My father-in-law spent his career making cheese. First at Emmi, then running a small village grocery store where the cheese fridge ran almost the length of the shop. He would mix up batches of Swiss fondue complete with white wine, pack them into plastic containers and freeze them so locals could grab a pre-made fondue ready to melt and serve.
The shop closed in 2005. But he still makes up batches for the family.
This is the family I married into. So when I tell you about Swiss fondue, I’m sharing with you what I learned at a table where the cheese is the meal, the bread is the only thing going in the pot, and FIGUGEGL is not just a saying, it’s a fact.
What is Swiss Fondue?
Swiss fondue is a mixture of melted cheese and white wine served in a communal pot, kept warm over a small flame. It is most often eaten in the colder months — a fuss-free dinner party meal that brings people to the table without much effort. Having guests over is usually the reason it appears on the menu.
Cheese fondue is traditionally served with bread cubes, each piece cut with a little crust to keep it on the fork. Baby potatoes are a popular alternative. Swiss people almost always eat fondue at home with friends and family, although eating out in chalet huts and mountain restaurants has become more popular in recent years.
Just don’t expect chocolate fondue. When a Swiss person says fondue, they mean cheese.
Fondue Vocabulary
FIGUGEGL — Fondue isch guet und git e gueti Luune. Fondue is good and gives a good mood.
Moitié Moitié — literally “half and half” — equal parts Gruyère and Fribourgeois Vacherin.
Caquelon — the traditional ceramic or cast iron fondue pot.
Kirsch — clear cherry brandy, added to the cheese mixture and sometimes drunk as a shot during the meal.
En Guete — Swiss German for enjoy your meal.
Lüfta — to air out. What you absolutely must do to your house after fondue night.
The Story Behind FIGUGEGL
This famous Swiss saying was created in the 1950s by a Swiss advertising agency on behalf of the Swiss cheese union, with one simple aim: to encourage the Swiss to eat more cheese. It worked. FIGUGEGL became synonymous with eating fondue. The Swiss cheese union was also instrumental in establishing fondue as a national dish as far back as the 1930s. Still today it’s the phrase every Swiss reaches for when the caquelon comes out.
Types of Swiss Fondue
When most Swiss say fondue, they mean cheese fondue. Not chocolate — that’s a different thing entirely, and delicious in its own right. Cheese is always the default.
Within cheese fondue there are regional variations based on which cheeses are used. Our household favourite is Moitié Moitié — literally half and half — equal parts Gruyère and Fribourgeois Vacherin. Not too strong, but strong enough. The mixture changes by region, but you will not find Emmental in our pot.
You will not find Emmental in our pot – Reinhard family Fondue Rule
If you are in the US and can’t find cheese to make it yourself, try this Emmi fondue mix I found on Amazon.
Other types of fondue you may encounter
- Fondue Chinoise, where raw meats and vegetables are cooked in boiling broth. A lot like Chinese style hot pot but with dairy based sauces.
- Bourguignonne, which uses oil instead of broth.
Which Cheese Goes in Swiss Fondue?
The cheese you use matters more than anything else in the pot. Our household uses equal parts Gruyère, Fribourgeois Vacherin, Tilsiter and Bachtaler as per my father-in-law’s recipe. But you will find each cheese shop, brand and family will have their own mix. You will not find Emmental in our mixture, and we would never use pre-grated supermarket cheese. We either buy it fresh from a Käserei and grate it ourselves or buy a pre-made mixture.
What to Dip in Swiss Fondue
In our house it is Bread. Just bread. And not any bread, ideally something like a crusty “Ruchbrot” with a soft crumb. Each piece should be cut into bite-sized pieces with a little crust on each. Push your fork through the crust and you’re far less likely to lose your bread in the pot.
In other families and as an option in restaurants, small potatoes are sometimes served along with pickled vegetables. But we stick to bread.
Vegetables in the fondue pot are a no in our household (trust me, I’ve tried!) But I have managed to sneak in roasted vegetables as a side. I just let the melted cheese drip over them, a good way to make the meal feel a little more complete. But nothing goes in the pot except bread.
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How to Eat Fondue the Swiss Way
A few things worth knowing before you sit down to your first Swiss fondue:
- A traditional fondue pot is called a caquelon — ceramic or cast iron, with a burner underneath to keep the cheese warm. If you don’t own one yet, a set like this from Kuhn Rikon is what we use. When in a pinch we also use a saucepan, a camping burner and regular forks — don’t let the equipment stop you.
- Keep stirring. Every single time you dip your bread, stir all the way to the bottom of the pot. The cheese will stick and burn if you stop. No double dipping. Keep stirring your bread until it’s coated, then twist the fork as you lift it to stop the cheese sliding off.
- Before you even light the burner, close all the bedroom doors. Cheese fondue is wonderful and it is also extremely pungent. Your entire home will smell like a cheese shop within minutes. Give the dining room a thorough lüfta afterwards.
- Serve Fondue traditionally with white wine. The non-alcoholic option is tea — black or herbal. Peppermint works well. There is nothing else on our table. The cheese is the meal.
- Fondue isn’t only for indoors — a picnic table with a view and a burner works beautifully, though it takes longer to melt outside.
- When done, keep a spatula handy for the last sticky bits and soak the pot and forks immediately.
Don’t have a local cheese shop that can mix up fondue for you? You can get adventurous with my father-in-law’s “famous” fondue recipe!
Swiss Fondue
Ingredients
Method
- Rub the fondue pot with the garlic
- Mix the Kirsch and cornflour together and set aside
- Pour the wine into the pan, add seasonings and baking soda, mix in the grated cheese and move to the stove
- Stir on high heat until the cheese begins to melt, then turn down and keep stirring. Never stop.
- Add the Kirsch and cornflour mixture and stir well
- Move immediately to the burner and eat straight away
Notes
Where to Buy Fondue in Switzerland
We ourselves rarely make our own fondue from scratch. I leave that to my father-in-law or our local cheese shop.
A good cheese shop will mix it better than most home cooks can. Our favourite is Käse Dubach in Zug, who also ship nationally — their ready-made mixture requires nothing more than a lot of stirring. If you have a good local fromagerie, ask them. The supermarket versions are a last resort but they do the job.
Swiss fondue brings together melted cheese and white wine in a communal ceramic pot called a caquelon, kept warm over a small flame. You eat by dipping cubes of bread or baby potatoes into the cheese using long fondue forks.
The most popular mixture is Moitié Moitié — equal parts Gruyère and Fribourgeois Vacherin. The cheese mixture varies by region. A good local cheese shop will mix it for you. If you’re in Zug, Käse Dubach is our recommendation.
FIGUGEGL is the acronym for the Swiss saying Fondue isch guet und git e gueti Luune — fondue is good and gives a good mood. It was created in the 1950s by a Swiss advertising agency to encourage the Swiss to eat more cheese.
Fondue is traditionally served with white wine. For a non-alcoholic option, reach for tea — black or herbal. Kirsch, a clear cherry brandy, goes into the cheese mixture and sometimes makes an appearance as a shot during the meal.
Bread cubes — each piece cut with a little crust to keep it on the fork. Baby potatoes are a popular alternative. In our household nothing else goes in the pot.
Chocolate fondue is delicious but it is not what Swiss people mean when they say fondue. Although kids love it as dessert with friends. To the Swiss fondue almost always means cheese.
