Anyone who often throws successful dinner parties and events will tell you that it’s more about the people and their enjoyment, than it is about having every facet perfectly planned. And nothing says fabulously simple quite like stocking up on your favourite cheese and wines, curating some amusing guests and then having them bond over delicious cook-your-own fondue magic. Everyone will love the ensuing fun, flames and saucery!
1. Share the load
Throwing a DIY dinner or lunch party is a great opportunity to do a little legwork in the invitation stage that will actually cut down the amount of shopping you personally need to do. Firstly, you don’t want to invite more than 6 people for your first-ever fondue (unless you’re catering for a mass gathering but that’s another story altogether). This is to keep the mess to a minimum, ensure everyone has a good time eating their fill of food and allows you to have a fairly safe learning curve for your next fondue.
Once you’ve got a desired guest list together, send out an email invite that creates a bit of hype about your fun fondue event. Then when you’ve got your RSVPs sorted, follow up with an email that includes a list of ingredients that each guest/group can bring with them to contribute. For example, you can take care of the molten cheese mix ingredients, while guests bring things like breads, baby potatoes, cooked meats and even a variety of fresh veggies for dipping.
2.Make a lip-smacking cheese concoction
Having the perfect recipe for creating a molten cheese mix from heaven will either make or break your fondue. Watch the below video for a step-by-step guide to creating the perfect dipping sauce using Gruyère and Emmentaler cheeses. Also remember that you shouldn’t double or triple the recipe measurements in order to accommodate larger groups of guests or oversized pots. This will compromise the taste and quality of your mix. Instead, have several normal sized pots that you can use to prepare lots of smaller batches of cheese sauce in order to cater for everyone.
3. Get the right tools
Throwing a successful fondue shindig definitely relies on having the correct equipment. For one, you need to ensure that there are enough long fondue forks to keep all of your guests happily nibbling over their bubbling pots. For cheese specifically you’ll need larger, lower pots in order to both speed up melting and prevent the molten mixture from burning. A ceramic “caquelon” pot is the one traditionally used for cheese. If you are scaling up, just to be safe, you’ll also want to plan around providing one dipping pot per every group of 6 guests. Also put out plenty of napkins and even use ramekins or small bowls to mitigate the mess between pots and mouths.
Once you’ve pulled off a successful fondue foire, we also highly recommend this cheese-infused winter warmer soup recipe for easy entertaining during the brrr. And don’t forget to stop in at your nearest Checkers Wine Route for a selection of spicy red wines to pair with your Winter soul food!