Fondue for a Weeknight

Ingredients

• 1 lb alpine-style cheese (gruyère + anything melty), grated
• 1 cup dry white wine (or stock + 2 tsp lemon juice)
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tsp kirsch or nothing at all
• Dippers: cubed crusty bread, boiled baby potatoes, blanched broccoli, apple slices, cornichons

Method

1. Toss the grated cheese with the cornstarch — the starch is the anti-split insurance the Swiss have relied on forever.
2. Rub the pot with the cut garlic, add the wine, and warm to a bare simmer.
3. Add the cheese by the handful, stirring in lazy figure-eights over LOW heat, letting each handful melt fully before the next. Never boil; cheese remembers.
4. When glossy and ribboning off the spoon, stir in the kirsch and pepper.
5. Bring the pot to the table over a candle or lowest burner and deploy the dippers. Rule of the Alps: drop your bread in the pot, you owe the table a favor. Choose your skewer grip wisely.