I anticipate New Year's Eve fondue even more than Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, and that is saying A LOT!  I just wish these three holidays with such HUGE meals were spaced a little further apart from each other.  Each holiday season I gain about 5 pounds then have to shed it off in January.    On New Year's Eve we start the first course at about 3PM ~ CHEESE fondue, my personal favorite! OH baby!  Typically we have a beer based cheddar cheese fondue, but this year we opted for a wine based Swiss cheese fondue.  I don't know which one I like better.  I think I need to try them side by side!  ;o)   

One thing to keep in mind while fonduing...(you like that word, don't you? I think I just made it up) is that if you drop any piece of food in the fondue pot you have to kiss a person of the opposite sex at the table!  AND you have to do this EVERY time you drop a piece of food.  Now let's get cooking!

Swiss Cheese Fondue

I used a recipe I adapted from Tyler Florence.  The original recipe is here.

½ pound Swiss Cheese, shredded (the better the Swiss, the better the fondue!)
½ pound Gruyere cheese, shredded
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 bottle of white dry wine, reserve 1 cup for the fondue while drinking the rest.  (In my experience in cooking with wine you need to use a wine you like to drink.  I used a moderate priced Sauvignon Blanc for this recipe.)
1 TBL lemon juice
½ tsp dry mustard
Pinch of nutmeg
Assorted dippers

Over medium heat add 1 cup white wine, lemon juice and garlic and bring to a gentle simmer.  Gradually stir in cheese into simmering liquid.  Melting the cheese gradually encourages a smooth fondue.  Once smooth, stir in mustard and nutmeg.

Cut all your dippers into bite size pieces.  Dippers we use are:
Assorted breads
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Carrots
Granny Smith Apple
Olives

Be creative and use anything your family likes!  This is a GREAT way to get those veggies into your kiddos!  
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After stuffing ourselves on cheese fondue we hang out, play a few games, watch a little TV - whatever the day brings and then about 4 hours later we hit the main course, MEAT FONDUE! This Boy 1's FAVORITE course!  The main course is pretty simple & we like the oil fondue better than the broth fondue.  (I know, broth is healthier, but whatever, this is New Year’s Eve - back off! )

Meat Fondue

This is what you need:
1/2 gallon peanut oil
shrimp
chicken
steak
mushrooms
1 block cream cheese – room temperature
Chives
Tempura batter, make 2-3x’s thicker than the package says 

This is the tempura batter I like to use.  You can get it on the International food isle of your grocery store or go to the Asian market.
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Heat oil to about 400 degrees (if you have an electric fondue pot, which is what we use, this is super easy to do, just turn the dial)
Next mix together cream cheese and chives
Clean mushrooms, remove stems
Cut all meats into bit size pieces
Shrimp should be peeled, cleaned and deveined
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If you want you can season your meats, but we like them as is.  No seasoning.
We use the tempura to dip the shrimp and mushrooms in.
Before coating the mushrooms we fill them with the cream cheese/chive mixture, then coat with tempura.  Stab the mushrooms through the side all the way, not from the top or bottom.

Make sure you have separate plates for raw meat....
Shrimp only takes about a minute to cook.  You can cook the shrimp with or without tempura batter.  
Chicken & steak take a longer to cook- 2-3 minutes, just check the first couple of pieces then you will get the hang of it.   
Mushrooms take the longest, I would guess 3-4 minutes I like them to be nice and soft and the cream cheese all melted!  The mushrooms are my FAVORITE!!  My mouth is watering just thinking of them!
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During the meat course DO NOT EAT OFF YOUR FONDUE FORK!!  They are super-hot & you will burn yourself!  Have a separate plate with a fork and knife. 

Oh, and dipping sauces!  I almost forgot!  Use anything you like for dippers!  We use:
Soy Sauce
BBQ Sauce
Teriyaki Sauce
Cocktail Sauce
Honey Mustard
Ketchup

Obvious you can change your meats up and cater to your family.  Scallops are really good as well -any seafood is good dipped in the tempura batter.  You can also do different veggies, sweet potatoes are good, and broccoli... you get the idea.
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You can't forget dessert!  Chocolate fondue is a favorite among the little kids!  Typically we do white chocolate fondue, but this year we mixed it up and did milk chocolate fondue and WOW was it sweet.  I could only handle a couple of bites of this fondue, but since I have three little ones that LOVE anything chocolate, this was GONE in no time.

Milk Chocolate Fondue

2/3 cup half-and-half
1 package milk chocolate chips
2 TBL Grand Marnier

Bring half and half to a gentle simmer, add chocolate chips and Grand Marnier to warm half and half, stir till chocolate is fully melted.  Keep fondue pot on low to avoid burning the chocolate.


Dippers we use:
Strawberries
Angel food cake (pound cake is good as well)
Cherries
Bananas
Marshmallows
Apples
Tangerines
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Have fun & Happy New Year to all of you!!
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(Yes, Boy 1's hand is missing from the toast, he bolted right after the meat fondue. He thinks getting too old for stay at home on NYE.)
MIL
1/9/2011 10:37:39 pm

Ohhh..the mushrooms sound really good, I'll have to try them next time I make fondue. What a great NY's tradition!

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Tricia Nelson
1/16/2011 12:29:41 am

Who needs Martha Stewart when I have you? Great ideas!! I love your blog...writing down the recipes now!!

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