauce, garlic bread, olives, pickled artichoke bottoms, sun-dried tomatoes, or something similar. (No chips, salted nuts, or anything like that…) Drinks: Black tea, white or light red wine (e.g., Gamay or Beaujolais Primeur, a ‘Beerliwein’, Dôle or Goron). No carbonated water. For dessert, a Sauternes or Monbazillac is highly recommended. Cherry brandy: For drinking or dipping bread in. Crust: Always regulate the burner temperature carefully. The fondue should not boil, but only bubble gently. This creates a nice cheese crust on the bottom of the fondue pot. Cleaning the fondue pot: Fill the fondue pot with cold water overnight and add the forks at the same time. Cleaning is easy the next day. Home: Let a liter of vinegar water evaporate on the stove with the windows closed. Then ventilate thoroughly.