Hi All,
What do I do to prepare my ceramic Fondue bowl. It seems I lost the instructions. There was something about soaking??

Usually those bowls are glazed. All you do is rub it out with a clove of garlic. Then you actually warm up your fondue mixture in it while stirring. At least that's what I do. Once it is all molten and smooth. You remove the cacquelon from the stove and put it on the rechaud (flame). Keep stirring it as you enter your forks (in the same direction). You can make up rules about what to do should someone lose their bread in the cheese....

I believe if you drop your bread you have to kiss everyone!!! But if you do it a second time you have to give the next fondue party

I've always heard if you drop your bread you have to do the dishes!

If you drop your bread, you have to pay the bill.

First rule of being Swiss : Never eat fondue in a restaurant

Well, I was told you had to kiss whoever fished out your bread for you and if you refused you had to preform some sort of dare... can be quite a lot of fun

That's how it's done, no ifs and buts!

If you lose your bread and don't want to kiss your fugly neighbor, you can bluff the others by spiking one of the cloves of garlic in the cheese.

Stephanwolf is right too, with the out-rubbing.

There is usually a segment about dropping the bread into fondue on the Swiss show Edelmais & Co.

Once when I was watching, the two women knifed their dining partners after they had dropped the bread off the fork. The next time they shot their dining partners after they'd dropped the bread.

Yeah, the instructions say something about having to soak the caquelon (bowl thing) in cold water for hours or an hour or something, but as far as I can tell that's all a big rumour. It doesn't make any difference if you soak it or if you don't. Or maybe I am a terrible fondue philistine and I wouldn't know a good moitie-moitie if it hit me over the head with a lump of brie.

Why not? The first time I ever ate fondu was with Swiss people who took me to a Swiss restaurant in Switzerland.
Do you really think all the fondu restaurants are filled with foreigners? Or are you being funny & I didn't get it?

There's a restaurant in my town that serves six different kinds of fondue in the winter. I went there a couple years a go with a group of Swiss.

I make my fondue with bread, boiled potatoes, pineapple, cauliflower and broccoli. They are all great dippers!

There's a place called Chässtube Rehalp by the tram station Rehalp (11). I recommend it.

We also love to make fondue at home. I like to use tiny boiled potatoes, bread, marinated garlic cloves, tiny corn cobs, tiny onions, or mushrooms for dipping.

Boiled potatoes are great! Fresh, raw fennel works as well.

Me too! Well, except for the pineapple ().
I also prefer raclette cheese with broccoli. Yum!

I disagree. I prefer eating fondue at a restaurant over my apartment smelling like a fondue factory.

...and I know a quite a bunch of Swiss people who think likewise.

BTW, I recommend the Chässtube Rehalp as well.

Hmmmm. . . then why have I eaten fondue in a restaurant with Swiss people?

Well the soaking is for the earthenware to not crack when heated,tho I don't know if this applies to glazed fondue caquelons as well,it's a certain thing to do for a so called 'Römertopf',which is unglazed and used in the oven.

IMPORTANT, do not use a ceramic fondue caquelon on a ceran hob, it scratches the glass surface,these are only to be used on a electrical or gas stove!


I will copy my article from Hello Bern about cheesy stuff, in the next post so you all will be able to impress your swiss guests with a perfectly made one

cheerio

Hello Bern Winter issue 07/08

During the long, dark and cold winter months; Swiss cheese mongers businesses will thrive, as it is the typical season to enjoy a Fondue, Raclette or Vacherin Mont d’Or in company of your loved ones.

I presume that Fondue is one of most copied Swiss dishes in foreign countries. It is one of the simplest, yet very tasty meals you can serve to your friends and family. The name ‘Fondue’ comes from the French verb "fondre", which means melting. Accordingly, it is nothing else than melted cheese.
It is a traditional Swiss winter dish, which we love to prepare when we have friends are coming over for dinner. There are almost as many Fondue variations as there are Swiss Cantons.
Basically, for a Fondue one calculates approximately 125-150g cheese,
125ml white wine, 1 tblsp. Kirsch (Schnapps) and ½ tsp. cornstarch per Person!!

You’ll need a CAQUELON (a pan made from earthen ware) and a RECHAUD (a heater to put on the table).

FONDUE NEUCHATELOISE (this is the basic Fondue recipe for 5-6 people)

400gr Grated Gruyere cheese400gr Grated Emmenthal cheese1 to 10 (to taste) Cloves of garlic, quartered
4 dl/ White wine1 tblsp. Cornstarch1 liqueur glass KIRSCHSCHNAPS
Ground pepper and ground nutmeg to taste

Peel the garlic and slice or dice the cloves coarsely. Cut another clove in half and rub the inside of the Caquelon with it. Add the wine; the grated cheese and the cornstarch (dissolve the cornstarch in a bit of the cold wine before adding). Start to heat the Fondue slowly – stir constantly!! (It’s very important to keep stirring it all the time or you won’t get a creamy Fondue.)When it is creamy and melted, add the Kirsch and season with nutmeg and pepper.At table, put the Caquelon on the Rechaud (heater). Using long forks, dip cubes of bread into the cheese. Even at the table constant stirring is important otherwise the Fondue will turn lumpy!!
Fondue is served with either white wine or strong black tea. Sometimes, pickled gherkins and onions are also served .It is not recommendable to drink cold water or fizzy drinks alongsidea Fondue, because this can lead to congealing of the cheese to a lump in your stomach, which is very uncomfortable indeed.

NON-ALCOHOLIC VERSION!
Swap the white wine for sour apple juice (Cider) and the kirsch for lemon juice

Three, of the many variations, are:

Fondue Fribourgeoise; replaces the Emmenthal cheese with VACHERIN Cheese.
(Vacherin Fribourgeois is asked NOT to be confused with Vacherin Mont d’Or)

Fondue with Mushrooms; calls for morels and porcini mushrooms to be added to the basic Fondue recipe.

Tomato Fondue; calls for Tomato puree and Tomato squares to be added to the basic Fondue recipe.

Other Special Tidbits to know:

- For each adult, place a Shot Glass filled with Kirsch on the table. Prior to dipping the bread into the
Fondue, dip the bread into the Kirsch
- Boiled, peeled and cubed potatoes taste heavenly with a Fondue (other vegetables as well as fruits,
such as Grapes or Pears, cut into chunks are also very good)
- Add shallots instead of garlic


Helpful Hints

If the Fondue gets too runny, then add another handful of cheese and let it cook on high heat or add a little more diluted cornstarch.
If it gets to thick, add a little more Wine, Lemon Juice or Kirsch.
If it starts to separate, then place it quickly back on the stove on high heat, stir briskly with a whisk and add a little more diluted cornstarch.

To add fun to the art of Fondue eating, the Swiss, usually known as very serious people, agree what the person has to do that loses a piece of bred in the cheese.
This can vary from making the women kiss every bloke at the table to sending someone out to run an errand, reciting a poem, telling a joke and so on and so forth, Of course with the level of wine and spirits rising in the bloodstream, the evening will be or end quite hilarious.


Another Swiss cheese speciality is Raclette, its name again based in French, it comes from the
verb “racler “ which means scraping. Originally it was invented by the Alpine herdsmen, they cut
an entire cheese in half, and then held it close to the open fire so that the cheese melts and scraped it with a knife onto a slice of bread.

Nowadays we have little ovens with little pans, into which we add a slice of the RACLETTE cheese and let it melt by the electrical heat. Of course that is by far not as romantic as the original version used to be.
Alongside with that, we serve little jacket potatoes and many side dishes, at least in my household. Traditionally you would only get pickled silver skin onions and pickled gherkins served to accompany a Raclette.
I usually prepare in small muesli or dessert bowls sliced onions, garlic, tomatoes, bell peppers, pears, streaky bacon, pineapple chunks, pickled gherkins, chilli cut in rings, silver skin onions and my particular favourite, freshly sliced ginger, I also find it helps prevent indigestion.


Again, same as with the Fondue ,it is ideal to prepare when you have guests, everybody is preparing it's own favourite Raclette at the table put of the cheese ad the various vegetables and pickles on offer and the portions are not too big, so you can stop any time you want.

Vacherin Mont d’Or AOC

My last ‘cheesy’ speciality to present to you is maybe not so widely known. VacherinMont d’Or is a seasonal Swiss delicacy; it’s only available in fall and during winter time. The speciality is made in the “Jura Vaudois” and there is even a Fête named after the cheese in the Vallée de Joux at Charbonnières, to start the season officially.

The bark of the fir tree plays an important role in the making of the cheese.
This bark is washed, peeled and soaked that it may develop its full taste. Then as it becomes supple, it is wrapped around the cheese. The cheese is then placed in its typical wooden box and covered with a lid.

This delicacy can be enjoyed cold or warm; it has a slightly runny texture and a heavenly mild taste with just THE hint of Tannin, coming from the fir bark.
A lovely way to eat it as a small supper is to wrap the whole cheese in its casket but without the lid, in aluminium foil, but before wrapping, prick the top lightly with a fork and drizzle with white wine and then put it in the preheated oven at 200C°/F°400 for about 30 minutes.
Place the cheese still wrapped on a heatproof plate and eat it like a fondue by dipping, with the help of a long fork, cubes of bread or boiled potatoes in it.

©sylv07

Thanks for the above post. Great advice!

The Swiss will never eat fondue in a restaurant in the summer. I remember walking through Mürren many years ago on a warm August day and passing by three Americans eating fondue outside in the warm sunshine and sipping a coke. Now that screams "tourist."