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Switzerland: Basic Cheese Fondue (Fondue Neuchateloise)

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v7.01

Title: Basic Fondue (Fondue Neuchateloise)
Categories: Swiss, Cheese, Cheese/eggs, Dairy, Main dish
Servings: 1

2 1/2 fl Dry white wine
Clove garlic
5 1/2 oz Emmental and Gruyere cheese*
1 t Cornstarch
1/2 fl Kirsch**
Shake pepper
Grind fresh nutmeg
6 oz White bread, cubed

(Note: the above measurements are for *each* person. Multiply by your
number of guests.)
.
* Grated and mixed half and half.

** This is Swiss cherry firewater: clear, dry-tasting -- *not* "cherry
brandy", which is sweet. Most good liquor stores should carry it,
at least one of the US brands like Hiram Walker, or else maybe Bols. The
best Kirsch is "Dettling" brand from Switzerland: another good one is
"Etter".

-- In Switzerland, fondue is usually perpared in a "caquelon", an
earthenware dish with a handle, glazed inside; but any enamelled saucepan
can be used, or a not too shallow fireproof dish. Rub the inside of the
pan with half a cut clove of garlic, and let it dry until the rubbed
places feel tacky. Put the wine in the dish and bring it to a boil.
Slowly start adding cheese to the boiling wine, and stir constantly until
each bit is dissolved, then add more. When all the cheese is in, stir
the kirsch into the cornstarch well, then add the mixture to the cheese
and keep stirring over the heat until the mixture comes to a boil again.
Add freshly ground pepper and nutmeg to taste. -- Remove the dish to on
top of a small live flame (Sterno or alcohol burner) and keep it bubbling
slowly. Bread should have been cubed -- about 1-inch cubes -- for
spearing with fondue forks and stirring around in the cheese. The old
custom is that if you accidentally lose the bread into the cheese from the
end of your fork, if you're male, you have to buy a round of drinks for
the table: if you're female, you have to kiss everybody. (Hmm.)

Other fondue info: Do not drink water with fondue -- it reacts unkindly
in your stomach with the cheese and bread. Dry white wine or tea are the
usual accompaniments. Another tradition: the "coupe d'midi", or "shot in
the middle", for when you get full: a thimbleful of Kirsch, knocked
straight back in the middle of the meal, usually magically produces more
room if you're feeling too full. Don't ask me how this works...it just
does. -- The crusty bit that forms at the bottom of the pot as the cheese
keeps cooking is called the "crouton", and is very nice peeled off and
divvied up among the guests as a sort of farewell to dinner.

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