Sometime after World War II, Swiss cooks began cooking meat in hot oil as an alternative to their beloved cheese fondue - a kind of French-fried meat supper. It became known as fondue Bourguignonne because the French-speaking Swiss are descended from the Burgundians. The cooking oil should be heated in the metal fondue pot on top of the kitchen stove. The optimum temperature for frying the meat is 375ºF, although it can be cooked properly down to 360ºF. A deep-frying thermometer is an essential tool for telling when the oil has reached the frying temperature.
