Sometimes the best traditions start when you just try something new. And, we love to try new and interesting things at our house. Years ago, I started a "party" tradition with the kids of having FunDo night, our version of fondue. Fondue provides an evening of fun, yum and lots of friends.
Years ago, we started out using the ceramic fondue pots with little burners or candles underneath. Our FunDo has gotten more sophisticated, though, so we invested in electric pots to keep things warm, and giving us more time to spend with guests. Typically, we do a three course fondue event including several cheese sauces, a stock broth for meats and seafood, and two different types of chocolate for dessert.
Preparation takes a little time, but it's worth it! We start the day before and cut up all the vegetables that we will dip and store them in the fridge. Our choices include things like carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, celery, red potatoes, mushrooms, and especially apples (but cut those up the day of). We also do some dessert prep by finding things we would love with chocolate and getting them ready. Some of our yummy choices include marshmallows, pineapple, strawberries, bananas (cut the same day), rice krispie treats, chocolate brownies, cookies, wafers, anything that would taste good in chocolate.
The day of the event, I prepare a big crock pot of stock broth. I've tried many different types, but tend to like a beef based broth with a bit of soy, garlic, onions, green onion and lots and lots of seasonings. Using the crock pot when you are serving many folks allows the broth to be hot, tasty and ready to refill an empty pot at a moment's notice.
Cut up your meat and put it on big platters. Great choices include a nice steak, chicken breast, shrimp (precooked is better with kids), scallops, fish, and lobster. Often, I will season part of the beef and part of the chicken with rubs to flavor them for more variety.
Once the food is ready, you need to focus on making the cheese fondue. I have made them from scratch, before, but typically like to start with what I call a starter fondue cheese, a Swiss variety, and create my own from there. You can buy packets of fondue starter cheese at most grocery stores. Typically, they can be found with the gourmet cheese and it may require you asking someone to find the small boxes. Prepare your cheeses ahead of time (shredding them) so you can make the fondue quickly. I try various ingredients in my sauces from wine, beer, nutmeg, finely chopped pecans, garlic and many different spices. Try a spicy variety by adding crushed red pepper, cumin, tarragon, a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce and some garlic. Complete the sauce by adding some pepper jack cheese. Or how about making a sweeter variety using a Riesling wine, nutmeg, tarragon, and mozzarella?
Fondue night is a great way to have a long engaging evening of fun, conversation and interaction with your family and any guests. When done well, it easily can last two to three hours depending on the number of recipes you use and the number of courses. Our girls love it and often beg for a FunDo party. And, if you don't really want to make it yourself, just check out a local fondue restaurant, like the Melting Pot where you can enjoy the pleasure without all the work.
For fondue help check out these sites:
Find electric fondue pots at Target where we got ours.
