Fondue

Fondue: (wikipedia definition) (/ˈfɒndjuː/ or /ˈfɒnduː/;[1] French pronunciation: ​[fɔ̃dy]) is a Swiss, Italian, and French dish of melted cheese served in a communal pot (caquelon or fondue pot) over a chafing stand (réchaud) heated with a candle or spirit lamp, and eaten by dipping bread into the cheese using long-stemmed forks. It was promoted as a Swiss national dish by the Swiss Cheese Union (Schweizerische Käseunion) in the 1930s, and was popularized in North America in the 1960s.

Since the 1950s, the name "fondue" has been generalized to other dishes in which a food is dipped into a communal pot of liquid kept hot in a fondue pot: chocolate fondue, in which pieces of fruit are dipped into a melted chocolate mixture, and fondue bourguignonne, in which pieces of meat are cooked in hot oil.

A fondue is something that is enjoyed by my DH and myself during the winter months. We normally try and have fondue between the time changes so from November through March. For us a basic fondue is our Saturday evening tradition when we are home. A fondue is something we also do on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve as it is time where we spend together. For us, we do a fondue bourguignonne and have both beef and chicken cubes as our meats.

Of course, a fondue is a slower meal than cooking something in the oven or on the stove but it also means that we have time to slow down and enjoy spending the time together. For us, a fondue is our break from the demands on our time and we normally spending most of the evening enjoying our time together.

The fondue that we normally have also has a potatoe cut into pieces in it to assist the oil from splashing and making lots of noise. The potatoe also means that at the end of the meal that we have french fries to enjoy and we do. Some people will put mushrooms also in the oil as a vegetable that they enjoy. Over the last little while we have also found that is fun to throw some other vegetables (minus the mushrooms) into the oil and let them cook while we are cooking our meat. The vegetables that sometimes are in our pot are carrots, cauliflower and/or broccoli. A lot of the determining factors on the vegetables is what we have and if they are a nice size to actually good. The first vegetable we tried was cauliflower and we both enjoyed it. The cauliflower can sometimes go crisp on the outside but it is very smooth on the inside. I am not sure what other vegetables we may try but we have found that the three we have tried have worked and we enjoy all of them.

A fondue is a wonderful way of spending some time together and also being able to forget even for a little while about everything else that requires our attention. When you want to slow things down and spend some time with people that you love, why not try and have a fondue.