Blueprint: How to throw a fondue party

Good food, good drink, good friends – at its essence, a party is a timeless combination of elements brought to life by the individual touch that hosts and guests contribute to the occasion. To help you pull off your best and most fun-filled gathering yet, our Dan’s Daily Blueprints tell you everything you need to host whatever event is next on your hit list.

If you’re the type of person who thinks op-shopping is a good time (raising both hands over here), then you’ll know the lure of the fondue set. And hey, even if those bright orange, ’70s-patterned pots don’t draw you in, who can resist the promise of dipping bread or little potatoes into melted cheese? Not you, and definitely not me.

Fondue, if you missed the memo, is a Swiss dish of cheese melted together with white wine, sometimes kirsch, sometimes garlic, and a little cornstarch to keep it all silky smooth. It has a lot in common with the traditional Swiss dish of raclette and potatoes – another oozy, cheesy delight. With fondue, the pot sits over a flame to keep it all melty, and folks gather around with long, slender forks for dipping just about anything into that savoury cheese cauldron. Add a little wine on the side and you have yourself a fondue party.

While fondue parties had their heyday in the 1970s, their cheesy appeal is timeless. In that sense, we reckon the fondue party is due for a comeback – and you don’t necessarily even need to have a fondue set to do it. Here’s the Dan’s Daily blueprint for how to put it all together.

Fondue, of course. If you’ve ever sat around a fondue pot poking tiny taters in cheese, you’ll know it’s a real eat-first-ask-questions-later kind of deal. But if you want to do it yourself, you can’t just throw a block of Tasty into a hot pot and get good fondue.

Instead, find yourself at least a basic fondue recipe. Traditional recipes usually call for at least one type of cheese (often gruyère and/or emmental), dry white wine, a clove of garlic, cornflour (to emulsify) and optionally a little splash of a cherry brandy called kirsch. A pinch of nutmeg or white pepper never goes astray, either, but you can really flavour it how you like. 

Next you need to think about your dippers. Fondue is kind of like a condiment in that you probably wouldn’t just eat it as is. Instead, skewer something fun on your fondue fork and go for a big dip. Classic choices are boiled baby potatoes, crusty bread (usually a day old), radishes, carrots, cornichons and slices of apple or pear. But hey, go with your heart here.

Fondue is rich, which means you and your guests will end up craving something that cuts through the fatty, creamy cheese. Most recipes generally call for some type of dry white wine, which, as a rule, is perfect here. Since you’re only ever using a cup or two of wine in your fondue, you’ll probably have something on hand that already works.

We recommend wines with nice, bright acidity and a little fruitiness to cut through the rich cheese and accentuate all those creamy, nutty flavours. Consider the crisp acidity and gentle stone fruit flavours of a pinot gris (we love this version from Isabel), a citrusy, slightly herbaceous sauvignon blanc (like this one from Tomich Hill), or even a slightly fuller-bodied chardonnay – as long as it has some good acidity, as you’ll find in Forester Estate’s brilliant chardy.

Wine aside, you could really pair up just about anything you like. A fruity whisky (like a Lowland Scotch or Japanese example) will have all you need to counteract fondue’s cheesy intensity, while a crisp pilsner or gently sour wild ale will do the trick, too. Guys, it’s a fondue party – anything goes.

At this point you have to ask yourself: are you leaning into the kitsch of classic ’70s fondue parties, or are you going to reinvent fondue for the 21st century? 

If you’re going for the former, you don’t have to ask your guests to dress like it’s a Bee Gees film clip (although the pointy collars and bellbottoms are definitely fun). For something more approachable, you could theme your fondue party outfits with the rich, throwback colour schemes of thrift store fondue pot boxes – deep reds, browns, mustards, creams and plenty of dainty florals. 

Another good option is to take those old-school vibes into the Swiss Alps, where fondue dreams are made real. We’re talking rollnecks and Fair Isle jumpers, apres-ski jacket and pants combos, fluffy hats – it’s a whole thing. Nothing puts you in the mood for hot, gooey cheese more than pretending you’ve just come in from a cold day on the slopes.

We’ve been harping on about the fondue set and fair enough – it has everything except the ingredients, making it easy to get started. But we totally get that not everyone is going to go out and buy a fondue set, and you can definitely achieve the same effect with some basic kitchen gear you probably already have on hand.

The pot part is easy enough – it just needs to be heavy-bottomed and not metal-on-cheese. If you’ve got a Dutch oven (enamelled cast iron) or a claypot, that will work. 

The trick is that, in a fondue set, there’s a flame that keeps the cheese warm and oozy – without, you’ll get a big cheese puck that doesn’t much go for dipping. A portable burner (electric or induction – definitely don’t do gas inside) will be perfect, but you could even add a few small candles under the pot if you have a stand to suspend it. If worst comes to worst, keep the big cheese pot on the stove and ladle out some hot bowls.

As for the cheese itself, classic choices are mild, fruity and nutty styles like emmental and gruyère but, frankly, you could use just about anything you like. Just keep in mind that strong blue cheeses or funky washed rind styles might overpower things, so mild styles are a good starting point.

Oh, and, grating the cheese first is a good way to get a quick, even melt. Don’t just throw the whole block in.