Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Not So Fond o' This Fondue

I was hoping to be able to share with you a wonderful, festive fondue recipe, dense with Gruyere cheese, diced shrimp, white wine, and tarragon.
Alas, what I am able to share with you instead is this glop. Rhymes with flop.
The cheesiness never quite came together with the white wine - apple juice - lemon juice liquidness, save for about 20 seconds mid-cooking, and even then I had to whisk furiously to keep the whole thing from looking like a chemistry experiment gone awry.
As Julia Child liked to chirp, Never Apologize.
So I shan't apologize, but simply direct you, if you have a hankering for a nice, festive dinner of cheese fondue, to try instead this recipe.
Cheers.

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27 Comments:

Blogger icandy... said...

So yummy, Lynn!
I just love fondue... thank you for popping by my place! So nice to "meet" you!
Happy day!
Christina

December 2, 2009 at 7:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Lynn -- When Hubby and i were teenagers was the first time fondue was so popular, but he let me know right then that he didn't like food that you had to "work" for every bite. :) So, needless to say, I've never had a fondue pot.

btw, I posted a recipe for peanut clusters today that you make in the crock pot that I thought you might be interested in. The other recipe I posted is one I think I must have gotten from you -- cranberry orange fudge. If I did, thank you! It is wonderful. :)

December 3, 2009 at 1:55 AM  
Blogger Kara said...

I have never made fondue because I've been too afraid! I will have to try some though because it sounds yummy.
Thanks for stopping by my blog:)

December 3, 2009 at 4:35 AM  
Blogger Lynn said...

Addhumorandfaith, that's funny that your husband doesn't like having to "work" for his food. :) I love fondue because it's such a nice, cozy meal and it really forces you to slow down and enjoy the evening.

I'm heading over to check out your recipes -- the cranberry orange fudge recipe wasn't from me, but it sounds divine.

December 3, 2009 at 8:02 AM  
Blogger The Bumbles said...

The only thing I'd want in a fondue pot would be chocolate.

Thanks for sharing your flops - they are sometimes as important as the winners.

December 3, 2009 at 9:57 AM  
Anonymous Faith said...

I love fondue, but I've only made it once (with similar results to yours, lol!). I'll have to give it another try!

December 3, 2009 at 1:02 PM  
Blogger Karenpie said...

Hi Lynn! The fondue sounds wonderful - all those flavors! So . . . did the cheese break? Was it just a bad recipe? How come it didn't turn out? Because now I want to make it, it sounds so good! Let's not talk about the picture of gloppy goo, shall we? Ha! Ha!

December 3, 2009 at 1:30 PM  
Blogger Lynn said...

Karenpie, I'm really not sure what happened and why I couldn't get the whole thing to congeal properly. I've made fondue a number of times, with a number of different recipes, and it has happened before (where the liquid and cheese wouldn't quite combine) but not often. I've got to say, the flavor was outstanding, but I was still most disappointed because we couldn't dip our bread/mushrooms/carrots, we just had to spoon the glop over the food on our plates :(. When I reheated it the next day, it came together much better. I have no clue. Any ideas?

December 3, 2009 at 1:47 PM  
Blogger Tracy said...

Lynn, thank you for your kind comment on my blog. Hope you'll stop by and visit again soon! :)

December 3, 2009 at 2:41 PM  
Blogger Rhonda said...

Hi Lynn
I'm so glad you left a comment on my blog so I could find your great blog. I will be looking around it.

I cook a lot and sometimes, for no reason I can figure out, a recipe just does not work right. And then there are the bad recipes too.
But I just move on the next recipe and keep cooking.

December 3, 2009 at 4:26 PM  
Blogger Moore Minutes said...

Oh bummer. :( The ingredients sounded SOO Good together too!

December 3, 2009 at 5:22 PM  
Blogger Suzanne said...

Hi Lynn, thanks for stoppig by and your lovely comment:-) How funny I just watched a Martha show and she was making a fondue and it looked soooo good. I think I need to try this!

December 3, 2009 at 6:33 PM  
Blogger Alexa said...

You get an A+ for your cheese fondue and an A+++ for attitude. I guess we all have a little bit of Julia Child's wonderful spark inside of us. Thanks for stopping by my blog. :-)

December 3, 2009 at 7:43 PM  
Anonymous tasteofbeirut said...

What a great recipe! I always have bits of leftover cheese and I never think of doing the fondue thing. Thanks for reminding me! Plus the ingredients are so few, I will have no excuse!

December 4, 2009 at 5:45 AM  
Anonymous Velva said...

Fondue is divine. Sorry, this attempt did not work out. I hope that you are going to try again!

December 4, 2009 at 12:48 PM  
Blogger Joanne said...

I'm sorry this didn't work out! I guess you can't win em all. Fondue seems like it's the kind of thing that's tougher than it looks...

December 4, 2009 at 12:52 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

pk @ Room Remix
Sounds like it WOULD have been yummy! Thanks for sharing the other recipe too. Have a good weekend...

December 4, 2009 at 2:03 PM  
Blogger Katy ~ said...

Sorry this didn't work out for you because the combination of ingredients sounds very very good.

December 4, 2009 at 6:27 PM  
Blogger Karenpie said...

Hi Lynn! Sorry it took me so long to get back here! About your floppy fondue - the only thing I can think is that you "broke" the cheese. It's when you heat/melt the cheese too quickly over heat that's too high. The fat in the cheese separates from the cheese solids so you have a greasy, liquidy part and a thick, gloppy part and the two won't come together. I think there's a way to fix it using cornstarch. Why do I know this? Am I a know-it-all? Well, probably, but I know this because I did it when I made fondue for a fancy-schmancy dinner party and felt like a complete dork. Breaking the cheese doesn't affect the taste, just the appearance, so it tasted alright but looked like a mess.

I'd make it again and POST THE RECIPE because it sounds fantastic!

December 5, 2009 at 10:00 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Ah, i can relate. After all of my recent baking disasters, I know how you feel. Just try another recipe.

December 7, 2009 at 7:28 AM  
Blogger Susannah said...

Flops happen... In our family we have fondue on Christmas Eve. Which reminds me, I need to get a new pot! :~D

December 7, 2009 at 11:43 AM  
Blogger Packrat said...

I'm slow getting here. But, every time I've tried to make cheese fondue from scratch this happened. I gave up and now just buy the fondue cheese round from the deli section at the grocery store. I usually buy two different ones and mix them (for 4 people to 6 people). Sad, but once in a while pre-prepared items work better than home made.

December 7, 2009 at 5:33 PM  
Anonymous Juliana said...

I love fondue, specially when it is cold :-) so far the recipes that we follow worked pretty good...and usually we finalize with a chocolate one :-)

December 7, 2009 at 8:44 PM  
Blogger Kim said...

Sorry to hear about the fondue not working out. I have been wanting to try a cheese fondue, but I'm waiting for Xmas when I hope to get a fondue pot :D Sounds like your swiss cheese fondue is one worth trying!!

December 8, 2009 at 4:38 PM  
Blogger Ingrid_3Bs said...

I appreciate your honesty and to hear I'm not the only one who has kitchen flops! :)
~ingrid

December 10, 2009 at 12:56 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I love that you put up a post about a recipe that you hated! I wish more people would do that. Not every recipe is a winner. More! More!

Happy New Year! Sarah at www.MommyliteOnline.com

January 4, 2010 at 6:00 PM  
Blogger Julie said...

Too funny...I've only tried to make fondue once and it came out just about like that!

January 8, 2010 at 8:02 PM  

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