La Fondue

Fondue used to be a popular dish for dinner parties in the fifties, sixties and seventies. As the saying goes, "everything old is new again," and sales of fondue pots are booming, no doubt riding on a nostalgia wave.

Fondue history

Fondue originated in Switzerland as a way of using up hardened cheese. Deriving from the French verb fondre, meaning "to melt," fondue was a classic peasant dish. Accounts vary on how fondue was originally created.

Traditional fondue is made with a mixture of Emmenthaler and/or Gruyere cheese and wine, melted in a communal pot. Cherry brandy is added to the melted mixture, which becomes a dip for pieces of stale bread and crusts.

French gastronome Brillat-Savarin mentioned fondue in his 19th century writings. However, fondue really hit its heyday in 1952, when chef Konrad Egli of New York's Chalet Swiss Restaurant introduced a fondue method of cooking meat cubes in hot oil. Chocolate fondue followed in 1964.