Friday, February 16, 2007

Forking of the fondue

My wife has spent the last several years of our marriage establishing some new "family traditions" to pass onto our kids, one of which being a Valentine's Day fondue.

We have a wide variety of cookbooks dating back to when fondue was in it's culinary party-loving heyday (the 70's) that we've picked up at various auctions and yard sales. We have two electric fondue pots, but I'm hoping to pick up one of these babies for our next year's party

For those unfamiliar with the traditionally Swiss Miss dipping of meat, bread, fruit and veggies into assorted melted cheeses and hot oils, do yourself a favor and partake of the Gourmet Sleuth website.

It's a big too-do in terms of shopping and consumable prep time, but my wife seems to dig it, the girls get into it (literally), and my In-law's keep coming back year-after-year. However, due to my In-laws peculiar (or not) avoidance of even the most remotest possiblity of a food swapping occurance in any way, shape, form, we have to forgo the traditional sharing of the fondue dipping pots - lest a stray micro spec of saliva travel from one person's dipping fork, into the bubbling cheese dip, and onto another persons dipping fork.

Even though we put the fondue pots on the table, instead of fondueing your bits of eatums into a common pot, we spoon out the cheese onto individual plates -- whereupon is instantly cools, losing it's required gooeyness by a factor of 100, rendering it virtually impotent as a dipping, scooping, or glopping substance of any kind.

My In-laws claim to have once shared a banana split with each other on a vacation retreat several years ago, but I have my doubts. There is no photographic proof, nor are there any eyewitnesses to the possibly exchanging of salivary fluids via plastic spoons, ice cream, bananas, whipped cream and nuts.

I have seen them kiss each other on holidays and such. But somewhere they must have drawn a line between food intake, and affection giving.

My wife has no such proclivities. When I said "I do," every food item on my plate became as one. As it should be.

2 comments:

dennis said...

man...i loves me some fondue!

however wife.imp is a little more discretionary as to what foods should be dipped into molten hot cheese

tuesday said...

Great tradition! Why is it that the best ones always seem to involve food?

I've never partaken in a fondue party, but I always wanted to. Though, I wish you hadn't brought up the mixing of saliva business, because that never even crossed my mind. Now, I'm gonna have second thoughts, I'm sure. Not so much about swapping saliva with someone I'm overly close with, but what about those other people???

But you're right, no sense doing it if you're just gonna pour them into other dishes and have them cool right down.