How to Host a Fabulous Fondue Party

Everything old is new again, including the retro-chic fondue party. This simple but crowd-pleasing fete encourages conversation and mingling - two musts for a successful dinner party. Read on for recipes, tips and expert advice - you won't have to think of a thing. So invite the neighbors and break out the fondue pots for a throwback party to remember.

Fondue Party Basics

Before you start melting cheese and chocolate, there are a few fondue basics you should know.

Four Per Pot

First, follow the cardinal rule of fondue: 3-4 people around one pot to avoid crowding. This means that you should divide your number of expected guests by 4 to figure out how many fondue pots you'll need.

Mix It Up
Think outside the clichéd pot of cheese. Create an elaborate fondue meal with different types of fondue for each course.

Appetizer

Start off with an appetizer fondue. Purchase fresh-baked loaves of French bread and cut it into small bite-sized cubes. Plan on approximately 20 small cubes of bread for each guest. A traditional Cheese Fondue Recipe calls for a mixture of Gruyere and Emmenthaler.

But if you're going to have more than a few guests (and more than one fondue pot), make a few different types. Mix it up with a Fontina Cheese and Crab Fondue and a rich Cheddar and Beer Fondue.

Main Course: Hot Oil Fondue

• Use a traditional Hot Oil Fondue Recipe for cooking the meat and vegetables for the main course.
• The oil should be hot enough that the meat cooks in under a minute.
• Becuase the oil is hot, you'll need to be very careful since any spills could result in a bad burn!
• Use a stable, high quality fondue pot for this fondue dish, and plan to have five to ten bite sized pieces each of meat and vegetables for each guest.

Spice It Up

Set out a spice rack with ingredients guests might want to use to flavor their meat and veggies. After the meal is cooked in the oil fondue, additional flavor can be added with delicious sauces.

Sauces:

• Soy sauce
• Balsamic vinaigrette
• Ranch
• Bernaise Sauce
• Teriyaki
• Hot pepper sauce
• Steak sauce
• Honey mustard

Sweet Endings

For the perfect sweet ending, think chocolate! You'll want to melt Belgian milk chocolate, dark chocolate and white chocolate (in separate pots of course).

For Dipping, Try:

• Cubes of fresh fruit: pineapple, strawberries, bananas and apples
• Dried fruits
  Biscotti
• Marshmallows
• Cookies
• Graham crackers
• Wafers.

If you're a coffee fanatic, kick up your fondue with this Chocolate Fondue Recipe from AllRecipes.com. You'll have such a great time fondueing, it just might become your favorite party theme.

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