Between work (which has been odd and stressful) and the theatre, which has been great, but busy, Kathy could tell I needed something to help reset my mood and mind-frame… She suggested: FONDUE! As discussed in a previous post, fondue is one of my favorite meals with cheese. Kathy said she’d pick up the bread on the way home if I prepared the fondue… I grabbed about half a dozen of the fondue books we own, took stock of the cheeses we had in the fridge and decided to make a Gouda-based Fondue.

We still had a fair amount of Gouda left over from Saturday’s picnic, and I picked out a Gouda recipe from, The Book of Fondues by Lorna Rhodes (Rhodes, Lorna. 1988. The Book of Fondues. HPBooks. New York, New York). Since I didn’t quite have a pound of Gouda, I added a little bit of Jarlsberg to the mix. Jarlsberg has a similar consistency to Gouda, so I knew they’d blend easily. 

Although the various hand-held graters we have around the kitchen are good for some jobs, I start to get lazy if I have to shred a pound or more of cheese. Particularly true if it doesn’t have to do anything besides melt evenly. Thus; a food processor is perfect. I’ve learned my lesson concerning food processors too; if you can own a good quality one, do. Through years of low-income jobs, I used to own cheap processors bought at Target for around $25. Due primarily to cheese, I’ve burned out the motor on three of those cheap ones in my life. The one we currently own is by far the best one we’ve ever had. IF you plan on using a food processor for cheese, however, remember the following things; the cheese grating blade is OK for softer, domestic, mass-produced cheeses (i.e. domestic Cheddar). If, however, you need to grate a harder semi-soft cheese, or a hard cheese, then you MUST use the blade, and ONLY after you have cut the cheese into small cubes, then use the “pulse” button so that you don’t over-tax the motor. The result on the hard and semi-soft cheeses with this method is kind of a milled meal (see last picture on this posting, below right), not shreds. This is perfect for melting in fondue or sauces, but not as perfect if you need to spread thin layers of shredded cheese into a dish.

Again, for a sort of over-view about making fondue, and how to cut bread for it, look at this previous post.

I’m going to transcribe the recipe below. It’s a thinner (less viscous) fondue than “traditional” or Glarner, and it has a nice sharp tasting edge to it, provided by the gin which plays the role that Kirschwasser plays in the “traditional” fondue recipe. If you like to have your caraway less crunchy, but also want their flavor more integrated into the fondue, do as I do and soak it in the gin along with the cornstarch ahead of time.

The meal greatly improved my outlook on everything, and I feel renewed. Ahhh, cheese!            …what sets you right with the world again? Use the comment section.

 Dutch Fondue

 Ingredients:

1 small onion, halved

1 cup milk

4 cups (1 lb.) shredded Gouda cheese

2 teaspoons caraway seeds

1 tablespoon cornstarch

3 tablespoons gin

Pepper

Instructions:

Measure ingredients. Rub inside of fondue pot with cut side of onion.

Add milk and heat until bubbly; then gradually sir in cheese. Continue to heat until cheese melts.

Stir in caraway seeds. In a small bowl blend cornstarch with gin. Blend into cheese mixture and cook, stirring, 2 to 3 minutes or until smooth and creamy. Season with pepper. Suggestion; serve with mushrooms and light cubed rye bread. Makes 4 to 6 servings.