We’re having fondue on New Year’s Eve and—hooray!—someone else is making it. I’m interested to see what cheeses they use. A couple of years ago, I interviewed Joe Salonia, a past winner of FonDuel, a zany annual competition among cheese professionals. (Get tickets for the 2024 contest here.) Salonia shared his recipe and winning techniques, and I thought you might appreciate a refresher. Any year that ends with melted cheese is ending on a high note.
Read moreRaclette Your Way
When I asked Swiss cheese importer Caroline Hostettler whether she ate raclette as a child in Switzerland, she had no trouble resurrecting a memory. “Everyone had raclette machines at home but us,” recalled Hostettler, sounding still a bit aggrieved several decades later. Her mother refused to make it (she preferred fondue), so the annual raclette at an aunt’s house was the highlight of the year. Hostettler still remembers being almost overcome with excitement.
Read moreFondue Champion Tells All
I did not think I had much to learn about fondue until I spoke to Joe Salonia, a FonDuel champion. This friendly annual competition among people in the cheese business—mostly retailers and distributors—is the Olympics of melted cheese, with the public invited to taste and judge the entries. FonDuel took a pandemic pause last year, but Salonia has earned first and second place finishes in the past. (The latter result, he assures me, was “very close.”) With Valentine’s Day looming, it seemed like a good time to get some tips from a master on a dish that’s meant to be shared.
Read moreSheep Without Borders
And now for something completely different. Swiss producer. Raw sheep’s milk. Washed rind. I don’t know of any cheese that fits that description other than the one you’re about to meet. Oh, and the milk is organic and from French Basque sheep transported to the Swiss Alps. They don’t seem to mind: the views are great, and the shepherds speak French. The ewes quickly adapted, and the cheese made with their milk is one-of-a-kind.
Read moreHaving a Meltdown →
I’m not typically a big fan of cooking with fine cheese, but Reading begs to be melted. Made by Vermont’s Spring Brook Farm, this handsome wheel is modeled on Raclette, the alpine cheese so delicious that it has a dish named after it.
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