If you discarded your fondue pot years ago because it smacked of polyester and geometric prints, you're probably sorry now. But if you hid your fondue pot in a closet, hoping to take it out again one day, prime that alcohol burner because fondue is back. After years of being associated with wine-soaked parties where everyone went home hungry, cooks are remembering that fondue tasted really good. The kind of fondue that gave rise to all those once-unwanted fondue pots is fondue au fromage, or cheese fondue. It comes from the Swiss, who developed the classic recipe of melted Emmenthaler and Gruyere cheese flavored with a hint of garlic, light-bodied white wine, and a goodly dollop of kirsch, a cherry brandy.
Diners use long forks to dunk cubes of chewy French bread into the molten cheese.
Pots for this type of fondue are traditionally copper, which transmits the heat from a little alcohol burner more easily and helps keep the oil hot enough to cook. Last is chocolate fondue, ideally nothing more than good chocolate melted with heavy cream and a liqueur. Items to dip often include chunks of pound cake, banana, pineapple, and strawberries, as well as pretzel sticks, marshmallows, and orange sections. Chocolate fondue is best served in a ceramic or earthenware pot, and the flame must be kept low or the chocolate can scorch. Not if you have the cast-iron type, covered in enamel.