Italian fondue, Aosta- style
( Fonduta Valdostana )

Aosta-style fondue recipe

Preparation and cooking

• - Prepare fontina cheese.
  Put cheese cubes in a bowl and cover with milk.
  Let all rest, an hour.
• - At this point, transfer cheese and milk in a thick bottom pan.
  Turn on the stove on a very low heat.
  Continue stirring with a wooden spoon and make sure that the temperature does not rise above 60-70°C. Use a thermometer for this purpose.
  Continue stirring until you have a homogeneous mixture WITHOUT LUMPS.
• - Add the egg yolks, one by one, to the mixture of cheese, stirring continuously.
• - It is important to remember that the fondue MUST NEVER BOIL. If it happens, turn off the stove.

Just before serving

• - Remove the pan from heat and add a pinch of white pepper and a few knobs of fresh butter.
  Season to salt only if necessary.
  Serve your fondue hot and add white or black truffle, grated or sliced, if desired.
  Read my tips below to serve it well.

Note

Tips

• - My grandmother from Piedmont used to add a tablespoon of flour to the mixture through a sieve, to thicken.
• - If you want your fondue thicker, you need to decrease the amount of milk.
• - Typically, nowadays this cheese cream is prepared in a thick-bottomed saucepan on the stove and then transferred into a special pot, the fondue pan called Caquelon, that is then placed on its base said Richaud. The Richaud is done in such a way to keep warm fondue thanks to a candle or an alcohol burner. You can see it in the photo.
• - You also need long-handled forks or sticks to dip the bread or whatever you want.

Menu planning

• - Clearly, the fondue is a main dish and has a high convivial value because generally it makes several people eat all together.
• - The fondue itself is not long to do but a lot of time is required to prepare vegetables in case. In fact the only bread, polenta or potatoes that are the usual accompaniment are not entirely satiating.

Healthy eating

• - The fondue is very tasty but it is unfortunately a high-calorie dish. Do not be fooled by the calories you read in the nutrition facts. Bread or potatoes you dip inside increase calories a lot. Much better to dip raw or boiled seasonal vegetables.
• - No fiber in this dish.

Loretta

What's the right wine for " Italian fondue, Aosta- style "?

Our suggestion is Valle d'Aosta Donnas.