Use the finest quality chocolate when making fondue. Commonly available quality brands like Valrhona and Guittard are a perfect. choice. Supermarket baker’s chocolate and chocolate chips are a poor (think waxy) substitute. Photo courtesy Sugardaddy’s.
February 2005 |
Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / Chocolate
Chocolate Fondue RecipesA Base for the “Chocolate Truffle Melt”
Fondue comes from the French word fondre, to melt.It was invented hundreds of years ago in Switzerland as a way to make use of dried-out Gruyère and Emmental cheeses. This “last resort” device has turned into one of the most enjoyable dining pastimes. Family and friends have fun sitting around the communal fondue pot, spearing bread chunks and dipping them into delicious melted cheese. Chocolate and beef fondue are newer inventions. Chocolate fondue actually originated in New York City in the 1950s, although it is Swiss in origin: the brainstorm of a Swiss chef at a Swiss restaurant (Chef Konrad Egli of the Chalet Suisse, no longer in operation), who melted down Toblerone bars. Fondue is a double delight: delicious and simple to make. A basic recipe and some variations—including a sugar-free version—follow. But we can’t stress strongly enough: quality input equals quality output. If you want it to taste like fondue from a top restaurant, don’t melt down chocolate morsels from the supermarket. Use fine bar chocolate (or shavings or drops): for not much more money, there’s a world of difference in taste. Ingredients
Preparation
You don't need a special fondue pot or chafing dish in order to serve chocolate fondue. While the pot and stand with its tea candle or Sterno flame is atmospheric, you easily can use a glass or ceramic bowl. This way, you can bring it to the microwave to re-heat as needed. For Dipping
*SUGAR-FREE VARIATION: People on sugar-restricted diets who can eat the other ingredients should use 99% or 100% cacao chocolate. Several fine chocolate companies offer bars in these percentages. Then, add 1/2 cup of cooking-formulation sugar substitute (the formulations in the large formats for cooking are often constituted differently from the individual packets).
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