Martini Fondue

If you've ever been the guest of honor at a housewarming or a wedding shower, then there's every chance you have a fondue pot.  And that's appropriate, for the chief goal of both of those events -- other than making book on other peoples' tastes -- is to help a new homeowner or couple set up housekeeping.  Household registries since time immemorial have included the tools for home entertaining, and among the carafes and canape plates this invariably includes a fondue set.  For fondue is sociable food. 

It began that way, as Swiss villagers stranded in the snow-capped Alps for days at a time found that provisions often came down to wine, cheese and bread, which they made into a meal to be shared hearthside.  Combining these ingredients in a way that was warming and fulfilling was an example of the same problem-solving ethos that gave the world precision timekeeping, guilt-free banking, milk chocolate and the cuckoo clock.  By the way, I'm allowed to say that.  I write often about my Indian grandmother, who was a profound influence on me, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten my Swiss grandmother.  Her influence was briefer due to the cruelties of time and distance, but it was just as important.

It was not just the communal but the continental nature of fondue that made it such a staple of the mid-century home entertainer's repertoire.  With fondue -- which, though simple, is showy -- hostesses freighted with the obligation to show off perfect homekeeping could impress everyone from the Ladies Auxiliary to the husband's boss.  Swinging bachelors, culturally helpless in the kitchen, could whip it up to serve with a pitcher of Bloody Marys or a jug of Mateus.  The warm glow of a fondue pot was a feature of midnight pool parties, silhouetted against the flowing silk of kimonos as the hosts led everyone to the hot tub.

Other cultures have similar dishes -- the French Fondue Bourguignonne, Asian hot pot cooking -- but the Swiss gave us the original, and greatest, expression of this dish. Classic Swiss fondue is a mixture of Gruyere and Emmentaler cheeses, white wine, garlic, Kirsch and nutmeg.  Chunks of bread are speared on dippers and swirled in a figure eight pattern to keep the fondue creamy.  Don't lose your bread in the fondue, for if you do, you owe the host/ess a kiss, or at least a glass of Kirsch.

Here is an original recipe for a sleek, sexy fondue, in which the Swiss tradition is updated with the flavors of a dry martini to create a dish to serve to even your swankiest friends.  Serve it with ingredients for dipping straight from the martini bar -- olives and cocktail onions -- but don't neglect the more traditional cubes of bread.  And if, somehow, you find you don't have a fondue set, don't worry: this fondue can be made on and served from the stovetop -- which, after all, is the contemporary hearthside.

MARTINI FONDUE

If you don't have a fondue set but wish to get one, here's a good one.  This recipe is written for use with a fondue pot with either an electric or a disposable heating element; if making it on the stovetop, use an enameled saucepan.  Gruyere and Emmentaler cheeses are usually available in the supermarket but if not, any cheese shop should have them.  This recipe includes olives, onions, bread and sausage for dipping, but don't limit yourself to these. Serve whatever you like to eat with cheese -- grapes, pears, apples, tomatoes, even crackers.

For the Fondue
1 pound Gruyere        
1/2 pound Emmentaler
3 tablespoons white flour
1 clove garlic
1 cup dry vermouth
1/4 cup gin (New Amsterdam works well)
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
Several grindings of fresh black pepper
1 lemon, preferably organic

For the Dippers
Green olives
Black olives
Cocktail onions
1 dry sausage, such as sopressata
1 loaf crusty bread, such as a baguette

1. Clean the lemon under cool water (if the lemon is not organic, use a commercial produce cleaner, following the label directions). Roll the lemon under your palm to express the juice.  Once the lemon is clean, place on a paper towel to dry.

2. Working in succession, drain the green olives, the black olives and the cocktail onions in a sieve; rinsing each under cool water and shaking the sieve after the rinse.  Arrange the rinsed olives and onions each in their own serving dish or compartment of the fondue set-up.

3. Slice the sausage into rounds and slice the rounds into halves.  Place the sausage in its own serving dish or compartment of the fondue set-up.

4. Slice or tear the bread into bite-sized chunks.  Place the bread in a serving basket.

5. Remove the label or wax coating from the cheeses if any is present.  Working over a large bowl, grate the cheeses through the small holes on a box grater.

6. Working over the bowl containing the cheese, zest the cleaned, dried lemon using a handheld zester. Do your best just to remove the yellow part of the lemon's skin: just two or three scrapes of the peel against the grater's surface should be sufficient. You will only need about a teaspoon of zest; approximately 1/2 of the lemon, but don't worry if the measurement isn't exact.

7. Add the flour and ground white pepper to the cheese mixture.  Use your hands to toss thoroughly so that the cheese, lemon, pepper and flour are well combined.

8. Peel the garlic clove and remove the root end. Vigorously rub the inside of the fondue pot with the garlic clove.

9. Place the heating element into the reservoir beneath the pot; set the pot in place above the heating element.  Light the heating element.

10 Pour the vermouth into the heating fondue pot.  Add the flour-cheese mixture one handful at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon or wire whisk after each addition until creamy.  When you have incorporated all of the cheese, stir in the gin.  Continue to cook until fondue is bubbly.

11.  Arrange fondue forks, canape plates and cocktail napkins.  Serve fondue with olives, cocktail onions, bread and sausage for dipping.