Fondue Neuchateloise
Ingredients
- 400 g (1 lb) Gruyêre cheese, grated
- 400 g (1 lb) Emmenthaler cheese, grated
- 400 ml (2 cups) dry white wine
- 1 or more cloves garlic
- 4 tsp cornstarch
- 50 ml (¼ cup) kirschwasser
- Pepper, freshly ground
- Nutmeg, freshly grated
- 1 lb or more baguettes (French bread), cut into bite-size cubes
Steps
- Rub caquelon (fondue pot) with garlic clove. For more garlic, chop finely and add to caquelon.
- Add dry white wine. Warm slightly on stove top over low flame.
- Mix cornstarch with cheese to dust cheese particles. Add to warm wine.
- Melt cheese, stirring constantly in figure eight pattern, until thickened and starting to boil up.
- Off heat, blend in kirschwasser. (Traditionally cornstarch is slurried with the schnapps and added now; adding it with cheese makes separation less likely.)
- Season with nutmeg and freshly ground pepper (black or white).
- Bring to boil 1 or 2 more times.
- Bring caquelon to table. Place on stand over spirit burner. Regulate heat so fondue stays hot but does not boil.
- Alternative method: pour wine into cold caquelon with garlic.
- Mix cornstarch to slurry with schnapps. Add to wine.
- Heat rapidly, whisking, until wine boils up and thickens.
- Lower heat. Add cheese a handful at a time, stirring constantly, until melted.
Notes from the original
- It is necessary to use bread of the correct texture and size. The bread should not be too soft and it should be cubed in such a way that each cube retains part of the crust. The cube is then pierced through the crust into the crumb. This prevents the bread from slipping off into the fondue. This sometimes happens anyway, of course, and in Switzerland there is a tradition when eating fondue in a restaurant (optional depending on the crowd), that if one is guilty, one buy a round of schnapps for the whole party.
- A rule of thumb is to use 200 g (8 oz) cheese per 100 ml (½ cup) wine
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Fondue Neuchateloise” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-06-21, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.






