by Daniel Fattorini
It was supposed to be summer, heading towards the middle of July and we suffered daily downpours and regular thunderstorms. With barbecues out of bounds and summer salads just not enough to warm you up and dry you out, it felt like a wintry dish was more appropriate last week. I had a large chunk of gruyere in the fridge and was hungry without much time to cook. This led me to a so called “modernist” recipe I’ve used several times before with faultless results in no time.
The term “modernist” conjures up all sorts of images of Heston Blumenthal and other such TV chefs, creating complex and exotic creations that are far from achievable at home. It needn’t be so and I see it more as a way of exploring new ways of creating food and new ingredients, many of which are a regular part of the commercial catering industry. In this case we’re only being modernist because of one ingredient. What you might call molecular cookery, using a pure chemical that has a special property that allows us to do something differently. The word “chemical” might strike fear into the whole-food brigade but it needn’t. Every element of every food is a chemical, all with many different properties and effects. Many natural ingredients are more harmful than artificial ones and in this case we’re using a simple salt of citric acid, a natural acid found in lemons and oranges.
Sodium citrate is easily available online and in some chemists. It has a remarkable property of being able to melt cheese into a simple liquid. Normally if you put a piece of cheese in boiling water you would end up with a very gloopy, curdled mess. Add some of this and you end up with a smooth, sauce that is creamy without being powdery and which sticks pleasantly to your tongue and your mouth. Sodium citrate looks much like salt and dissolves in water very easily. Normally when making a cheese sauce you would have to make a white sauce of butter, flour and milk before standing any chance of melting cheese into it. This has a few drawbacks; firstly it’s not suitable for anyone gluten free or coeliac and secondly it’s got quite a few unnecessary carbohydrates in it too. This method allows you to make a perfect fondue in about five minutes, perfect for an impressive dinner party starter or a warming quick supper in the rain.
Ingredients (serves two, scale up as required):
200ml dry white wine
220g gruyere cheese, grated
½ clove garlic, crushed and very finely chopped
7g sodium citrate
Add the wine, garlic and sodium citrate to a pan and bring gently to a simmer. Gradually add the grated cheese, stirring with a wooden spoon as you go. Serve as soon as the mixture has become smooth. Dip in some freshly boiled new potatoes or chunks of crusty bread and eat it while it’s still hot. It really is so simple! You can also substitute the gruyere for another cheese for some fantastic variations. Grilled mushrooms and broccoli dipped in a blue cheese fondue is to die for!
