Classic fondue still works for modern entertaining

The first time I hosted a fondue party back in the mid-1990s I called my mom for recipes. She handed me the recipe pamphlet that came with her stainless steel pot and recommended a few additional dipping sauces.

I realize now I got in over my head, planning a cheese fondue appetizer, beef and pork cubes in peanut oil for a main course and a chocolate-Amaretto dessert with angel food cake and fruit dippers. I was so busy setting food out onto chilled platters, mixing sauces and melting chocolate that I broke the cardinal rule of fondue-party hosting: have fun.

"It's the ultimate make-ahead meal; it's easy on the host/hostess," says Peggy Fallon, author of "Great Party Fondues" (2008 Wiley, $16.95). "They can sit down with their guests and cook right along with them. The host/hostess can enjoy themselves."

Now she tells me.

Turns out my first mistake was attempting three fondue courses. Unless you have three pots, you'll be in the kitchen, away from your guests, scrubbing pots.

Instead, Fallon suggests, select a portion of the meal to be served from the fondue pot.

At a cocktail party, offer cheese and vegetable-based fondues on the appetizer table.

"With the holidays it really makes a fun appetizer for a party," Fallon says. "It's interactive."

Gruyere with caramelized onion or fontina with fennel and olives offer a nice change of pace from the traditional Swiss pot of Emmenthaler, Gruyere and Appenzeller cheese.

"There are so many more cheese selections now; in the '70s it took a lot of searching to find good Emmenthaler," Fallon says. "Using artisan cheeses in fondue brings it up to a whole new level."

Her book also includes recipes for dip-like fondues featuring warmed vegetable mixtures, including Emerald Spinach and Chipotle Sweet Potato, that you can use with chicken sausages, cooked shrimp or scallops, or crusty bread and vegetables.

If you plan to offer fondue as the main course, build the rest of the meal around it, Fallon says.

Her Creamy Manchego fondue works as the centerpiece of a Spanish-themed meal. Serve chunks of hard chorizo and roasted potatoes for dunking and set out marcona almonds and olives for between bites.

Chef Christopher Green of the Viking Cooking School and Culinary Shop in Glenview suggests shabu-shabu, a Japanese-style fondue that incorporates cooking beef and vegetables in a broth, then adding noodles to the leftover cooking broth to create a yummy soup.

If you're serving fondue as the main course, he suggests keeping the group small.

"It's a group activity that makes for easier entertaining, but more than six people around a pot can get a little crazy," Green says.

Add wine or liqueur and it can be a free-for-all.

"You need kirsch (brandy) as an acid to break down the cheese and keep it smooth, but you can add it to the menu as a drink," Green says. "You can create fondue games: If you drop the dipper, you have to kiss the person next to you or do a shot."

I'll certainly keep that in mind for my next fondue party.

Fon-dos and don'ts

Do

• maintain heat so cheese remains warm, not hot

• bring broths to a boil; heat oils to 375 degrees

• cut food into bite-sized pieces for quicker cooking

• take turns

Don't

• fill the pot more than halfway

• double dip

• put the dipping skewer into your mouth

• add fuel to the fire; fill canister before lighting

Source: Daily Herald interviews

Japanese Beef Fondue-Shabu-Shabu

Broth

6 cups rich beef broth

5 whole green onions, cut into 3 or 4 pieces

3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

8-10 whole black peppercorns, cracked

Fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced on the diagonal

2 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce, or to taste

Dippers

2 ounces (1 small bundle) cellophane noodles, see note

3 medium carrots, peeled and very thinly sliced on the sharp diagonal

2¼ pounds rib-eye steak (or beef tenderloin), partially frozen

5 ounces (half a bag) fresh spinach, tough stems removed

6 whole green onions, cut into 1½-inch pieces

10-12 fresh shiitake mushroom caps, cut into 1/2-inch thick strips

½ head Napa cabbage, cored, cut into 21/2-inch squares

Very thinly sliced green onions, for garnish

For the broth: Combine the broth, green onions, garlic, black peppercorns, ginger and soy sauce in a small stock pot. Bring to a boil over high heat; immediately reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the broth has reduced by about 1 cup, about 1 hour. Strain through a fine mesh strainer, then taste and adjust the seasoning as needed with soy sauce; transfer to a fondue pot set over a burner. The broth should remain at a low simmer throughout the meal.

For the dippers: Prepare the cellophane noodles according to the package instructions; drain well. Using a sharp pair of kitchen scissors, cut the noodles into 3-inch pieces; set aside until needed.

Cook the carrots in rapidly boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 1 to 2 minutes; immediately plunge into an ice water bath. Drain well, then pat dry with paper towels; set aside until needed.

Cut the partially frozen beef (across the grain) into paper-thin slices; attractively arrange the meat on a platter in overlapping circles. Add the vegetables to the platter, arranging in a pleasing pattern. (Note: Do not add the noodles to the platter.)

Make sure that each guest has a fondue fork, a pair of chopsticks, 2 individual sauce bowls filled with sesame sauce and ponzu sauce, a soup bowl and a soup spoon.

Place the fondue pot in the center of the table; have each guest cook their selected dippers in the simmering broth, then dip into their choice of sauce. When all of the meat and vegetable dippers are gone, add the noodles to the broth to make a soup; ladle the soup into each guest's individual bowl. Garnish with green onions and serve immediately.

Serves six.

Chef Christopher Green, Viking Cooking School and Culinary Shop, Glenview

Gingered White Chocolate Fondue

2 cups heavy cream

3 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger, divided

1½ tablespoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger

1 pound white chocolate, chopped

In a medium saucepan, combine the cream, 2 tablespoons of the crystallized ginger, the ground ginger and the fresh ginger. Cook over medium heat, watching to make sure it doesn't bubble up, until heated through.

Put the white chocolate in a ceramic fondue pot. Pour in the hot cream and whisk until the chocolate is melted. Sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon crystallized ginger over the top. Keep warm over a low flame for dipping. If it begins to boil, turn off the heat.

Serve with bite-size squares of angel food cake, pineapple chunks, dried apricots, Chinese fortune cookies and gingersnaps.

Serves eight to 10.

Cook's note: When buying white chocolate, be sure the label lists cocoa butter as a major ingredient; confectionery coating, also called summer coating, will not work for fondue.

Variation: For Marbled Chocolate Fondue: Omit the ginger. In a small heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, melt 4 ounces of bittersweet chocolate with 2 teaspoons of butter until melted and smooth. Transfer the white chocolate mixture to a fondue pot. Pipe or spoon concentric circles (or another decorative design) of the dark chocolate mixture over the top and swirl through with a thin wooden skewer.

"Great Party Fondues" by Peggy Fallon (2008 Wiley, $16.95)

Parmesan Fondue With Pesto

1 pound cream cheese (see note)

2 cups light cream or half-and-half

1½ cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 6 ounces)

Dash of salt

Dash of cayenne pepper

⅓ cup basil pesto, purchased or homemade

Melt the cream cheese in the top of a double boiler or a large heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Gradually stir in the light cream until smooth and heated through. Add the Parmesan and stir until the cheese melts and thickens the fondue. Season with the salt and cayenne.

Transfer the mixture to a fondue pot, preferably ceramic or enameled cast iron. Drop teaspoons of pesto over the top; then use a skewer or a knife to swirl the pesto attractively over the surface. Regulate the heat under the pot, if possible, so that the cheese fondue remains warm, not hot. Serve this rich fondue with cubes of crusty artisanal bread and crisp raw vegetables.

Makes 4 cups; 10 to 12 appetizer servings.

Cook's notes: For the creamiest results, purchase natural cream cheese without any added gum arabic or other stabilizers. It's sold in bulk in the deli section of the supermarket. And for best flavor, use a top-quality imported Parmesan cheese, Parmigiano-Reggiano.

"Great Party Fondues" by Peggy Fallon (2008 Wiley, $16.95)

Hawaiian Pork Fondue

1 can (19 ounces) crushed pineapple, with juice

½ cup finely minced onion

½ cup liquid honey

¼ cup vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon finely minced ginger root

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon cornstarch

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 pound pork tenderloin, cut into 1-inch cubes

Oil for fondue

In a saucepan over medium-low heat, combine pineapple, onion, honey, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, coriander, cornstarch, salt and pepper. Stir until honey is melted and ingredients are blended. Remove from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.

In a shallow casserole dish, pour 21/4 cups of the marinade over pork tenderloin, tossing to coat well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (The remaining marinade will be used for dipping.)

In a saucepan, heat oil to 375 degrees and transfer to fondue pot (or heat oil in an electric fondue). Do not fill fondue pot more than half full.

Serve with reserved marinade as dipping sauce, mango salsa or chutney, Thai peanut sauce or garlic aioli.

Serves four.

Cook's notes: Try this using chicken instead of pork. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons coconut in reserved marinade to add texture to dipping sauce.

"The Fondue Bible" by Ilana Simon (2007 Robert Rose, $22.95)

<p class="factboxheadblack">You, too, can fondue</p> <p class="News">Learn new fondue recipes from Viking Cooking School chef Christopher Green at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14, at the Great American Cooking Expo at Harper College, Palatine.</p> <p class="News">• Green's fondue demonstration starts at 7 p.m. on the Grand Stage.</p> <p class="News">• At 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov.15 and 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16, Green will share other holiday recipes and wine-pairing suggestions.</p> <p class="News">• Tickets to the food and wine extravaganza cost $25 online at <a href="http://thecookingexpo.com" target="new">thecookingexpo.com</a>; $35 at the door.</p>