Fondue Etiquette
Dipping
After you spear a small piece of bread, dip it into the fondue to coat it with cheese. Remove it, but hold it over the pot for a few seconds to allow the extra cheese to fall back into the pot instead of all over your hands and face. This also gives the cheese time to cool.
If you are really worried about dripping, you can bring the bite to your mouth with a small plate underneath it. Or remove it entirely from the fork and put it on the plate. These steps are, for the most part, unnecessary and take a bit of the fun out of fondue.
Don’t touch the fondue fork with your mouth
Because the fork goes back into the pot, be extra careful not to touch it with your lips, tongue or teeth. If you do, at least make sure no one sees you. Okay, that last part was a joke.
Don’t double dip
Dipping a morsel of food, taking a bite and then dipping it back into the pot is just as bad as touching the fondue fork with your mouth. Make sure you cover the bread with enough cheese the first time, and you will have no reason to double dip.
Don’t dip with your fingers
Besides being incredibly unnecessary and rude, dipping your fingers into a pot of steaming, melted cheese isn’t the safest thing to do.
Don’t lose your food in the pot
Well, it’s not rude or anything, but you should be aware that tradition dictates that the person who loses food in the pot has to buy a round of drinks or the next pot of fondue.
Another tradition says that a woman who drops food in the pot has to kiss the person next to her. This could be a good or bad thing, depending on her fellow diners.
Eating meat fondue
Spear the raw meat so the ends of the fork protrude slightly through the meat. This will keep the meat from burning and sticking to the bottom of the fondue pot.
Unlike cheese fondue, meat should be removed from the fondue fork and put on a plate before eating.
Meat fondue is usually accompanied by small dishes of sauce. Use a regular dining fork to dip the cooked meat into the sauce. Once again, no double dipping!