Do you?

Okay, I know I'm a wuss when it comes to the weather.  I whimper when the temperature dips below 60 and start scrambling for my slippers.  I live in one of the most temperate states on the continent, and yet...I'm cold!  There are parts of me--that chef inside, the fashionista--who look forward to cold weather.  Yes, I whine, but at the same time I'm slipping on a mohair sweater and pulling out one of my favorite "appliances:"  the fondue pot. 

My first fondue pot came from my mother.  I don't remember ever having fondue growing up, so this pot--a seventies orange-- came still in the box, plates, skewers, and all!  So funky! 

Fondue is a great meal, so convivial!  Everyone sits close, elbows touching.  We all reach in, drawing that circle closer.  Like a tabletop campfire, a fondue dinner creates a glow around the table, some primal urge to congregate around that heat source.  I love this about fondue. 

Fondue is so easy!  Pull out this "appliance" when you don't want to cook!  Fondue, a French adjective, states:  Melted.  What you need to make a meal with this simple pot is minimal:  bread will do.  It helps to have Great bread.  If not, great cheese will probably make up for it.  Add a few other dipping pieces to this meal:  a protein if you're inclined.  We use sausage that coincides with our cheese, almost always potatoes, boiled or roasted, and usually one more thing....The only thing to remember with a fondue is that the ingredients are few and so must be high quality. 

My basic fondue is great:  so simple!  Swiss cheese, white wine, a little cornstarch (cooking secret, right there!)  I slice a batard or miche into bite-size cubes.  I boil or roast baby reds, little yukon golds, fingerlings.  I slice some sausage diagonally while my kitchen warms.  I sip some wine (quality control!) and try to look busy, stirring my cheese occassionally, flipping through that magazine...

Fondue can carry an entire meal. Yes, you can start or finish with a nice little salad, perhaps some grapes, but a fondue all by itself gets stretched out, full of conversation while your family, your friends (just the two of you?!) slowly empty platters of sausage, bread, okay...carbs.

There are as many variations to fondue as there are melty cheeses:  swiss, cheddar, monterey, gruyere.  Add some spicy Pepper Jack and turn your fondue south towards that border. Slice up that chorizo, char those chilis.   Suddenly, your fondue deserves a beer!  Turn toward northern France and add a little apple cider, apple vinegar, Calvados.  Green apples and gruyere with this combination:  mmmm.  Combine cheddar with gouda. Stir in some stout!   Meld garlic with your cheese combinations.  Throw in some goat cheese, a little Brie, some roasted tomatoes.  Skewer some roasted mushrooms, a few tortellini, cubes of roasted pumpkin, chunks of  blanched  broccoli and cauliflower. Add some cubes of ham, small bites of ciabatta, hunks of olive bread.  Suddenly, the possiblities excite!

And no, I haven't forgotten that fondue appears just as often as dessert.  Chocolate.  Warm.  Melted.  The possibilities for what might go with that...well, really?!  Pound cake.  Angel food cake.  Croissants.  Strawberries. Apples.  Pears.  Bananas.  Marshmallows!  Rice crispy treats!  Donut holes, biscotti, macarons.  Then again, there's always a caramel fondue.

The problem with fondue isn't what to make.  It's what to choose!  So many choices, so few cold months in the year!