Hosting a Raclette Party

Author: Michael Binetti

The word 'Raclette' can be used to refer to three things - a particular type of cheese, a grill that is placed on the dining table to melt cheese, and a type of meal or a manner of eating.

The Raclette cheese is a Swiss semi-firm cows-milk cheese that is very popular in Switzerland, and although originally from the Alps, it is also made in France. Good Raclette cheese is mild, creamy and slightly nutty, and is very ideal for melting. The classic use of Raclette cheese involves melting it and serving it with boiled potatoes, pickled onions, a variety of sliced meats, and vegetables. Most people believe that fondues is the most popular dish in Switzerland when it fact, Raclette is actually more popular than fondue in most parts of Switzerland. The term Raclette comes from the French word racler, which means "to scrape", pertaining to the fact that the melted cheese must be scraped from a grill and on to the plate of the diner.

Raclette cheese can be melted into different kinds of dishes, even fondue, or it may be eaten plain. Its creamy, mild taste fits well with an assortment of things, which is why Raclette cheese is a favorite for quick snacks and dinner cheese platters. A lot of people nowadays enjoy these Raclette dinners because they make a great venue for catching up with friends without the tedious food preparation.

For most of use who have just recently discovered Raclette may feel like we have stumbled on to the latest and perhaps the most enjoyable dinner party trend ever. A Raclette meal is pretty much like a fondue party, but better - the same socializing, but with more cooking options. Aside from being absolutely fun for the guests, a Raclette meal is also one of the easiest parties to hose. This is because much of the food preparation can be done ahead, while the cleanup afterwards is equally simple.

In a nutshell, Raclette party goes like this.

The Raclette grill usually serves about up to eight people, and can take different shapes - some Raclette grills are rectangular while some are round or oblong in shape. Although traditionally, the Raclette grill is made of wood, modern Raclette grills are available in most department stores today. While the cheese melts on the grill, the guests get to cook their own meats, sausages, fish and even vegetables on the grill. The melted cheese on the trays is then scraped out and onto a selection of side dishes (the most common of all, are small boiled potatoes). Guests cook, talk, eat, and repeat the entire process often a few times, for several enjoyable hours.

Be sure to offer your guests a cocktail, something dry but not too sweet - perhaps a good old wine or a martini. But what good would your Raclette party be if you do not have the best Raclette cheese? Organize your next Raclette party and order Raclette cheese today!

Buy your favorite cheese from idealcheese.com, New York's trusted gourmet cheese shop, serving cheese lovers for over 50 years. Our cheeses are guaranteed fresh and always hand-cut to order. For any questions about our cheese call us 1800-382-0109 for cheese.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/cooking-tips-articles/hosting-a-raclette-party-2836506.html

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_M_Binetti

Make Pizza with Your Raclette Grill

A great little video showing how to use a raclette grill, Kiwi style, using the coupelles to make individualized pizzas-- what a great idea!



For the crusts, try any yeast flatbread and cut to size. The beauty of raclette is you can make and eat what you want!

Cheese and Raclette Spot

Getting Cheesy With Raclette Grills In North America by Les Finley

Yes, the fondue pot of the 70's was pretty cheesy, but in this century, nothing is more cheesy than raclette.   In recent years fondue pots have experienced a resurgence in popularity, and with them has come the raclette grill.  Though not traditionally well known in the US and Canada, raclette is suddenly experiencing a boom in popularity. 

Raclette is a semi-soft, relatively mild, easily melted cheese from Switzerland.  The term also refers to the cooking method of melting cheese at a tabletop grill and serving with a variety of accompaniments. 

Legend has it that the original method for melting the raclette cheese began when Swiss  herdsmen settled down for the night in their camps.  They placed a hunk of cheese near their campfire and as it melted, scraped it off onto a slice of bread.  

Today, this same meal is mimicked but with much greater variety of foods, and with electric raclette grills that are much more convenient.  Though the melting method has changed over the years, this simple and entertaining meal has remained just as enjoyable for entertaining evenings with friends and family.

There are several kinds of raclette grills that you can choose from.  Traditional raclette grills hold a half- or quarter-round of raclette cheese on an angle, with a heating element melting the surface of the cheese, which drips onto a plate of dried meats and other accompaniments. 

Today, the most common raclette sets include a cheese-melting element with a grill for cooking meats at the table.  They provide up to 8 people with individual cheese pans and feature non-stick, dishwasher safe surfaces for convenience and easy cleanup.  Perfect for entertaining! 

Portable raclette using fondue-type burners are also available for camping and picnicking.   

A raclette grill can provide not only a delicious, hot-off-the-grill meal, but also provide a lot of fun for family and friends.  For optimum enjoyment, serve traditional raclette with a Fendant or other light-bodied dry white wine.  If you are grilling meats, serve a wine appropriate for the meats. 

A traditional Swiss raclette meal uses raclette cheese with the following accompaniments:

- baguette bread
- small cooked potatoes
- small gherkins
- pickled onions
- charcuterie meats such as salami or proscuitto

You can also get very creative with a raclette meal.  A departure from tradition - but an adventure in taste - could include:

Raw meat for grilling and dipping into sauces:

- Italian sausage cut into 1/4" slices
- Chicken tenderloins cut into 1" pieces
- Beef tenderloin cut into 1/2" cubes
- Shrimp and Scallops

Thinly sliced cheeses:

- Brie
- Camembert
- Oka
- Cheddar
- Cambezola

Vegetables, blanched to al-dente, such as:

- Mushrooms
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Asparagus

Here are two excellent recipes for dipping sauces for your meats and vegetables:

Pimento Sauce

3/4 cups mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons tomato sauce
1/2 cup canned pimentos or 1 red bell pepper, roasted with skin removed
Salt and pepper, to taste

Blend all ingredients in a blender.  Season to taste.  Serve chilled. 

Cucumber Garlic Sauce

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup sour cream
2 gloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cucumber, peeled and finely chopped
1 tablespoon of finely chopped chives or green onion
1 teaspoon finely chopped parsley
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
fresh ground pepper

Mix well all ingredients.  Serve chilled.


Find tips about aristocrat pear and alligator pear at the Types Of Pears website.


Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com/Article/Getting-Cheesy-With-Raclette-Grills-In-North-America/1510921

"Everybody Loves Cheese; Everybody Loves Wine"

Experiencing a cultural rennaisance, upper Michigan can proudly boast of a new recreation, gastronomic and shopping destination for mid-westerners. What was formerly known as the Northern Michigan Asylum has undergone a massive renovation and now the centuries-old Victorian-Italinate buildings sprawling some 63 wooded acres is home to some of the most chic retail shops, restaurants and condos in the Great Lakes region, called The Village at Traverse Commons in Traverse, Michigan.

Fitting in nicely with the European feel of the architecture is the Old World-style restaurant, Tastes of Black Star Farms, offering authentic Swiss raclette and award-winning wines from Black Star Farms Winery.



Local Leelanau Cheese Company supplies the raclette cheese for their Matterhorn Grill Dinners, which provide the perfect backdrop to accompany the highly-prized local wines.

"Everybody loves cheese, everybody loves wine," as tasting manager Kevin Culloty so accurately sums up. For a little taste of some classic Old World tradition, head on up to The Village at Traverse Commons.

2010 New Year's Eve Raclette Fête

This year I didn't go overboard for Christmas... I followed Linus' advice and had more of a Charles Shultz kind-of-holiday season with commercialism with all of its insidious glory diminished. So often, we make more of Christmas than it ought to be, and we end up exhausted with decorations yet to put away and the weight of a new year ahead of us.

Still, existentialism aside, I'm very glad my sweet hubby used his hard-earned capitalist dollars to partake in the crazed consumerism of the holidays, buying me the Raclette grill I was hoping for-- and just in time for New Year' Eve! Here's what it looks like!

And because I didn't overdo it and now with my dream appliance, I want to invite a handful of friends over for New Year's Eve for a Raclette Fête !  This is so easy to prepare and so low-key that everyone, including myself the host, are guaranteed to have a wonderful evening.  I'll buy the Raclette cheese and the fingerling potatoes. I've asked each friend to bring something to go along with our meal:  Jill will bring the baby dill pickles and maybe some pickld asparagus, Marc the ham or salami, Deanna loves vegetables so I've asked her to bring a fresh veggie plate, Meredith will bring a couple kinds of bread and Pierce and Lily will each bring some white wine, like a Beaujolais.

This way I can extend the the joy, the memories, the fun and the laughter of being with ones near and dear without the stress to impress.  2010's gonna be grand!!!

Preparing Raclette is as Easy as Pie

Eating Raclette is as easy as boiling potatoes! These are the main ingredients but any can be easily modified to suit your personal tastes & budget:

* Raclette cheese - (or any semi-soft cheese will do) Try: Emmental, Edam, Gouda or Irish Cheddar. Plan for about 4 oz per person. Note: Raclette cheese is mostly imported, and as such, on the pricier end of cheese.
* New Potatoes - (the little ones) but really, any potato will do. Try: colorful varieties if available.
* Dried or Cured Meats, charcuterie - Try: air-dried beef, prosciutto or parma ham from your deli counter but even sandwich ham will do.
* Pickles, cornichons - any pickled or fresh vegetable will do. Try: pickled artichoke hearts, asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes or fresh purple onions, bell peppers, or tomatoes for colors.

First, boil or bake the potatoes in their skins and place them on a serving plate, cutting the larger ones in half. Arrange thinly sliced meats on another plate. Slice pickles and any other veggies you desire and place in separate dishes that can be passed around. Cutting off the rind, slice Raclette thinly (Personally, I like the rind but it's not so great for melting.)


With a microwave:
Each person can arrange onto their own small* microwave safe plates whatever combination variety they want, placing the most important ingredient, the Raclette cheese, on top. Microwave until just melted. (*any size is fine but the idea is to nibble and nosh leisurely around the table and to enjoy the food and company, refilling your plates as desired.)


With an oven:
Same idea, but with small oven safe dishes. Place them all on a baking tray and grill until melted. Keep the oven warm for another round!


Not necessary, but rounding out the meal is also easily solved. Just add a hearty brown bread, a crusty bread, or any bread you have on hand with a simple packaged salad as side dishes.


Beverages well suited to a Raclette meal are white wine, a dark ale, beer or hot tea. These are said to aid in digestion of the decadent, high fat content meal... but who's thinking about calories at this time of year!


Advanced Raclette Dining
For the full Swiss experience, the Raclette Grill turns the meal into an occasion with lasting memories. The Swiss will lounge around the dinner table for a few hours, slowly enjoying this luxurious yet casual meal. Make sure there's a free flow of wine, beer and hot water for tea which will guarantee a glorious experience! Raclette grills have two levels: the top is for grilling your vegetables and meat, the bottom for melting the decadent, creamy cheese on top of your individualized creation-combination, or, solely for melting the cheese to pour atop the creation on your plate!


This video shows you just how easy Racletting is!

A Lovely Presentation of Raclette...

Raclette or Fondue -- Le Quel Préférez-Vous ?

According to late great gastronome, Robert Courtine, la raclette is a dish that « le gourmet préfère de loin aux fondues » — a dish that a gourmet prefers by far compared to fondues, better than the typical fondue, which is cheese melted in white wine and often served only with bread.

The possibilities with Raclette are infinite, yet just as simple to prepare than fondue-- perhaps even more simple!

Making cheese fondue is not as easy as it should be! Getting the Emmental and Gruyere cheeses and wine to meld together into a creamy symphony is not as simple as it sounds... the temperature and the proportions of the cheese and alcohol have an obstinate disposition-- if not calculated correctly, simply will not cooperate... not to mention the amount of cheese needed to be bought and grated to create a concoction that will be devoured in a half hour!

Raclette, on the other hand, is low-maintenance-- no stirring, no grating, no worries about burning, no cutting bread for dipping. With Raclette, you just slice the cheese, set out your boiled potatoes and anything else you want to adorn with your potatoes and voila, magic... a perfect meal awaits a mountainous appetite! And instead of being consumed as quickly as an appetizer, Raclette can be savored for as long as your pants waistline will allow!

Raclette ou fromage fondue, lequel préférez-vous ? Pour moi... I'll take both, thank you very much, but if I have to make it myself... I'd choose Raclette every time.

To be fair, Courtine, is referring to the sapidity between the two... this will be the topic of my next post!

Preparing Raclette is Easy as Pie

Eating Raclette is as easy as boiling potatoes! These are the main ingredients but any can be easily modified to suit your personal tastes & budget:

• Raclette cheese - (or any semi-soft cheese will do) Try: Emmental, Edam, Gouda or Irish Cheddar. Plan for about 4 oz per person. Note: Raclette cheese is mostly imported, and as such, on the pricier end of cheese.
• New Potatoes - (the little ones) but really, any potato will do. Try: colorful varieties if available.
• Dried or Cured Meats, charcuterie - Try: air-dried beef, prosciutto or parma ham from your deli counter but even sandwich ham will do.
• Pickles, cornichons - any pickled or fresh vegetable will do. Try: pickled artichoke hearts, asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes or fresh purple onions, bell peppers, or tomatoes for colors.

First, boil or bake the potatoes in their skins and place them on a serving plate, cutting the larger ones in half. Arrange thinly sliced meats on another plate. Slice pickles and any other veggies you desire and place in separate dishes that can be passed around. Cutting off the rind, slice Raclette thinly (Personally, I like the rind but it's not so great for melting.)

With a microwave:
Each person can arrange onto their own small* microwave safe plates whatever combination variety they want, placing the most important ingredient, the Raclette cheese, on top. Microwave until just melted. (*any size is fine but the idea is to nibble and nosh leisurely around the table and to enjoy the food and company, refilling your plates as desired.)

With an oven:
Same idea, but with small oven safe dishes. Place them all on a baking tray and grill until melted. Keep the oven warm for another round!

Not necessary, but rounding out the meal is also easily solved. Just add a hearty brown bread, a crusty bread, or any bread you have on hand with a simple packaged salad as side dishes.

Beverages well suited to a Raclette meal are white wine, a dark ale, beer or hot tea. These are said to aid in digestion of the decadent, high fat content meal... but who's thinking about calories at this time of year!

Advanced Raclette Dining
For the full Swiss experience, the Raclette Grill turns the meal into an occasion with lasting memories. The Swiss will lounge around the dinner table for a few hours, slowly enjoying this luxurious yet casual meal. Make sure there's a free flow of wine, beer and hot water for tea which will guarantee a glorious experience! Raclette grills have two levels: the top is for grilling your vegetables and meat, the bottom for melting the decadent, creamy cheese on top of your individualized creation-combination, or, solely for melting the cheese to pour atop the creation on your plate!

This video shows you just how easy Racletting is!