Melting Pot Cheese Fondue Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What do you dip in cheese fondue at the melting pot? ›

Each cheese fondue comes with artisan breads and seasonal vegetables for dipping.

The best cheese for fondue is a buttery, creamy cheese that melts smoothly. The best all-around cheeses for fondue are fontina, Gruyère, and gouda. If you aren't sure what to pick, use even amounts of these three.

The cornstarch protects the proteins and the fat in the cheese from breaking down and becoming clumpy and lumpy. Some recipes use flour, but I think that changes the taste of the fondue, making it more starchy. That being said, if you don't have cornstarch you can substitute flour. Thirdly, keep the heat low.

Whatever the case, you need to fix your fondue fast. Do so by creating a slurry consisting of ¼ cup (60 ml) cold white wine and three tablespoons of cornstarch. (This is good for about 1 ½ pounds/650 grams of grated cheese.) Once combined, whisk it into your sauce little by little until it finally comes together.

Religieuse / Grossmutter

If the heat is on too high or if you don't eat the cheese fondue quickly enough, a thin layer may start to cook on the bottom of the pot. This hardened cheese crust carries the name of la religieuse (the nun) in French-speaking Switzerland.

Ones to avoid are Parmesan and Pecorino (any hard, aged cheeses), goat and feta (any dry, crumbly cheeses) as they don't melt well. Cheeses that are made for melting in grilled cheese and quesadillas include Cheddar, American, Swiss and Cabot's creamy Monterey Jack.

What Are the Best Gruyère Substitutes? There are plenty of other premier cheeses that can serve as good substitutes for Gruyère cheese. Depending on whether you're melting cheese or adding more variety to your charcuterie board, you might consider Beaufort, Comté, Jarlsberg, Emmental, or Fontina.

A cheese fondue mixture should be kept warm enough to keep the fondue smooth and liquid but not so hot that it burns. If this temperature is held until the fondue is finished there will be a thin crust of toasted (not burnt) cheese at the bottom of the caquelon. This is called la religieuse (French for the nun).

Lemon juice helps stabilize the emulsion of melted cheese and wine, while providing a bright flavor to balance the dairy-fat richness. Keeping the heat low while melting the cheese prevents the fondue from breaking.

Here are the most commonly used melting salts: Sodium citrate. A little bit of sodium citrate—the salt of citric acid—will help emulsify the proteins and the fats in cheese, preventing them from splitting and forming a dry, stringy mess.

How much cheese per person in fondue? ›

How Much Cheese Per Person for Fondue? Plan to purchase around eight ounces of cheese per person when serving fondue. An intimate date night meal for two would require about a pound of cheese, while a meal for four would require two pounds, a dinner party with eight guests would need four pounds, and so on.

This fondue recipe calls for Gruyère and Swiss cheeses because they're creamy, buttery, and melt smoothly. Other good choices include Gouda, fontina, and Emmental.

If the fondue is too thin, and you have leftover shredded cheese, stir in about one cup. Or, dissolve 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in 1 tablespoon of the cooking liquid and gradually stir in enough of the mixture into the simmering fondue for it to reach the desired consistency.

Too much starch could make the fondue too sticky and too much wine, which lowers the pH, could make it too liquidy. Many Swiss add baking soda to their fondue, which can increase the airiness of the dish by releasing carbon dioxide.

What to Dip In Cheese Fondue. Serve this top-rated cheese fondue with cubed French bread, meat, potatoes, sliced fruit (such as apples), vegetables (such as cauliflower, broccoli, and sliced bell peppers), crackers, chips, or pretzels.

Don't drink anything but these 3 beverages: Sip only white wine, kirsch, or a tisane of herbal tea with your fondue meal. According to Swiss lore, any other drink—be it water, juice, or beer—will cause the melted cheese to coagulate and form a giant ball in your stomach, leaving you with debilitating indigestion.

The fondue pot, caquelon, absorbs some of the direct heat and lets the cheese melt at the correct temperature. The more aged the cheese, the better it melts, and the addition of acid in the form of wine and lemon juice keeps the proteins apart and helps the cheese melt evenly.