Fondue began as a practical Alpine supper, a way to turn hard cheese and stale bread into a hot meal in winter, and in the 1930s the Swiss cheese trade promoted it as a national dish with remarkable success. The most celebrated version comes from the canton of Fribourg, home of the racing driver Jo Siffert: moitié moitié, half and half, made with equal parts of nutty Gruyère and creamy Vacherin Fribourgeois.

It is a meal with rules. Stir in a figure of eight, never double dip, and anyone who loses their bread in the pot owes a forfeit, traditionally a round of drinks. At the end, the golden crust left at the bottom, la religieuse, is scraped out and shared as a prize. It is ideal for watching a race with friends, since everyone eats from the same pot and nobody has to leave the table.

The bread

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb (680 g) crusty day old white or country bread

Method

1. Cut the bread into bite size cubes about 1 inch (2.5 cm), making sure each cube has a piece of crust on one side. The crust is what holds it on the fork.

The fondue

Ingredients

• 14 oz (400 g) Gruyère
• 14 oz (400 g) Vacherin Fribourgeois
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) dry white wine
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) kirsch
• 1 pinch freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg

Method

1. Put both grated cheeses in the bowl, sprinkle over the cornstarch and toss with your hands until every shred is lightly dusted.
2. Rub the inside of the pot all over with the cut sides of the garlic. Leave the garlic in the pot or remove it, as you prefer.
3. Pour in the wine and lemon juice and heat over medium heat until small bubbles rise but it does not boil, about 3 minutes.
4. Turn the heat to medium low. Add the cheese one handful at a time, stirring in a slow figure of eight with the wooden spoon, and add the next handful only when the last has melted. This takes 8 to 10 minutes.
5. Stir in the kirsch, pepper and nutmeg. Let it just bubble once, then take it to the table and set it on the lit burner, adjusted so the fondue barely simmers.

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