Hoppy Christmas Cheese Fondue

If you have written cheese fondue off as a '60s fad of interest only to skiers, you've made a mistake and owe it to yourself and your family to give it a try. Kids love both the taste and the informal "play" involved with this meal.

Part of my take on this dish is that most versions are not much more than melted cheese. Such renditions are too salty, too rich, and too hard to eat. Stringiness is a flaw, not a feature, in my view. It all works better if you think of the fondue as a rather thick cheese sauce. I like beer better than wine as the fat-cutting agent; the bitterness of the hops adds something small but wonderful. A huge bonus here is that the leftover fondue makes a wicked macaroni and cheese for a subsequent meal.

Serves 4

• 2 cups milk, in a Pyrex cup
• 4 cups coarsely grated mixed hard cheeses*
• 1/2 to 1 bottle full-flavored beer - pale ale is good (American-style lager is too meek; stout is too dark and sweet) 
• 1 clove garlic
• 3 Tb butter
• 5 Tb flour
• 1 tsp hot sauce, more or less, to taste
• 1 large loaf best quality crusty artisan sourdough bread
• 1 heavily pre-heated serving dish, for the bread.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

While the oven is heating, grate the cheese. Toss it with 1Tb of the flour in a large bowl.

Put the bread in the oven.

In a medium-sized heavy-bottomed sauce pan, make a roux with the butter and the remaining flour. While the roux is cooking over low heat, press the garlic clove into the milk. Microwave the milk for 2 minutes on high to give things a head start.

After the roux develops a froth and has cooked for a few minutes without coloring, remove it from heat and let it cool briefly. Whisk in the hot milk and garlic and return to a medium burner. Bring to a simmer, whisking constantly. Whisk in at least half the bottle of beer. Bring back to a simmer and allow several minutes for the foam to subside. Whisk in the cheese by handfuls. Heat, stirring occasionally, until steam rises from the fondue and it begins to bubble. At this point, it should be the consistency of a very thick sauce. (If it is too thick, whisk in the rest of the beer. Allow foam to subside and fondue to return to temperature.) Stir in the hot sauce.

Put the whole pot on an insulating pad (like a pot holder) in the center of the table. Remove the bread from the oven and slice roughly into 1.5" cubes. Line the hot serving dish with a clean towel and put the bread cubes in it. Place next to the fondue pot on another pot holder.


Accompany with any clean, dry white wine, such as a Chignin from the Savoie, currently available at Rosemont. (Steer clear of big, rich wines here.) For kids, serve water, not milk - plenty of dairy in the fondue. I usually steam some Broccoli and serve it along with the bread; it's great dipped in the fondue, whether you're big or little. Or you can just serve a salad with some dark and/or bitter greens, such as spinach, frisee, or raddichio.

* You have a lot of flexibility with the cheese. I like about 2 cups Emmentaler, 1 cup Gruyere or Fontina val d'Aosta, 1 cup sharp cheddar, plus a few tablespoons of hard Romano as an accent. But I vary this very widely based on what I happen to have in my fridge at the moment.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is really not my favorite holiday. I won't tell you why, or I'll just be inviting more invidious comparisons with Andy Rooney. But this year, I am really looking forward to it. I'm even okay with the part where people who are only in my living room once every two years turn my TV on in the middle of the day and try to teach it how to display football. Why? Because - and you work colleagues will understand this well - I am just totally ready for a day that comprises sitting around drinking tea in the early morning, sitting around drinking Pinot Blanc and eating the odd Nicoise olive around midday, making gravy and Zuni mashed potatoes in the early afternoon, sitting around eating poultry in the mid afternoon, walking in the late afternoon, and circling back to sitting around and drinking tea in the early evening. That is JUST EXACTLY my level of ambition right now.

Fresh Figs Are Here

Saw fresh figs in the market for the first time this season. So, so good. Don't do too much to them. I like them with a little bit of the mildest, freshest mozzarella you can find (like the little balls in water, from Maple Brook Farm), and some cracked pepper. It's easy to overdo the treatment. In my opinion, olive oil, bacon, etc., is too much. Just let them be their sweet selves.

Favorite Kitchen Tool #7

My confidence in the kitchen would be shot without a serious heat-proof quart size fat separator. The other techniques for de-fatting liquids are totally for the birds in my humble opinion. Skimming off with a ladle, skimming off with an equally non-functional special ladle (sheesh), paper towels on the surface, etc. All more or less useless. The only other technique that really works is to chill the liquid first and then peel off the solid layer of lard, but that does you no good when you have just deglazed a big roasting pan and the chicken is sitting on the cutting board. No, you need one of these items.

Summer Wine Bargain

Every summer I look forward to the previous fall's vintage appearing on local store shelves. The kinds of inexpensive, lightweight whites and rosés that are refreshing in warm weather are precisely the ones that I want to drink as young as possible.

The first serious bargain to cross our table this season is a ten dollar Sicilian white made from Cantaratto and Pinot Grigio grapes - the 2010 Purato from Feudo di Santa Treso. I got mine at Rosemont Market. Floral and almond-y above the glass, with a refreshing and crisp palate of yellow fruits, it doesn't get much better than this with a piece of grilled fish and a hunk of bruschetta. I am not always a big fan of southern Italian whites, as the hot climate can sometimes make them dull and overly alcoholic. Fear not; this one is a winner.

The New Breakfast of Champions

Steel-cut oats with fresh Pomegranate and a bit of Demerara sugar. This is not only beautiful, it TASTES beautiful: Hot, sweet, soft, starchy oats punctuated by cold, wet, tart, juicy, crunchy pomegranate.

Red Wine Flavors, White Wine Structure

This wine is a great example of "less is more." It's a 2009 Schiava "Römigberg" from Tenutae Lageder. I first had it at the recommendation of John Naylor at Rosemont Market, after I asked him for something that would be good with (nearly raw) seared tuna. This was his pick, and it was spot on. Since then we've had it twice more and it has never failed to bring smiles to our faces and emptiness to our glasses. I'm an advocate of Alto Adige wines, and even I would probably never have picked this off the shelf on my own (unless it were due to the stunning packaging), so I'm glad I was prodded.


The Alto Adidge is at the very top of the Italian boot, near the Austrian and Swiss borders, and the transparency of this wine seems to evoke the cool and thin alpine air. Structurally, it's more white than red. (Not that there's anything wrong with that!) Hardly any tannins are to be found, but good, crisp acidity keeps the lips smacking. Indeed, this is about the very palest "red" wine I've ever seen. That notwithstanding, it's one of the brightest and most brilliant. For all intents and purposes it's a rosé, but what a good rose it is. My photo here does not in any way do it justice. It's very pretty in the glass. The bouquet has strawberry, tea, and licorice notes. On the palate there is intense freshness and delicacy. I wouldn't expect it to keep these qualities for more than another six months or so, so get it now and enjoy. Serve at cellar temperature - in the 50s F.