Fondue Savoyarde

Fondue can be made with a combination of cheeses, or simply with gruyère, as here. It is usually prepared in a shallow earthenware saucepan, a ‘caquelon’. The mixture must be heated gently but steadily, and stirred in a figure of eight (say the superstitious) so that the cheese melts in the wine without cooking into strings. If a man drops his piece of bread into the fondue, he must buy the party a bottle of wine; the penalty for women is a kiss all round.