Throwback Thursday: Karoo Fondoo, our adaptation of a Swiss fondue

Back in the day, before most of you were born and when your Food Editor was an adolescent who already knew his way around a kitchen, fondue was a popular trend in South African homes, as it was elsewhere in the world.

Its history goes back as early as the 17th century, but it was really in the 1960s and ‘70s and beyond that everyone had a fondue set (or two) and knew how to use them. You may still have one that has been passed down a generation or two, or you may have picked one up at a car boot sale or even acquired a new one. I doubt that many people still have two fondue sets today (though there will be an exception, as there is to every rule), and I’m not going to ask you to go out and buy a second one just for one recipe.

I know I’ve been on a bit of a Langbaken cheese jag lately, because I scored some while passing through Williston recently, and then, last weekend, their cheeses came to my home town, as they always do during the Karoo Food Festival, so I bought a bit more of it, principally their Karoo Swiss, which really is very Swiss in style, and their Karoo Sunset, which has a lovely ‘blue’ flavour to it, even though it is not their actual blue cheese, which they call Karoo Blue, and which I adore. These are some of the finest cheeses the Karoo has to offer.

But a fondue isn’t only about cheese. White wine is just as integral to a cheese fondue recipe. It also often has a dash of a third liquor which is often Kirsch, which is a clear cherry liqueur brandy from Switzerland (also made in Germany and France). Instead of Kirsch, I chose to use hanepoot fortified wine to this fondue recipe. Not so much to make it sweet as such, but to give it a hint of this wonderful drink. Makes a great nightcap, by the way.

A cheese fondue often has a touch of nutmeg in it, and garlic is very important. The base and sides of the pot are first rubbed with cut garlic, which is then discarded. But really go to town when rubbing it, as if you’re virtually cleaning the pot out with garlic. This way, as much garlic ‘juice’ as possible gets into the flavour of what you’re about to cook in it.

Another key ingredient is cornstarch, which binds the cheese and wine so that when you dip bits of food in it, it’s a slightly congealed mixture, with some ‘hold’, rather than soupy, which would have the fondue sliding back into the pot before it can reach your mouth. A tiny hint of lemon juice adds a little something as well.

That’s one way with a savoury fondue. Another has hot oil in the pot instead of the cheese and wine mixture. For this, your host provides small bite-size pieces of meat, with beef fillet being widely popular in the Seventies. You cook your own, just as you do for a Korean barbecue. Then you dip your steak into the cheese fondue.

Which brings me to what to dip in a cheese fondue, and a quick explanation of why there is beef fillet alongside my cheese fondue recipe. What I have done is presumed that today, if we own a fondue set at all, there is likely to be only one, for most of us. When fondue was all the rage, the cheese and wine mixture would be done in a second fondue pot. Instead, I cooked bits of beef fillet until well browned, but soft in the centre, to be put in a bowl to be skewered and dipped into the cheese fondue.

There are other fondue styles, including chocolate, so that in the Seventies often your host would run off with the fondue pot to clean it and bring it back again for the dessert fondue course. 

Please adapt the quantity of steak to suit the number of mouths you are feeding. The cheese quantities given should go quite far.

(Serves )

Ingredients

1 garlic clove, cut in half (use both halves)

250 g grated Langbaken Karoo Swiss

150 g Langbaken Karoo Sunset

250 g Cheddar or other good melting cheese

A small glass of dry white wine, about 150ml

Cornstarch, enough to thicken the cheese mixture sufficiently (start with 12 Tbsp and add as necessary)

1 tsp lemon juice 

2 Tbsp hanepoot fortified wine

Nutmeg

Black pepper

Bio-gel (fuel) for the burner below the fondue pot

Accompaniments:

Steak (as below), cornichons (small gherkins), pickled pearl onions, cubes of bread

For the steak:

400 g fillet steak, trimmed and cubed

Cooking oil

Salt

Method

Make sure the fillet is at room temperature.

Get the old fondue set out and give all of its parts a good wash, rinse and dry.

Make sure the burner underneath the pot is clean and dry, and pour in some LK’s bio-fuel (I bought it from the braai section of my local supermarket), until about half full. Don’t overfill it; you can always add more if it burns away and the flame goes out.

Peel the garlic clove, slice in two, and vigorously rub the inside of the pot, all over. Do so until you can’t get any more out of the garlic halves, and discard the rest.

Put all the grated cheese in the pot, then the wine, lemon juice, nutmeg, and sprinkle cornstarch over. Season with black pepper.

Light the flame and leave it to heat through. Stir once you can see a bit of a bubble. Stir now and then for the melting cheese to blend with the wine and for the other ingredients to be distributed evenly. Along the way, add that hanepoot and stir it in.

If it is too runny, add more grated cheese.

If after simmering it has not come together, add more cornstarch until it does, giving the starch time to do its work and thicken the mix.

While it’s simmering gently, heat a heavy flat pan and grill off the cubes of beef, in batches, allowing space between the pieces. Season with salt while you work. Turn the meat as needed so that all sides are well sealed.

Put cornichons (small gherkins) and white pearl onions into small bowls. Cut cubes of a decent, sturdy bread and put them in a bowl too.

Sit around the pot, grab a skewer, and dip in. If the bits of steak have cooled, leave a piece of it in the sauce on a skewer for a minute and the hot cheese will warm it up.

Once the cheese has all been mopped up, a ‘religieuse’ will have formed at the bottom of the pot — a cheesy crust. The tradition is to pull this away and share it. DM

Tony Jackman is Galliova Food Writer 2023, jointly with TGIFood columnist Anna Trapido. Order his book, foodSTUFF, here

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.

Side dishes are by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.