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Hey, anybody ever try to make fondue and not get a nice smooth goo?
I figured out one way to screw up fondue, and how to fix it.
I'm still not friends with my cheese grater, so I simply chopped the cheese this time. I made lots of long thin strips, figuring that was close enough, then tossed it in flour to coat it as usual and made fondue out of it. The larger pieces melted more slowly than grated cheese, but I just stood there stirring for a longer time and counted it a good tradeoff compared to grating.
What I wound up with was an unappetizing-looking mess. It was as if somebody had taken a white wine, made it just a little cloudy, and then put a million tiny cheese larvae in it. Seriously, if cheese had an insectoid life cycle, my "fondue" was teeming with the larval form. It was not smooth. It was not fully opaque. When I dipped a piece of bread in it, some of the bread piece looked wet and some looked cheesy. The whole thing looked just like it would if I had only added about half or three-quarters the amount of cheese that I'd needed.
I looked again at the measuring cup I'd used for the wine. That was right. I looked at the labels I'd peeled off the cheese. Those were right. What could I possibly have done differently?
Less surface area -> less flour to coat the cheese.
Well, there could be only one way to fix it. I pulled out the flour, dumped two heaping spoons of it into the mess, and beat it vigorously with a whisk.
I have never, in my entire life, seen a cooking goof that looked so bad be fixed so perfectly in such a short time. In about thirty seconds what I had was fondue.
I guess the flour isn't optional.
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klwalton, tytso, and anybody else who's knowledgeable about the WHY of various cooking techniques: what is it about the flour that does this? For someone allergic to wheat or to gluten, what might work instead, for swiss-cheese-and-wine fondue?
I figured out one way to screw up fondue, and how to fix it.
I'm still not friends with my cheese grater, so I simply chopped the cheese this time. I made lots of long thin strips, figuring that was close enough, then tossed it in flour to coat it as usual and made fondue out of it. The larger pieces melted more slowly than grated cheese, but I just stood there stirring for a longer time and counted it a good tradeoff compared to grating.
What I wound up with was an unappetizing-looking mess. It was as if somebody had taken a white wine, made it just a little cloudy, and then put a million tiny cheese larvae in it. Seriously, if cheese had an insectoid life cycle, my "fondue" was teeming with the larval form. It was not smooth. It was not fully opaque. When I dipped a piece of bread in it, some of the bread piece looked wet and some looked cheesy. The whole thing looked just like it would if I had only added about half or three-quarters the amount of cheese that I'd needed.
I looked again at the measuring cup I'd used for the wine. That was right. I looked at the labels I'd peeled off the cheese. Those were right. What could I possibly have done differently?
Less surface area -> less flour to coat the cheese.
Well, there could be only one way to fix it. I pulled out the flour, dumped two heaping spoons of it into the mess, and beat it vigorously with a whisk.
I have never, in my entire life, seen a cooking goof that looked so bad be fixed so perfectly in such a short time. In about thirty seconds what I had was fondue.
I guess the flour isn't optional.
klwalton, tytso, and anybody else who's knowledgeable about the WHY of various cooking techniques: what is it about the flour that does this? For someone allergic to wheat or to gluten, what might work instead, for swiss-cheese-and-wine fondue?
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