With fondues, you want to accomplish three things: 1, tastes good; 2, don't scorch the cheese (causing lumps); 3, disrupt the cheese proteins so it's not stringy (stringy fondue is hard to eat). ------------------- Swiss is the classic, well, Swiss fondue; this is the classic recipe. ------------------- Cut one or two garlic cloves in half. Rub down the inside of the fondue pot with them. This is for tasty. Grate 1 pound of good Swiss cheese (Emmenthaler or Gruyere); I like a 2:1 Emmenthaler:Gruyere, but realistically you can use anything. Dredge it in enough flour to lightly coat (maybe 3-4 Tablespoons). This is much easier if the grated cheese is cold. The flour is to disrupt stringiness (mechanically). Pour 1 to 1.5 cups white wine (I usually do "some," you see) into the fondue pot, and heat it until it's quite warm, but not bubbling. This should be a dry white wine with a very light flavor, not something full-bodied like Chardonnay - maybe a Neufchatel or dry Riesling or Chablis. Add about 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice. This *also* disrupts stringiness, chemically this time. Start adding the cheese to the wine, slowly, a little at a time. Let a handful get melty and stir with a wooden spoon before adding the next. This is to keep it from scorching. Turn the heat up to barely what you need to melt the cheese. If it seems like it's taking forever, keep stirring it gently - it will come together rather sudden-like. But treat it gently. Ideally, add 3 Tablespoons kirsch (black cherry brandy) at this stage. This is for flavor. (I usually end up using 1T of brandy or cognac instead - don't tell.) Add some black pepper and salt to taste. You shouldn't need to salt it, really, but it depends on the cheese. You can turn the heat to medium-high for serving. If it's bubbling on its own, you have to keep an eye on it and stir it occasionally to prevent scorching. ------------------- Cheddar - this isn't as traditional, but it's gooood ------------------- Shred 1lb. medium-sharp to sharp (not extra sharp) cheddar of decent quality. Rub down the inside of the fondue pot with butter. Handle the heat exactly as above. Pour 1.5 cups medium-dark (depending on taste) room-temperature, FLAT beer into the fondue pot. This means you have to remember to open a bottle and drink half of it an hour or three beforehand. :-) I usually use a lager. But honestly, anything above Bud Light works. The paler the beer, the less pronounced the beer flavor. Heat the beer to very warm, but not bubbling. If you see carbonation bubbles, hold it at that temp until they stop forming. Toss the cheddar in flour, as above; melt handfuls of it slowly in the beer, whisking, as above. If you like (I do), add 1 to 4 cloves of crushed garlic (it must really be a paste, for this to work best). It won't cook much, so the flavor is strong, go gently with it. At this stage, some people add one or more of: - 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce - .5 to 1.5 tsp. dry mustard - Dash cayenne - Dash of hot sauce, your favorite - 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce I personally prefer to get good cheddar and good beer and let them speak for themselves (plus garlic of course), so I'll use, at most, a little hot sauce. But tastes vary. ------------------- The thing to remember is that fondue is very forgiving, really. Everything will work out tasty. If it gets lumps or strings, what the hell - it's still good. If all you have is cold carbonated beer or Chardonnay or leftover champagne or whatever, eh. All of this is pretty laissez-faire. Honestly, it's a leftovers-for-dinner meal. Don't skip flouring the cheese, though. -------------------- googling 'caramel fondue' produces fine recipes. not many ingredients & quite simple.