Gastronomía

FONDUE

General note:

You need a special pot called a "caquelon" to prepare a fondue. Once the fondue is ready, the caquelon is set up on the table on a small burner. Keep the fondue on a constant head, but make sure it does not overheat. We use special forks with long handles to dip the bread in the molten cheese, but I'm sure it also works with regular forks.

WARNING: Make sure you use the appropriate equipment when cooking fondue. The author is not reliable for any accidents that may occur when preparing or eating fondue !

Ingredients for 4 persons:

• approx. 600 g (1.3 pounds) of white bread
• 1 piece of garlic
• 400 g (0.9 pounds) grind Greyerzer cheese
• 200 g (0.44 pounds) grind Emmentaler cheese
• 3 dl (10 fl. ounces) white wine
• 5 cl (1.7 fl. ounces) kirsch
• 2 tea spoons of maizena
• grind pepper
• a small amount of nutmeg

Preparation:

1. Cut the bread into small pieces. Some people like the bread a little bit crispy, so you may want to cut it a few hours before you have the fondue.
2. Split the piece of garlic in two and rub the inside of the caquelon with the them. Put the cheese and the wine in the caquelon and cook them on the cook stove. Constantly stir the mixture. Add kirsch and maizena, but keep stirring. Leave them on the stove for a while, but make sure it does not overheat. The mixture tends to spill out of the pot if it gets too hot ! Add pepper and nutmeg, then put the caquelon on the burner on the table.
3. Adjust the heat so that the cheese stays at a constant temperature while eating. Put a small piece of bread on the fork, stir it gentle in the cheese and enjoy. Warning: the cheese is hot, don't get burned.
   This menu may not be suited for small children.

You may vary the mixture of cheese depending on your taste.

SWITZERLAND FOOD

Due to the fact that growing wheat becomes increasingly difficult to impossible at higher altitudes, Swiss farmers have always been specializing in milk and dairy products, especially cheese. For centuries they have been selling cheese on markets in northern Italy. In return they got products they could not (or not easily) grow themselves like rice or pasta. Though potatoes where brought to Europe by the Spanish expeditions to Southern America already in the 15th century, they had a hard time to become popular - until a series of famine years with relatively cold and wet weather in the 18th century showed the advantages of not relying on growing grains alone.

ZOPF (BREAD)

Ingredients for 2 bread, about 800 gr (1.76 pounds) each:

• 1 kg (2.2 pounds) white flour
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 20 to 30 gr (0.7 to 1 ounce) yeast, broken in small pieces
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 125 gr (4.4 ounces) butter or margarine, soft
• 6.5 to 7dl (0.7 to 0.75 quarts) milk
• 1 yellow of an egg, diluted

Preparation:

1. Mix flour and salt in a bowl, add yeast, sugar, butter and milk, knead to a soft dough. Needs about 10 minutes by hand, 4 to 5 minutes when using a machine. Cover and let grow for about one hour until size has doubled.
2. Cut dough in two or four pieces of the same size. Weave as shown below.
3. Put bread on a sheet metal, covered with backing paper, sweep with water. Let grow again for about 30 to 60 minutes.
4. Before baking, sweep with the yellow of an egg.
5. Bake for about 45 to 55 minutes in the lower part of the pre-heated oven at about 200 degree Celsius (400 degree Fahrenheit).

Serve within 2 to 3 days.

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