I know from experience that hosting a fondue party can be a lot of fun! To keep the fun rolling, there are a few things that you as host should keep in mind:
Do not invite more than 6 people to your party. There are usually only enough forks included in a standard fondue set for six anyway, but it makes sense when you see more guests than that trying to reach the fondue pot. There just isn't enough room.
Cover your table. You probably don't want to use your best table cloth either, unless you enjoy spending time in the laundry room removing stains.
Drippings can damage your table, and chocolate, oil and melted cheese are difficult to take out of fabric. Use a disposable plastic or paper covering and save yourself the trouble.
Tip: For a cost effective and more environmentally friendly way to cover the table, use newsprint. You can purchase entire end-rolls (unprinted) for under $5.00 at the newspaper office (where they actually print the paper; administration doesn't have it).
It is a good idea to prepare two identical trays of the fruit and other goodies you intend to dip. Placed at either end of the table, guests are able to easily reach the food. This also saves you and your guests from having to constantly pass one dish back and forth
Place the fondue pot in the center or the table, that way everyone can easily reach
If you are planning on a full three-course meal, serve each course separately. Begin with cheese. broth or oil, and end with chocolate. This keeps everything organized and prevents raw meat from coming in contact with any other food items. It also keeps the funny-guy you invited from dipping meat into your chocolate fondue pot ;)
Instead of a sit-down fondue party, you could also go the buffet route. This gives you more flexibility when it comes to serving, having different stations set up for each kind of fondue you plan to offer.
You could even make a separate dessert table if you wanted to, with a cascading fruit display, or perhaps a chocolate fountain.
Serving buffet style also means you can invite more people; you simply add more fondue pots of each course, and provide more trays of cheese, meat, fruit and anything else you are serving. This also allows your guests to mingle.
Whether you have a sit-down dinner, or a buffet style fondue party, it is recommended that if you serve wine, to use the same type that was used for cooking as you will for drinking.
Purchase a high quality dry white wine to use in the cheese fondue, and a red wine for use in the beef fondue. For dessert, there are some fabulous wines available that contain chocolate, such as Winexpert Chocolate Raspberry Port.
If you aren't' sure, just ask at your local wine store and someone should be able to help you choose something complementary.
So, where did fondue come from, anyway? The Swiss are responsible for creating it, even though the name is French and means to "blend" or "melt."
They created it out of necessity, to make the cheese and bread that was stored over the winter a little more edible. Eventually caught on in many countries, and variations of it followed until we have the fondue that we make today.
