The Complete Book of Cheese, page 60 by Robert Carlton Brown
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of his septuagenarian cousins in Paris "about the year 1801."
The party was the result of much friendly taunting of the master: "By Jove, Jean, you have been bragging for such a long time about your Fondues, you have continually made our mouths water. It is high time to put a stop to all this. We will come and breakfast with you some day and see what sort of thing this dish is."
Savarin invited them for ten o'clock next day, started them off with the table laid on a "snow white cloth, and in each one's place two dozen oysters with a bright golden lemon. At each end of the table stood a bottle of sauterne, carefully wiped, excepting the cork, which showed distinctly that it had been in the cellar for a long while.... After the oysters, which were quite fresh, came some broiled kidneys, a terrine of foie gras, a pie with truffles, and finally the Fondue. The different ingredients had all been assembled in a stewpan, which was placed on the table over a chafing dish, heated with spirits of wine.
"Then," Savarin is quoted, "I commenced operations on the field of battle, and my cousins did not lose a single one of my movements. They were loud in the praise of this preparation, and asked me to let them have the receipt, which I promised them...."
This Fondue breakfast party that gave the nineteenth century such a good start was polished off with "fruits in season and sweets, a cup of genuine mocha, ... and finally two sorts of liqueurs, one a spirit for cleansing, and the other an oil for softening."
This primitive Swiss Cheese Fondue is now prepared more elaborately in what is called:
Neufchâtel Style
2-1/2 cups grated imported Swiss 1-1/2 tablespoons flour 1 clove of garlic 1 cup dry white wine Crusty French "flute" or hard rolls cut into big mouthfuls, handy for dunking 1 jigger kirsch Salt Pepper Nutmeg
The cheese should be shredded or grated coarsely and mixed well with the flour. Use a chafing dish for cooking and a small heated casse