When I was a teenager, I thought myself very sophisticated when invited to friends' houses for
fondu (gasp!). And all that lovely, melty cheese and crispy baguette (or '
French bread' as we called it) is not to be sniffed at. However, these days I have a few issues with fondu:
Cost: Even here in France where we have cheese out the wazoo, if there are maybe six of you at table, enough decent-quality cheese for uninhibited dipping will set you back a fair bit.
Hassle: After you've fiddled about with the fuel etc etc, someone needs to monitor the heat and cheese levels almost constantly, as the cheese at the bottom of the pan can scorch quite easily. This gets harder and harder as the wine goes down.
Mess: We, as a family, are definitely not the kind of people that trip off to bed after a dinner party with the dishwasher humming and the worktops gleaming. Greasy, crusty (possibly burnt) fondu pot is not nice to wake up to.
This is where the northern French favourite of
Baked Cheese comes in. Whilst the cheeses used are stronger than fondu tends to be, and therefore not to everyone's taste, it is a lot less hassle than fondu whilst still as convivial. Rounds of Camembert or similar are wrapped in foil with a little garlic and white wine and baked in the oven for about 20 minutes. When you open them up, you can tear the 'skin' open and there is nothing but liquid cheese inside for everyone to dip their chunks of bread in. And when it's over, the foil, cheese box etc all goes straight in the bin. Easy peasy. Makes a brilliant starter, snack, or part of a buffet-style casual meal amongst good friends.
