A Picky Eater’s Food Review

Cooking Adventures 2 Minutes

Over the weekend I embarked on a new task in between lesson planning for my child development classes. I decided to try and make Cacimperio, or Cheese Fondue. I got the recipe from the cookbook “Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well” by Pellegrino Artusi, and it was recipe number 247. This recipe called for 400 grams (about 14 oz) of rindless Fontina Cheese, 80 grams (about 2-⅔ oz) of butter, 4 Egg Yolks, and Milk, as much as needed (enough to cover the cubes of cheese).


First, I was instructed to cut up the fontina cheese into small cubes. Fontina is a relatively soft cheese so this step wasn’t hard to do.
Then, I had to place the cubes of cheese in a container and pour milk over them until they were covered.
Once I covered all the cheese, I had to let the cheese soak in the milk for two hours!

While the cheese soaked in the milk, I melted the butter in a crock pot (the cookbook suggests a saucepan, though).

After the butter melted and the cheese soaked for 2 hours, I then put the cheese into the crock pot with only 2 tablespoons of the milk it was sitting in.
After a little while on high, it began to melt and was kinda stringy.
The next step was to crack the 4 eggs and separate the yolks from the whites!
After doing so, I mixed the egg yolks together and added a little into the cheese mixture (on low heat) at a time.
I continued to mix in the egg yolks a little at a time until they were fully incorporated.
After the egg was incorporated I let it sit on low for about 30 more minutes. It then became even more stringy and had that nice “cheese pull” effect!
And Tah Dah! The fondue making experience was over!

Once it was finished, I decided I should taste it before taking it into my Italian Cuisine class the next day, and this is where the picky eater in me had some issues. Like any amateur cook, I didn’t research the ingredients I was using- I just saw the recipe, said “oooh fondue,” bought the ingredients listed and went for it! Only to learn after making it that fontina cheese when melted gives off an earthy- mushroom like taste, which I do not like at all! However, even though I did not enjoy it, I took it to class the next day and a lot of the people in the class expressed that they liked the taste and overall enjoyed this dish. So with that said, It shows that everyone’s taste buds are different, and just because I didn’t like this earthy tasting fondue doesn’t mean someone else will.

Little Last Minute Information on this recipe:

This isn’t the most ideal recipe to refrigerate and re-heat for the next day, because as seen in this picture- the texture changes drastically! However, this is how I served it and people said they liked it so I guess the re-heating affects the texture (due to the fats separating) more so than the taste!
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Published by mjlee303

Child Development major and self proclaimed picky eater taking on a semester of Italian Cuisine and Culture, so let's see where this thing takes us!

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