Numerous decades back, I worked for a enterprise that experienced a company office environment in Belgium, and some Belgian employees came and visited our neighborhood business on a organization vacation. As I was chatting with one particular of them, the issue of fondue came up. I offhandedly mentioned this most loved fondue restaurant of mine, and raved about the mouth watering chocolate fondue dessert.
Throughout his confront arrived a appear of incredulous horror. He experienced the very same expression I have to have had when I observed spam sushi in Hawaii for the to start with time. For him, the only good fondue was cheese fondue, and a chocolate fondue was just a erroneous, unnatural detail. Any notions of Us residents being a savage, uncultured and decadent people must have been verified in his eyes.
Even so, we have chocolate fondue, and I am permanently grateful for it. Especially, we have Konrad Egli to thank, a Swiss(!) chef who established it for New York’s Chalet Swiss restaurant in 1964. He experienced previously currently commenced to popularize the more common fondue through his cafe by that includes equally the cheese model and the approach of cooking meat cubes in sizzling oil (Fondue Bourguignon).
Effectively, with the introduction of the chocolate aspect, the fad definitely took off. Fondue became a popular menu item at American evening meal functions in the course of the 60’s and 70’s, and is starting up to turn into common yet again.
Fondue at first arrived from the mountains of Switzerland, where poverty-stricken peasants experienced tiny to maintain them other than for Gruyere cheese, bread loaves and a lot of wine. Lousy peasants. Creating do of these meager components, they put together them to create what turned the common fondue, melting the challenging cheese with the wine in a communal earthenware pot, and having turns dipping the bread into the tasty combination.
Fondue Bourguignon, on the other hand, was a French generation. Born out of requirement, a medieval monk by the title of Johann du Putzxe came up with the idea. He worked in the vineyards of Burgundy and essential a handy way to have lunch even though he harvested the grapes. A pot crammed with scorching oil set close by the place he could dunk & cook tasty morsels of meat while he labored was the answer.
These days, there are several different kinds of fondue sets accessible on the current market. There are burners that are heated by tea lights, butane, liquor & electrical energy. For cheese and chocolate fondue, a regular pot identified as a caquelon is employed. This is normally created from ceramic or earthenware. An enameled iron or copper pot is applied for Fondue Bourguignon.
If you do not want to deal with the mess and trouble of building fondue at residence (the fondue pots can be tricky to thoroughly clean immediately after a meal), there are numerous restaurants that specialize in fondue that you can go to. My favorite, La Fondue in Saratoga, California, is whimsically adorned, with a intimate, somewhat gothic ambiance that looks like the form of put La Cirque du Soleil would go to for lunch.
Several variations of cheese fondue are available, these as Mediterranean (cheddar, beer & sunshine-dried tomatoes) and Stinking Rose (Swiss, wine & garlic). For the Fondue Bourguignon, exotic meats these as wild boar and ostrich are made available, as well as delicious dipping sauces.
The chocolate fondue, although, is to die for. Along with your option of chocolate (milk, bittersweet or white) and flavorings (Amaretto, Irish Cream and others), you can dunk in items of snicker bars, marshmallows, strawberries, apples, bananas & sponge cake.
Deliver a substantial hunger when you arrive below, so you have room for all the delectable programs.
If you would like to experience the entertaining and novelty of fondue by yourself, here is a variety of fondue dining establishments that could be in your location:
- The Melting Pot – 70 restaurants in locations all throughout the nation
- Boiling Stage Fondue – Woodinville, WA
- Café Fondue – Merrillville, IN
- Dante’s Down the Hatch – Atlanta, GA
- Der Fondue Chessel – Keystone, CO
- Fondue Fred’s – Berkeley, CA
- Fondue Space – Mount Clemens, MI
- Forever Fondue – La Jolla, CA & San Diego, CA
- Geja’s Café – Chicago, IL
- La Fondue Bourguignonne – Sherman Oaks, CA
- The Magic Pot Fondue Bistro – Edgewater, NJ
- Mona Lisa Fondue Cafe – Nampa, ID
- Potpourri Fondue Restaurant – Mentor, OH
- Basically Fondue – Dallas, TX
