An annual fond do

Several years ago (I can't remember how many) Aunt Sarah came to see in the New Year with us, and a Family Tradition was born. To celebrate the passing of the old year we laid on a Fondue meal — not your simple melted cheese and bread variety, but rather our own table-laden mouthwatering, waistline-redefining interpretation of Fondue Bourguignonne. And every New Year's Eve since then, the feast has been repeated, either at our home or Sarah's.

If you fancy one of your own, you'll need about 5oz per person of cubed rump steak (my vegetarian friends can doubtless substitute tofu), hard-boiled eggs, salad leaves, cucumber, salad dips, pasta, celery, beetroot, bread, coleslaw and anything else that takes your fancy — Morrison's salad bar will leave you spoiled for choice.  Oh, and is helps to have a fondue pot and some little forks.  I'm told that a small saucepan, balanced securely over a meths burner, also works fine, though I'd want to check that my house insurance was paid up before trying that one.  Warm some olive oil, pour it into the pot, light the burner... and away you go.


Next, skewer a piece of steak or tofu onto a fork and pop it in the hot oil. Then, as it sizzles and cooks to your personal satisfaction, load your plate with salad and maybe have a slurp or eight of fine wine. Be warned, though... those who lose their meat in the pot may be asked to host the next fondue meal. However, knocking someone else's meat of their fork as you retrieve yours is considered very bad form indeed!

All this may seem a somewhat complicated way to feast but, in a way, that's the point. Unless you contrive to cook several cubes of meat at once, the meal takes a long, long time — time to reminisce about the passing year, anticipate the new one and simply while away the remaining hours as midnight approaches.