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Fondue

Salads, Dips, Sandwiches and Fermented Cold Dishes

Fondue is a Swiss dish of melted cheese and wine served in a communal pot called a caquelon over a portable stove heated with a candle or spirit lamp, eaten by dipping bread and sometimes vegetables into the cheese with long-stemmed forks. It was promoted as a Swiss national dish by the Swiss Cheese Union in the 1930s to increase cheese consumption, and since the 1950s the term fondue has broadened to cover other dishes in which food is dipped into a communal pot of hot liquid.

Facts
Origin RegionSourced to the subject's own account
Alpine Switzerland (Zürich) 1
Origin Period, To (Year)
to 1875 1
Sourced to the subject's own accountMarks 1875, when the first recipe for cheese fondue under that name with no eggs (matching the modern dish) was published and already presented as a Swiss national dish; earlier 18th and 19th century recipes called cheese fondue used eggs and were closer to a souffle.
Disputed
Origin Period, From (Year)
from 1698 1
Sourced to the subject's own accountMarks the earliest known recipe for cheese-and-wine fondue, in a 1698 Zurich cookbook; the source also notes the term itself appears in sources predating this recipe, so the practice may be older than the first written recipe.
Classification
Dietary SuitabilitySourced to the subject's own account
Contains Dairy or Egg 1
FAQs

Which cheeses and which preparation make a classic Swiss fondue?

Emmentaler, Vacherin and Gruyère melted into white wine in a garlic-rubbed caquelon.

A classic Swiss fondue usually includes one or more of the cheeses Emmentaler, Vacherin and Gruyère. White wine is heated in a heavy casserole called a caquelon that has been rubbed with garlic, and the grated cheese is then added to the hot wine.
Connections

In Cuisine

Source Fondue (Wikipedia)
Source Fondue (Wikipedia)

Uses Ingredient

Cheese, Ingredients
Source Fondue (Wikipedia)
Garlic, Ingredients
Source Fondue (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases

Originated In

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.

Sources
1. Fondue (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia
  • History, Alpine origins
    In the Alpine regions of Switzerland, where harsh winters and geographic isolation limited access to fresh foods, communities relied heavily on preserved staples such as aged cheese and stale bread.
  • History section
    The earliest known recipe for the modern form of cheese fondue comes from a 1698 book published in Zürich, under the name "Käss mit Wein zu kochen" 'to cook cheese with wine'.
  • History, 1875 recipe
    The first known recipe for the modern cheese fondue under that name, with cheese and wine but no eggs, was published in 1875, and was already presented as a Swiss national dish.
  • Introduction
    Fondue (UK: FON-dew, US: fon-DEW, French: [fɔ̃dy], Swiss Standard German: [fɔ̃ːˈdyː] ; Italian: fonduta) is a Swiss dish of melted cheese and wine served in a communal pot (caquelon or fondue pot) over a portable stove (réchaud) heated with a candle or spirit lamp, and eaten by dipping bread and sometimes vegetables or other foods into the cheese using long-stemmed forks.
  • In Cuisine: French Cuisine, Wikipedia category list
  • In Cuisine: Italian Cuisine, Wikipedia category list
  • Uses Ingredient: Garlic, Infobox main_ingredient field: Cheeses, white wine, garlic, often kirsch
  • Uses Ingredient: Cheese, Infobox main_ingredient field: Cheeses, white wine, garlic, often kirsch
  • In Group: Swiss Cheese Dishes, Lead paragraph
    Fondue (UK: FON-dew, US: fon-DEW, French: [fɔ̃dy], Swiss Standard German: [fɔ̃ːˈdyː] ; Italian: fonduta) is a Swiss dish of melted cheese and wine served in a communal pot (caquelon or fondue pot) over a portable stove (réchaud) heated with a candle or spirit lamp, and eaten by dipping bread and sometimes vegetables or other f
View the Source
Wikidata: Fondue
Wikidata Q694444, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source
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