Goats fondue

I love goats cheese, and I love fondue. I did a few fondues early in my career, but I have recently gotten more into playing with them. Mainly after working with a guys that had a few pro tips, and after getting an old school fondue book from a second hand shop.

300ml cream

200ml mascato

100g goats cheese

2g turmeric

10g potato starch

40ml hot water

Salt and pepper

Apparatus

1 small, heavy based pot

1 whisk

1 small mixing bowl

A stick blender

Method

Place your wine into a pot, turn up to a high heat, then reduce to a syrup consistency (leaving roughly 50ml).

Add the cream to the reduced wine, adjust the temperature to medium and reduce the liquid by about half. The cream is going to want to boil-over when it gets hot, while it is also going to want to split when it gets to a thicker viscosity. Adjust temperature as required and don’t get caught out looking at your phone instead of the sauce, or you will be cleaning burnt cream from your stovetop.

When the sauce reaches a thick consistency, apply the turmeric and a little bit of seasoning, then allow to rest for 10 minutes. Boil the kettle.

Grab your goats cheese, then crumble it into the sauce. Place your potato starch into the small bowl, and mix through the hot/warm water to make a paste. The paste should look like a glue, the sort of glue you’re tight arse parents got you to make when you needed some glue as a child (like mine used to).

Place the unmixed goats curd and cream reduction onto a low heat and mix through the potato glue, then hit it hard with the whisk. The heat is going to split the cheese, but the potato starch hopefully going to prevent that from happening. If you want the sauce super smooth, hit it with a stick blender, or if you want clumps of goatee goodness (like me), just use the whisk and whisk away until you are happy with the result.

Gently simmer the sauce for a few minutes, to allow the starch to bind to the creamy compounds and thicken your sauce.

Season to taste and your sauce should be ready to go.

#Pro-tip. Some goats cheeses can be weak in flavour impact, and I find a bit of something acidic helps bring out the flavour. I used some Yuzu in mine and it propped it up nicely.

References

Alison Burt, Fondue cookery, 1970 (1971 re-print)