Fondue Troubleshooting

What Went Wrong? Fondue Not Combining

May 2, 2011

There's nothing worse than a bad recipe! Over the weekend, I had a horrible time making pepper jack cheese fondue. I followed the recipe exactly, but the fondue was a soggy mess. It consisted of a bottle of beer, which was brought to a boil. It simmered with garlic and cayenne pepper for several minutes. Then, I added in a pound of grated pepper jack cheese by the handful.

However, while the cheese melted, it didn't combine with the beer. The soup-like fondue was gloppy and made me want to cry! It was a complete failure. I tried to salvage it by pouring out the excess liquid, adding in more cheese, and baking it in the oven, but in the end, that didn't really work either. Any idea what went wrong? Have you ever made fondue that didn't emulsify?

11 Comments

Aimee3242 2 years 2 weeks

Did you throw in all the cheese at once or little by little to make sure it had disolved?

2 years 2 weeks

Hi! I am from Switzerland, and so I've eaten a lot of fondue in my life. Most often, fondue is made of two cheese, that is gruyère and vacherin. Now, I know you will have difficulties to find these cheeses in America, but believe me, it is so much better than pepper jack! Also, those two cheeses melt well together. So, according to me, the cheese you use could be a problem. Also, I've never ever heard about putting beer in fondue. Here, we use dry white wine, and also some kirsh with cornstarch inside. We first heat the wine, then add the cheese to melt and 2 minutes before serving, we add the kirsh and cornstarch. The heat is also important, it's better to let the cheese melt slowly. I hope it helped you!

GummiBears 2 years 2 weeks

I agree with Rinren84, based on my many failed attempts of making baked macaroni cheese.

2 years 2 weeks

Cornstarch is probably going to work. But it could be the fat content of your cheese. Sometimes low fat cheese doesn't melt very well! I have had that problem several times.

Scarlet129 2 years 2 weeks

As a former Melting Pot manager, tossing your cheese with some cornstarch is a MUST! Good luck! :-)

Katie Sweeney 2 years 2 weeks

There was cornstarch involved! I forgot to say I tossed the grated cheese with a tablespoon of cornstarch. Maybe the heat was too hot...

kayepants 2 years 2 weeks

Any time I've had a fondue problem it was because the heat was too high.

Molly Goodson 2 years 2 weeks

Agreed with #3 — was there any corn starch involved? That has always been the key for me (or more accurately, when I watch my in laws who live in Switzerland do it...I usually use the mixes since they already have the corn starch inclucded).

bknowles 2 years 2 weeks

Maybe it needed cornstarch?

limelindsey 2 years 2 weeks

Maybe the beer was too hot? I was making broccoli cheese soup recently (not the same, I know) and it was going perfectly! But after I added the cheese, I forgot to turn the heat down. It all curdled! I tried blending it, whisking, etc. Nothing fixed it. I was so disgusted with myself!

Jenkies 2 years 2 weeks

I think you might need to add a different cheese that could be used as an emulsifier in addition to the pepper jack. Something that is softer and is a good melting cheese.

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11 Comments

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