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It's
hip to dip |
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| Kate Fraser is glad she took her mother's advice when she
discovers that once more it's hip to dip. |
My mother's
words of advice were few but succinct. "Never
throw out gifts or shoes," was one of her favourite sayings, and
I know she'd be pleased if she knew how assiduously I have followed it.
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| Not only have I a laudable number of stiletto heeled shoes
and winklepicker boots, I still have original boxed sets of wedding presents. |
| Among
the pottery jars, waffle irons, and pressure cookers, is a genuine
Swiss caquelon – or fondue pot. |
| It is years since it was last used, years since I grated
bland cheese straight off the bigger block, along with a little burst
of mustard, a lot of sherry, dashes of nutmeg, gloops of cornflour and
water to thicken, and a slosh or two of schnapps, then set the whole
lot to burb quietly over the meths burner. |
| At the time, fondue parties were so in they were painful.
They were the next big thing after wine and cheese evenings, and entire
suburbs were at it. Everyone dressed up in kaftans and beads; dipped
bread cubes or chunks of raw vegetables (raw cauliflower was the brassica
of the moment) into what I now realise was a disgusting cheese sauce;
drank far too much; spilt both sauce and wine over ourselves and the
table; and lurched into the night full of bonhomie and Bakano rough red. |
| It
is unlikely I would have ever revisited this gastronomical curiosity
had I not met up with American food writer Robert Carmack and learned
it is hip to dip again. |
| Carmack's recipe book Fondue was published by Lansdowne
Press, Sydney, in 2001. It is his first non- collaborative food book
and he is quietly pleased with it. |
| "It
was my publisher's idea really. `I'd like you to do a book for our
Essential Kitchen series of cookbooks,' she said.
`how about fondues?' " |
| Carmack is a global citizen – he grew
up and went to college in the north-west United States, spent a number
of years in
France, and has been a resident of Sydney since the 1980s. Over recent
years he has travelled so often and so widely he has his own food and
travel business and website. |
| His
guess is the publisher knew he could give a fondue book the right international
spin – "but I was still surprised
they wanted a Sydney- based American to write a book about a Swiss national
dish, for the Australian market, especially when, to my mind, Australians
have never been into cooked cheese. |
| "Even in Europe, fondues are not what people cook
at home," he says. "I once asked a Swiss German friend why
there were so many fondue restaurants in Zurich, and apparently it's
due to the strong-smelling cheese. Swiss apartments and houses are not
spacious, and pungent cheese sauces can linger for days. So, when they
want fondue – and that seems to be often – they go to a restaurant." |
| The publisher timed the book well. For reasons no-one can
decipher (cocooning? comfort food? retro food?), fondues are having another
moment of fame. Second- hand shops are a still the best source for sets,
but saucepan manufacturers are beginning to produce them again, albeit
in small runs. |
| Robert Carmack's book covers cheese fondues, meat and fish
cooked in wine and stock fondues, Burgundian fondues (where the food
is cooked at the table in small pots of hot oil and butter), Asian fondues,
and sweet fondues. It has also been printed in Dutch and French, and
any day now a German language version for the Swiss market goes on sale. |
| Delving into food trends is something he is practiced at.
His background is academic rather than cooking in restaurants, but he
is in constant demand as a food stylist and writer, as well as educator. |
| He has a degree in communication from Washington State
University and diplomas from Universite Lyon, Universite de Dijon, and
Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne in Paris. He was a food researcher for Time-Life
books, and has worked for food luminaries James Beard and Anne Willan. |
| He is a respected expert on the cuisine of Asian countries
with many food tours, master classes, and now two Asian food books (Thai
Home Cooking and Vietnamese Home Cooking) on his curriculum vitae. |
| But back to the fondue thing. |
| "Travel
educates the palate as you know, but too many food writers don't understand
the best food is simple food, simply prepared.
Over- wrought food, as I call it, has no sense of location. Anyone who
has had classical culinary training appreciates that cooking is really
about following a formula." |
| The author does himself a disservice. Fondue may well be
a formulaic book, but the recipes are clear, unfussy, and concise. Central
to each is an understanding that only quality ingredients will be used.
The styling and photography is superb. |
| For
anyone with a fondue set hiding at the back of a cupboard, Robert Carmack's
book provides a reason to haul it out, and have another
fondue party. For those new to the style – welcome to retro dining.
It's like grazing, only more fun. |
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