Fondue moitié-moitié

Step 1: Take 14 oz Gruyère cheese and 14 oz Vacherin fribourgeois cheese out of the fridge 30 minutes before you start and toss them together in a bowl. Cold cheese dropped into hot wine seizes into rubbery lumps.

Step 2: Rub the inside of a caquelon or heavy enamelled pot with the cut sides of 1 clove garlic. Leave the pieces in the pot if you like a stronger garlic flavour.

Step 3: Pour in 1 ¼ cups dry white wine and 1 tsp lemon juice and warm over a medium heat until small bubbles rise round the edge and the wine smells sharp, about 3 minutes. Do not let it boil hard.

Step 4: Turn the heat to medium-low. Add the cheese a handful at a time, stirring in a slow figure of eight with a wooden spoon, and wait until each handful has melted before adding the next. This takes about 10 minutes; the mixture will look grainy at first, then turn smooth.

Step 5: Stir 2 tsp cornflour into 2 tbsp kirsch (or into 2 tablespoons of wine if you leave out the kirsch) and stir it into the pot. Keep stirring for 2–3 minutes until the fondue thickens and turns glossy and falls from the spoon in a thick ribbon.

Step 6: Season with ¼ tsp ground nutmeg and ¼ tsp black pepper. The most common mistake is letting the fondue boil: the fat separates and the cheese turns stringy. If it splits, take it off the heat, add a squeeze of lemon and whisk hard.

Step 7: Set the pot over the table burner on a low flame so it barely bubbles. Each guest spears a cube of 1 ⅛ lb day-old crusty bread through the crust, swirls it in a figure of eight across the bottom of the pot, and lifts it out with a twist. Pass round 1 ⅛ lb small waxy potatoes and 3 ½ oz cornichons.

Step 8: Keep stirring as you dip so the bottom does not catch. At the end, let the thin golden crust on the base (la religieuse) toast, then lift it out and share it.