A fondue pot invokes a sense of community. It is about eating together and sharing food with people you love. Fondue sets are easy to use and cut down on the time you spend in the kitchen cooking a dish. There are different types of fondue sets available for cheese, meat and chocolate fondues. For each of these ingredients, different equipment is required. Here are different types of fondues and the right equipment for their preparation.

Cheese Fondue

Cheese fondues can serve as appetizers or even a meal. It all depends on the food that you are dipping into the cheese. You can dip bread or vegetables in cheese fondues. The right cheese fondue pot should be either made of earthenware or ceramic. The right heat source for it can be electric, alcohol, butane or gel. Fondue pots made with earthenware or ceramic don’t retain much heat. These are flat-bottomed pots with straight sides.

Chocolate Fondue

Chocolate fondues are essentially a chocolate dipping sauce, eaten with fruits and marshmallows. Like cheese fondues, chocolate ones can also be cooked in earthenware or ceramic pots. In the case of chocolate fondues, porcelain may also work. Usually, chocolate or dessert fondue sets are smaller in size than cheese fondue pots. The right fuels for this type of fondue are butane, gel, alcohol, and tealight. Tealight provides just enough heat to prevent chocolate from hardening. Chocolate is not melted in the fondue pot but in a separate one. The melted chocolate is then transferred into the fondue pot.

Meat Fondue

Meat fondue refers to cooking the ingredients for a dish in broth or oil using a pot. Meat fondues are therefore also called broth or oil fondues. The ideal broth fondue pots are made of cast iron, copper or steel. The right heat sources for this type of fondue are butane, electric or alcohol. The metal fondue pots keep heat in and help cook meat and vegetables thoroughly. The broth or oil needs to be at high temperature for the cooking purpose. Earthenware or ceramic pots can’t withstand such high temperatures and may crack. Meat fondue sets have curved tops to reduce the risk of oil or broth splatters.

Some more points to consider before you buy a fondue pot –

• Electric fondue sets are modern pots for making this cooking and eating style simpler. Electric pots have easy-to-control temperature settings. So, you can use it for chocolate fondues also and need not use a separate pot to melt it. Electric fondue pots are mostly available in stainless steel.
• Some cast iron fondue pots are enameled with porcelain. Such pots can retain heat very well. With such sets, if there is an adjustable burner, you can also use them for cheese or chocolate fondues.
• A fondue set includes a pot, a stand, forks, and burner. Optional items can include a thermometer and divided places to separate cooked and raw ingredients to use in a fondue.
• Fuel fondue sets are ideal to use in any setting as there is no cord. Electric pots are convenient for many reasons (easy to clean, can be used for multiple fondues) but you can’t use them without an electric source such as out in a field for a picnic.