PITTSBURGH—Adam Ehrlichman has worked behind the cheese counter at Pennsylvania Macaroni Co. going on 20 years. It’s a challenging but tasty job that has allowed him to sample hundreds of hard and soft cheeses from 17 top cheese-producing countries across the globe.
Many have at one point or another made their way back to his home in Brookline to be cooked into a grilled cheese—a process he says allows him to learn which cheeses have a good fat content and melt well, and which are better for grating or cheese platters.
“I’ve also messed with recipes a lot” over the years, the 38-year-old cheesemonger says, so he can make expert recommendations to customers looking to build an interesting cheese board or use in a particular dish.
This time of year, when it’s bitterly cold and people are socializing in their living rooms instead of decks or porches, the question might be: What’s best for a really great fondue?
If it’s been a while since you’ve enjoyed this gooey, heart-warming dish of melted cheese, we understand. Fondue has long been associated with the 1960s or ‘70s, when young Boomers with bell-bottomed jeans and shag haircuts made it a chic party theme.
But what’s old is new again, says Ehrlichman.
With so many good international and domestic cheeses available to shoppers—Penn Mac offers about 350 varieties on any given day—interest has been growing in fun ways to serve them.
Fondue, he says, is actually the perfect dish for winter because it’s an interactive, intimate social activity that’s not just fun for everyone eating from the communal vessel but also fairly easy to prepare.
Full of familiar flavors, fondue requires just three humble ingredients to get the party started: some melty cheese, a bit of wine, and chunks of day-old bread.
Long, Cheesy Tradition
Modern fondue traditions began in the French and Swiss regions of the Alps in the early 19th century, perhaps as an economical peasant meal. But fondue—the name comes from fondre, French for “to melt”—actually has far deeper culinary roots: The dish can be traced back thousands of years to 800 B.C., when a version was mentioned in the ancient Greek poet Homer’s “The Iliad.”The earliest written recipes for “Käss mit Wein zu kochen”—grated cheese melted with wine—appeared in a 1699 cookbook in Zurich. Recipes for cheese fondue originally included eggs and was more like a casserole than a gooey dip. It wasn’t until 1875 that the dish was made with just cheese and wine.
Fondue was popularized in the 1930s as Switzerland’s national dish and source of cultural pride by the Swiss Cheese Union as a way to increase cheese consumption.
It became a beloved party concept in the U.S. in the 1970s following its premiere in the Swiss Pavilion’s Alpine restaurant at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. A colorful fondue pot fueled by the blue flame of a Sterno can became the de rigeur gift for the bride-to-be, along with long-stemmed, matching forks.
Chocolate fondue, which is a distinctly American dessert, is a much newer food. It is thought to have been invented in the 1960s by Swiss restaurateur Konrad Egli at Chalet Suisse in New York City.
Benjamin B. Braun/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS
A Communal Experience
Even though fondue is easy to make, you’re much more apt to enjoy it in someone’s home than in a restaurant. That’s because fondue requires quite a bit of Alpine cheese, “which can be expensive if you do it right,” says Joey Hilty, owner and chef of The Vandal in Lawrenceville.It also entails a lot of mise en place and “having to put things on plates,” which can be difficult for a busy restaurant.
“And it’s hard to classify,” says Hilty, especially in today’s restaurant scene, where small plates rule the day. “It’s not quite an entree and not an appetizer either, but its own unique experience.”
That said, the Friendship native—who never ate it growing up but has grown to love its versatility as a chef—is still planning to put fondue on The Vandal’s menu at the end of January as a special table experience on Sundays. He'll serve it with bread, some mini potatoes and perhaps sausages and sliced apple (his favorite), along with house-made cornichons to break up the richness.
“I always associate it with winter and the Swiss Alps,” Hilty says.
He also appreciates the communal aspect of the dish, “which I think this time of year is necessary.
“Not a lot of foods foster the [winter] environment. Melted cheese in general is something you can have friends over [to enjoy] with a bottle of wine ... It’s a fun social thing.”
While fondue is easy to make, it’s hard to make well, Hilty and Ehrlichman agree. So they offer some tips.
For starters, a mix of cheeses will give the best texture and flavor. Ehrlichman makes his fondue with aged Gruyere, Appenzeller, an Alpine cheese known for its tangy, complex flavor, and vacherin fribourgeois, a nutty Swiss semi-soft cheese made from raw cow’s milk. (He shreds it while it’s still cold, right out of the fridge, so it’s easier to work with.)
It’s also essential to add a little cornstarch to the cheese after you cut it to create a nice smooth melt and help it emulsify.
While you don’t need a dedicated fondue pot—any heavy-bottomed saucepan over a double-boiler will work—you do have to maintain a consistent, low heat to melt the cheese, says Ehrlichman. For extra flavor, give it a good rub with a halved garlic clove before adding the wine, which should be a dry white.
Ehrlichman, who spent nine days in Italy sampling cheese in 2019 and also did fieldwork in the south of France this past summer, always adds a small shot of brandy to the fondue as it cooks—it’s his “secret” ingredient. But you also could add some kirsch if that’s handy. And no worries if kids will be eating the fondue; the wine or brandy that adds a wonderful umami flavor to the pot evaporates during the cooking process. It also prevents the cheese from curdling.
You'll want to add the shredded cheese slowly, a little at a time, and make sure it’s completely melted before adding the next handful.
“It'd pretty hard to ruin over a double boiler,” says Ehrlichman, though you do have to continuously stir the cheese to avoid burning.
Tradition holds that if you lose a piece of bread in the cheese, you have to pay some sort of penalty. But it’s a small price to pay when you consider the shared warmth and conviviality a pot of hot fondue provides.
“You can make a lot of people happy with fondue,” says Ehrlichman.
And if you don’t feel like cooking at home? A handful of restaurants have fondue on the menu this winter.
At Ritual House, Downtown, chef Edwin Smith is offering the dish “as a fun way to enjoy a classic crab dip-style appetizer.”
Along with fresh crabmeat, it features one of the chef’s favorite goat cheeses, Humboldt Fog, and is served with fondue forks and different artisanal breads.
Both Chantal’s Cheese Shop in Bloomfield and The Allegheny Wine Mixer in Lawrenceville offer cheese fondues on Tuesdays, and the Hyeholde in Moon is dishing it up, too, in its Winter Chalet Experience through Feb. 8.
Guests can choose between cheese fondue made with Goat Rodeo’s Wild Rosemary cheese and served with bread, vegetables, and house terrine and a chocolate ganache fondue served with pound cake, meringue, roasted fruit, and caramel.
Some Fon-dos and Fon-don’ts
- Whether you go electric or fuel-based, choose a pot with a wide mouth to allow for easy dipping. Ceramic is best for cheese and chocolate. If you don’t have a fondue pot, no worries. Simply serve fondue in the saucepan placed on a trivet.
- Provide long-handled forks for each guest. Color-coded handles make it easy to tell which one is yours.
- Provide a variety of bite-sized dippers—bread is a given for cheese fondue, but fruit, roasted potatoes, broccoli, tiny meatballs, and sausage also work well.
- Take your time, both with cooking and eating. Adding cheese too quickly will make it clump and fondue is best as a shared social experience activity.
- Fondue too thick? Increase the heat, add some wine and give it a good stir. Too thin? Combine a 1/2 teaspoon of cornstarch with an equal amount of wine, and add to the pot.
- Swirl the food in the cheese or chocolate in a figure 8 motion, stirring the mixture as you dip.
- It probably should go without saying, but absolutely no double dipping—it’s gross! Instead, use your fork to dip, then transfer the food to your plate to eat.
- Don’t forget to eat “la religieuse,” the cheesy crust that forms on the bottom of the pan.
- Fondue is best served with hot beverages like tea or dry, acidic white wines that cut through the richness of the cheese. Swiss tradition calls for fendant, a sparkling white wine made from Chasselas grapes, or a shot-sized serving of kirsch.
Cheese fondue
PG tested- 1 garlic clove, halved
- 12 ounces each of 3 cheeses, shredded
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 tablespoon brandy
- Pinch of ground nutmeg
- Crusty bread, sliced vegetable, or fruits, for dipping
In a large bowl, mix the three shredded cheeses. Sprinkle cornstarch on top and gently toss until the cheese is evenly coated,
On a stovetop, in the prepared fondue pot, gently heat the white wine until it is warm but not boiling.
Gradually add cheese to the pot, stirring continuously to prevent sticking and ensure smooth melting.
Once the cheese is melted and smooth, stir in brandy. Season with a pinch of nutmeg for added warmth and flavor.
Transfer the pot to a tabletop burner to keep the fondue warm.
Crab Fondue
PG testedServes 6-8.
Chef Edwin Smith put this savory dish on the menu at Ritual House, Downtown, “because it is a different type of appetizer than people are used to enjoying and it also is a great shareable dish that elicits a feeling of joy and nostalgia.”
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons minced shallots
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened and broken up
- 8 ounces Humboldt Fog goat cheese, crumbled
- 8 ounces backfin crab meat
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon fine black pepper
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
- 1/2 cup diced roma tomato, for garnish
- 1/2 cup spinach chiffonade (thin, ribbon-like strips), for garnish
- 1 loaf desired bread, cut into 1-by-1-inch squares
Heat olive oil in a medium size pot, then add shallots and saute until translucent.
Add heavy cream, cream cheese, and Humbolt Fog goat cheese, whisk together until ingredients are well combined and cook on medium heat until cheese is melted and creamy.
Add crab meat, salt, pepper, and parsley, and stir to combine. Continue cooking on medium heat until fondue is at desired thickness and the crab meat is warmed, stirring often.
Place the bread in the preheated oven and bake until toasted, about 4-5 minutes.
Pour the crab fondue mixture into the fondue dish, and top with roma tomatoes and spinach chiffonade, then serve and enjoy.
Chocolate Fondue
PG testedChocolate fondue is a distinctly American dessert for chocolate lovers. Milk chocolate will produce a mild and sweet fondue while semisweet chocolate will bring a deeper and more bitter flavor. Bittersweet chocolate provides a pronounced bitter and even slightly acidic flavor.
- 12 ounces (340 grams) high-quality chocolate, chopped
- 1 1/3 cups heavy cream
- Pinch of salt
- Items for dipping, such as fresh fruit, shortbread cookies, biscotti, or hunks of pound cake
Put the chocolate in your fondue pot or small heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium until steaming and bubbling around the edges. Pour over the chocolate, add salt and stir gently until smooth.
Set the chocolate over the heat source and serve immediately, with items of your choice for dipping.
