Camembert Fondue

First published 1/1/2001; last edited 12/26/2004

• 12 ounces Camembert cheese
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups milk, boiled and strained (you can use 2% milk if you like)
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• various ingredients for dipping*
• mango chutney as accompaniment**

Remove the rind from the Camembert; chop the cheese. Discard the rind.

Melt the butter in a two-quart heavy pan over low heat. Whisk in the flour gradually and cook for 3 minutes, whisking constantly. Gradually whisk in the boiled milk. The sauce should thicken fairly quickly; make sure to bring it at least just to a boil before you remove it from the heat.

Add the Camembert in small handfuls. Allow to sit for a moment, then whisk into the sauce. Cool for at least ten minutes, then whisk the egg yolks in one at a time. Whisk in the mustard, then salt and pepper to taste (it shouldn't take much salt at all).

Pour the cheese mixture into a heated fondue pot, and enjoy!

If the sauce seems too thick you can add a little more milk, but it will thin a little as the fondue pot heats up.

*Bread cubes work wonderfully, as do cooked rounds of andouille sausage or kielbasa. Various vegetables would probably work as well, particularly one-inch sections of lightly steamed or boiled asparagus. Granny Smith apples are one of our favorites, too.

**The chutney goes especially well with the cheese-dipped andouille.