Old, green fondue pot is back in style.

THE 125 BEST FONDUE RECIPES

By Ilana Simon

(Robert Rose, $18.95, paperback)

FONDUE, according to Ilana Simon in `The Best 125 Fondue Recipes,' is back. If you were married in the 1970s, you probably received a fondue pot for a wedding present, most likely some shade of avocado or gold.

Fondue is both retro-chic and comfort food, combining leisurely cooking and eating as entertainment, encouraging conversation as you linger around the table, spearing food to cook or dunk.

While fondue may seem the perfect romantic meal, it's also great family food, provided your children are old enough to be around a hot pot and long forks. You might not want to serve preschoolers a fondue cooked in oil, but they could probably handle a cheese or dessert fondue.

`The 125 Best Fondue Recipes' isn't a fancy book. It's a smallish paperback with only eight color photographs. What it does have is great variety and an easy-to-use format.

Each recipe serves four, with a cooking tip and suggestions on how to make it ahead and what to serve it with. You could have a meal of all fondues, but you'd have to have four pots, one for each course.

The book includes the history of fondue and important information on types of pots and heat sources, menu planning and fondue etiquette. The recipes are arranged by types of fondues: cheese, cooked in oil or broth, desserts and dips and sauces.

The cheese fondues are mostly Swiss or French, while broth fondues most often have Asian flavors. The oil fondues come from all over the world: Burgundy beef, coconut lime shrimp, Italian breaded chicken, tempura vegetables and shrimp, Mexican meatballs, Canadian maple beef and spicy Southern fried chicken - each with several dipping sauces.

A cinnamony brown sugar Brie fondue is one of two appetizer cheese fondues sweet enough to serve for dessert. You may have to have been born in Canada to appreciate Maple Cheese Fondue, made with holey Emmentaler and Gruyere cheeses, white wine, whiskey and maple syrup.

If you'd like a more traditional dessert, you can have that same maple flavor in a creamy fondue with walnuts.

Almost half of the dessert fondues are chocolate; the rest contain fruit, caramel or peanut butter.

Cumin Pork is an oil fondue. Dunk the cooked pork cubes in Thai peanut sauce, plum sauce or aioli, a garlicky mayonnaise.

Cumin Pork

1 1/2 tablespoons whole cumin seeds

1 tablespoon ground coriander 

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons chili sauce

1 pound pork tenderloin, cut into 1-inch cubes

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Oil for fondue (peanut or any vegetable oil)

In a bowl, combine cumin, coriander, garlic, olive oil and chili sauce; mix well to make a smooth paste.

Season pork cubes with salt and pepper. Rub cubes with paste; cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

In a saucepan, heat oil to 375 degrees and transfer to fondue pot (or heat oil in an electric fondue). Do not fill fondue pot more than half full.

Spear pork cubes with fondue fork and fondue for 1 to 2 minutes or until cooked to desired doneness. Serve with Thai peanut sauce (recipe follows).

Thai Peanut Sauce

1/4 cup honey

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons peanut butter

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons minced ginger root

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

In a bowl, combine all ingredients. Mix well. Refrigerate until needed. Makes about 3/4 cup.

Kim Davaz of Eugene writes a cookbook review column for The Register-Guard.