Food Is Fun With Fondue!
Written: Mar 05 '02 (Updated Mar 07 '02)
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Pros: Easy to use, easy to clean and it's fun!
Cons: Meals take a little planning
The Bottom Line: Get a little creative in the kitchen with this fondue pot! It's fun, it's powerful, it's large and it is inexpensive.
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| grygomaca's Full Review: West Bend 3 Qt. Electric Fondue Pot 88063 |
You'll be fond of fondue when you use this West Bend electric fondue pot!
What You Get When You Buy This West Bend Fondue Pot:
The West Bend 3 quart electric fondue pot has 600 watts of power and a non-stick interior surface. The pot is metal with heat resistant plastic handles and a removable, adjustable temperature control dial. It comes with a glass lid and eight fondue forks.
Fondue Pot Uses:
Thus far, I have only used my fondue pot for meat entrees, which does not seem to be the most popular use. I have heard about cheese fondues, vegetable fondues and sweet ones like chocolate and fruit fondues. For a meat fondue, you purchase some fresh steak, already cut is ideal, like for beef stew. Just make sure it is a nice quality beef. Then, you simply fill the fondue pot 1/2 way full with cooking oil. A lower fat favorite of mine is Canola, but you can use vegetable oil or any other type that you prefer. I fill it only 1/2 way just in case the oil boils and this way it won't splash out of the pot. Next, you put one piece of meat on the fondue fork and just drop it in the pot! Since the pot comes with 8 forks, you put meat on all of them at the same time, depending on how many people will be cooking/eating with you. We usually all gather around the fondue pot and have a good time while we wait for our meat pieces to cook (checking each one every minute or so). Once they are browned, which can take a couple of minutes or several minutes (depending on how high you set the heat), you can enjoy them as they are or use a dipping sauce. I love teriyaki sauce but any favorite of yours will do.
I learned of meat fondue from my mother, as a kid we used to love fondue because we got to make our own food and it was fun to watch and wait while each piece cooked. It gave us more time to spend together. As an adult, I decided to purchase a fondue pot because it was such a fun dinner. Plus, my husband had never had fondue and I was excited to introduce him to it. However, we don't use our fondue pot very often because we primarily cook meat in it and meat cooked in oil isn't exactly the healthiest meal. But it sure does taste good!
I have been to parties with chocolate fondues and meatball/gravy fondues and both were just delicious. We dipped fresh strawberries and bananas into the chocolate fondue, which was heaven. I am a sucker for chocolate covered fruit. And this chocolate was the type that hardens after it cools, so you could enjoy them dripping with hot chocolate or wait for them to cool and harden. Either way, they are just scrumptious! The meatball and gravy fondue is a great appetizer idea. You can fill your pot with gravy and you can even use raw meatballs if you wish. It's so much fun during a get-together because everyone ends up gathering around the fondue pot, it's like a magnet!
Cleaning This Fondue Pot:
Cleaning is easy, since the interior of the pot is non-stick. You could really just wipe it out really well with a damp cloth if you only used oil. But for chocolate, cheese or other such fondue liquids, you can just remove the temperature control and wash it in the sink as you would any other cookware. Both the pot and glass lid are dishwasher safe when the temperature control unit is removed.
Why Is This Fondue Pot Better Than Others?
This fondue pot sinks the competition because it is electric. There are quite a few oil fondue pots on the market. Instead of plugging it into the wall, as you do with this West Bend model, you have to purchase oil filled cups and you place them under the pot as the heat source. I hate those fondue pots because they are a hassle. You can't adjust the heat in any way and it isn't easy to move the fondue pot if you need to. Plus, who wants to store oil filled cups anyway? Not only is this model electric, but it's a powerful 600 watts. And if you take a stab at a meat entree fondue, you'll enjoy the large 3-quart size.
In Conclusion:
I think fondue is a very fun way of cooking. It's easy, it makes cooking fun and it gives you a reason to gather around the dinner table for awhile! All fondue pots are not equal. The West Bend electric fondue pot is by far the best quality fondue pot on the market. Oil fondue pots are a headache and they take much longer to cook with. Plus, West Bend has an excellent reputation for providing quality appliances. I would definitely recommend this product to someone who is interested in trying something new and fun in the kitchen. It's time to have fun with our food!
P. S. - If you are interested in learning about fondue recipes, I found this website and thought it might be helpful -"http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/~scu/Recipes/fondues.html" as it covers many, many different kinds.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 39.99
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Epinions.com ID:
grygomaca
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Location: Chicago
Reviews written: 44
Trusted by: 21 members
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