Fondue is a way of cooking that is done at the table as you sit down with your loved ones and family and friends to break bread!

The length of time it takes for your food to cook piece by piece, whether it’s meat bits, or cheese fondue, allows for lengthy conversations, usually of love and romance. It is the one meal that two can enjoy as they explore each other’s interests, hobbies, and personalities. It is also a perfect meal for friends who haven’t seen each other for a long time to catch up.

Fondue restaurants can be found in almost any European county, in the Middle East, and in the USA. I am sure a few probably exist on the Asian continent!

One of my best time experiences with fondue was at the Melting Pot restaurant where they offer four-course meals. The four courses start with a cheese fondue of your choice, as the menu offers up to five different combinations of cheese that make excellent cheese fondue. You can dip bread pieces into the cheese fondue, or apple cubes, grapes, cured sausage cubes, and a host of other choices. A hearty salad is the second course. The third course offers the main entrée, which at the Melting Pot is a set of choice meats or build your own, mainly including different types of sirloin steaks, duck, chicken, shrimp, lobster tail, and mushroom. The final course is your choice of delectable chocolate from up to five different types; dark chocolate, chocolate milk, white chocolate, etc. delicious items you may dip in the chocolate fondue are marshmallows, rice crisps, brownies, etc.

The four-course meal is designed to be enjoyed slowly with wine and good conversation with a loving partner or a close friend.

The traditional way of cooking fondue meats is using oil. However, some restaurants are now offering a variety of broths with different flavors to cook your meat in.

You can make fondue at home if you are able to purchase a fondue pot and fondue skewers. I personally use oil for meats when I make my own fondue. I usually select the best sirloin meat, cut it in cubes, make a large bowl of salad, and make some garlic bread in the oven to go with it. For special occasions in my family, cheese fondue is the way to celebrate. With cheese fondue I love to have cured sausage, apples, strawberries, grapes, and of course a baguette bread cut in cubes.