Fondue

Fondue is a Swiss dish of cheese melted with white wine and a little kirsch in a communal pot called a caquelon, kept warm over a small burner (a rechaud). Diners spear cubes of bread on long forks and swirl them through the smooth, molten cheese.

The classic blend uses Gruyere and Emmental, thickened with a touch of cornflour and seasoned with garlic and nutmeg. Etiquette is part of the ritual, and the prized crust that forms at the bottom of the pot, la religieuse, is shared at the end.

Melted-cheese dishes have long roots in the Alpine regions of Switzerland, France and Italy, where hard cheese and firm bread were winter staples that fondue made tender and appealing again.

In the twentieth century fondue was promoted as a Swiss national dish, and it became firmly associated with mountain conviviality and the ski chalet. Today it is a symbol of shared, unhurried eating, enjoyed among family and friends around a single warm pot.