Fondue Party Tips
>Having a fondue party makes for a great evening, however there are several things you might like to take into consideration when thinking about who and how many guests to invite to your fondue party:
- How many fondue forks to you have? Each guest will need one of these specialty long handled-forks, which can usually be found at kitchenware stores or online at reasonable prices. If you don't have or can't get fondue forks, why not try skewers?
- How many fondue pots do you have? Ideally, have one pot per 4 or 5 guests, but this can be stretched out a bit if you need to.
- How many people can you fit around your table?
- In relation to meat fondues where the meat/ fish/ shrimp/ vegetables are cooked in the boiling oil or broth, the greater the quantity of food inside the fondue pot, the longer the food will take to cook.
- The communal nature of fondue dining really brings guests together. Your guests don't need to be well acquainted beforehand in order to enjoy your fondue party with one another. Many great friendships have been forged over a fondue pot!
After you've worked out who and how many people you can have at your party, it's time to start thinking about your menu and ingredients.
We suggest hosting a 3-course fondue party, starting with a cheese fondue, then moving on to one or two meat fondues, and finishing with a chocolate fondue.
There are various cheese fondue recipes you can choose from, so allow yourself to be guided by (a) your personal cheese flavour favourites, and (b) the availability of cheeses local to you. When thinking about what to dip into your delicious cheese fondue, consider different types of bread (white French stick; wholemeal country grain, nut & seed; raisin loaf; herb bread, Turkish etc), as well as carrot sticks, small cauliflower florets, button mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, salami, smoked salmon, olives, and almost anything else you can think of.
Just remember that for this course, the cheese fondue will only slightly warm - but not cook - the food you dip in, so don't consider raw meat etc.