As the one with 30 kinds of cheese, I’ll leave it to you to guess. Second best is chocolate, sort of. It's actually disgusting. In a kind of wonderful way. Entirely unforgiving. Not great if it's not the best chocolate, if the temperature gets off and it goes sticky or grainy, etc. And the dippees have to be the perfect temperature, moisture level, etc. It's almost never really good, so then people keep eating more and more in the elusive hunt for a perfect morsel, and drip on their nice clothes, while trying to have adult conversations with toddler grimy faces... Then everybody remembers it being better than it was because they had such a guilty good time. Especially if it was boozy chocolate. ;)

i don't like the kind where your meat on skewer is supposed to cook. I'm fine with teppanyaki, but by the time the meat done in the fondue pot is cooked enough for me to like it, it's ruined. Open textured vegetables, sliced thin, are good in broth. Or cooked meats which are just warmed and flavored.

The main thing about a fondue pot, unless it's being wielded by serious-minded Swiss (in which case, the food tends to be on the better side), is that it's a good excuse to cluster together and have messy fun and laugh a lot. It'll be a great way to celebrate the end of quarantine. And what a great excuse to try all the recipes in the meanwhile! Happy Christmas!

I've had many kinds of fondue. I like cheese, and broth- simmering oil is OK, but not a fave. Seafoods, tomato, and curry fondues can all be pretty darn good. I've had the fun of fondue and raclette together- that's some serious cooking at the table socialization.

I'm not fond of sweets, so the stuff like chocolates, sweet creams, and fruit sauces fondues are not my thing.

With me, it is still cheese all the way. Moitie-Moitie is my favorite (half gruyere/half vacherin fribourgeois), then Savoyard. 2nd type is chocolate, 3rd is broth/Chinoise (I agree about the seafood), and the last is oil/bourguignonne.

Haven't used my fondue pot in many years. But way back when, loved fondue made with Swiss cheese.

Well the pot needed for the various kinds of fondue differs. You need earthenware at a fairly low temp for cheese, and the oil must be hot for a successful oil cooking, and broth simmering. We won't mention chocolate because I think that is disgusting. Has to have so much oil added to make it really dippable, and then there is the "chocolate fountain"...EWWW! Kids dipping their fingers,,,,and dropping their banana slice...just no!

any kind of cheese fondue is my fave....you could melt Velveeta and give me a slice of wonderbread and I would enjoy it!

Oil? I've never had that kind of chocolate fondue. It's usually some version of ganache.

Alton Brown's reloaded fondue is amazing.

I remember going to a Swiss Fondue restaurant in Mexico City in the late 1970s, and I think it was on Reforma Blvd near Zona Rosa, possibly in Colonia Cuauhtémoc, which is north of Reforma, while Zona Rosa is just south of Reforma.

I do remember only having cheese fondue there, but I liked it very much. It's not something that I make at home, except on special occasions. I've also had chocolate fondue with fruit, and I like that a lot as well, but I haven't had it recently. I sort of considered it a fad in the 1970s, but it is worth reviving, if that is the case.

My BF used to do beef fondues (w/ hot oil) -- but the really important thing was all the condiment choices that went with it. lol! My aunt made a fabulous cheese fondue, but good bread makes a difference. :)

ETA: my sister and I would also use our fondue pots for serving hot dips. e.g., hot broccoli dip or cheese w/ jalapenos and/or salsa, etc.

I've only made the Italian BagnaCauda (oil bath). EvOliveOil, slivered garlic, anchovies, rosemary, flaky salt. Uses a smaller vessel. For parties I would put one at either end of the 'smorgasbord' table. One for vegetables and one for meats....proscuitto, smoked salmon, sardines .etc. Probably not a true fondue.

My nice fondue pot has only been used once. A friend brought a family cheese recipe. It was excellent. I should have asked for the recipe. The cheeses used.

Like Lars, my experience was kind of a "fad" in the 70s. However, in Grand Rapids there is a fondue restaurant called "The Melting Pot", and it serves only fondue, along with a salad and charcuterie board. It's kind of expensive, but it's always busy. I'm not sure how you could get this "to go", but here's the web site: https://www.meltingpot.com/grand-rapids-mi/

They do have a separate "to go menu" that consists of cheese fondue, a salad and chocolate fondue.

Lars, this is right across the street from Meijer Gardens, where we visited when you and Kevin were here!

I used to have a fondue pot, but I don't think I ever used it, and it ended up at Goodwill.

Annie

I'm looking forward to some fun meals i don't have to cook 😂

I'm another one that remembers having fondue back in the late 60s and early 70s. It was always a hot oil fondue with beef, breaded shrimp, and maybe a couple other things that I can't remember because I was a picky eater back then.

We were a family of 6 and I vaguely remember that after a bit of cooking, the oil would cool down, and it would take a few minutes to cook a piece of meat. I think my mom finally bought another hot plate and fondue pot so dinner wouldn't take 2 hours! lol

IC, cheese fondue requires cooking, and most of the others do too. I hope you can figure out how to simplify. Fun, at least, is build in. :)

Plllog, it requires gentle heating ......not cooking. Lol.

I'm gathering ideas for dippers.....too much bread is too heavy. Veg, etc.

I love the bourgninone version with beef, pork and chicken. Prawns would be a nice addition.

Do any of you eat shabu shabu?

Thank you for your memories!

I love a raclette too and our device died last year. I thought a fondue pot would be more versatile.

I like all the types I have tried ... cheese, has to be the right combo of cheese, with a little kirshwasser, and you dip in quality hunks of bakery bread. Or the beef into oil. Or very dark chocolate, into which plump juicy strawberries would be dipped. I still have the parental fondue pot and forks. They used this metal pot for both the oil or cheese based recipes. Cheese was definitely harder to clean out!

Okay, gentle heating rather than searing, but you still have to Prep, build your base, stir, making sure it doesn't break, prep and possibly cook the dippees, etc. If it feels like a vacation to you, that’s what counts. I hope you have a lot of fun!

Shabu shabu, if made right, is the best of the broth type, IMO, because the slices are wafer thin and the meat cooks as fast as you can blink. But you still have to like boiled meat. The sauces are all important. The high salt level helps to disguise the boiledness. It's not hilarious, the way cheese fondue (especially when heavy on the wine) is. It's not particularly delicious, the way teppanyaki is. It's a great way to make restaurant patrons cook their own food and pay extra for the privilege. ;)

I like shabu shabu, and I agree it is a better way to do the broth. It is flexible in that you can add all sorts of vegetables and even noodles into the mix. The version that uses thinly sliced Wagyu is actually very good, as it not so much a "boiling" as a blanching. With the right broth and some dipping sauces, I'm set.

Besides sturdy bread, in cheese fondue I like fingerling potatoes, carrots, apples, pears and lightly blanched vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower (not cooked, but the raw edge taken out). At a banquet, I had some cooked ham that was quite tasty, all rolled up.
Once, at a restaurant, we had a side of fries, and despite being fatty and overly rich, a few sturdy fries dunked in the cheese was fantastic.

Plllog, you've slightly put me off the shabbu shabbu as like you, I like the fun aspect.

I won't be looking for wagyu beef lol

IC, I was talking about restaurant shabu shabu. You can make your own fun if you're not in a dignified restaurant on your company manners. :). But there is a lot of prep involved. Definitely not a cooking vacation. Not hilarious, like cheese or chocolate, which are messy, though, and you don't want to spill boiling broth, whereas tepid cheese and a good napkin is pretty safe. ;)

Islay, my computer eavesdrops, I swear! After talking about fondue and looking up that restaurant, I got an email from Cuisine At Home, with fondue recipes, including one for spinach/artichoke fondue and this one for french onion fondue!

https://www.cuisineathome.com/recipes/appetizers-snacks/french-onion-fondue/

Annie