[Sca-cooks] clay fondue pot

[Anne-Marie Rousseau]

hello!
the closest thing I have to fondue is Digby's Savory toasted cheese and La
Varennes ramekins of cheese, but neither are really fondu, ie no wine, not
melty with dippage, etc. so no, I have NO documentation that fondue is
period (at least not for me, 15th century flemish girl that I am :))

we did it as a lark because we could :)

for technique, we took my cute clay pipkin on its maiden voyage. we cut the
cheese into cubes, threw in a glug or two of white wine, some pepper and
let it heat. we moved it slowly more and more into the coals, stirring
often. When the cheese was all bubbly and melty, we dipped in bread bits
(sans forks...we used our knives or fingers) or veggies or whatever. Once
the cheese was melty, we did move it more to the side of the fire and the
retained heat kept it melty long enough to be ingested. If the cheese got
too cool, we just skooched it closer in, but that only happened once (its
amazing how quickly six adults can go through a couple pounds of
emmantalier and gruyer :))

If I had been feeling flush I would have gotten a hunk of raclette to try
and toast on the skimmer, but the emmantalier/gruyere was cheaper, and I
wouldnt have gotten to use my pipkin!

hope this helps,
--Anne-Marie

At 12:33 PM 5/21/01 -0500, you wrote:
>Anne-Marie commented:
>> who thinks nothings better for camp fondue than a clay pipkin :)
>
>Interesting. So far, no one has presented any evidence that
>"fondue" is period. However, I'm more interested in your technique
>here.
>
>I recently bought a bundle of fondue forks at a Goodwill store
>to go with the fondue book I got as a remainder from Jessica's
>Biscuit and I should start looking at the thrift stores for
>a fondue pot. (yes, Mark's cheap. Stefan however, as a rich
>landowner has a reputation to uphold. :-) )
>
>I understand that most of these modern fondue pots have a little
>burner under them to keep the oil/cheese/whatever hot. Do you
>just heat the stuff in the pot over the fire and then use the
>retained heat of the pot to keep the food warm? Or do you actually
>try to dip the food items into the liquid in the pot while it is
>still over the fire? Or perhaps a bed of coals on a plate in the
>middle of the table?
>
>Thanks,
>  Stefan li Rous
>  stefan at texas.net
>_______________________________________________
>Sca-cooks mailing list
>Sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
>http://www.ansteorra.org/mailman/listinfo/sca-cooks
>