Smoked Salmon Recipe for the Raclette Grill

If you love raclette like I do, you've already pulled your raclette grill out and it's sitting comfortably smack-dab in the middle of your dining table, just cuz it's November. It's amazing how versatile a cooking apparatus it is. I'm discovering all kinds of interesting ways to make yummy little morsels.

I recently came across an recipe using Smoked Salmon with a raclette grill instead of the typical charcuterie like my favorites: salami, prosciutto and Serrano ham.

Ingredients:
Smoked salmon, thinly sliced
Neuchatel or cream cheese
dill
fresh Spinach leaves
French baguette

Essentially, all you do is slice your baguette which you can toast on the top of your raclette grill. Feeling extravagant?-- Brush the grill first with garlic infused olive oil. Then, put about an ounce of cream cheese, a bit of smoked salmon, spinach and fresh dill in the coupelle to melt in the lower half of the grill . When melted, scrape the cheese mixture onto your grilled bread which now, has been transplanted to your plate. Dust with some ground nutmeg if it's convenient, and there you have it, yummy tapas for Friday night! Serve with a lovely white wine or rose.

Let's see... I might try scallops and scampi with pasta next.

Swiss Raclette

By: Al Mann, Courtesy of Rocket Articles

Raclette is a signature culinary dish of the Swiss and French Alps. It consists of slices of heated, soft, runny cheese accompanied by small, firm boiled potatoes, gherkins, and pickled onions. Raclette traces its origin back many centuries to cow herders, shepherds, and farmers, who would place a wedge of cheese in front of a campfire and scrape off layer after layer as the cheese heated. The word raclette comes the French "racler", which means to scrape.

One may still enjoy raclette in front of a campfire today, but the modern way of preparing raclette in the home is to use a small tabletop electric raclette grill or broiler. It is self-service as each person places a sliced portion of raclette cheese onto a small tray under the heating elements of the grill. In a minute or two, the cheese is bubbling hot and ready to be retrieved and scraped onto the plate over a cooked potato.

Often thinly sliced, air-dried beef of the Grisons region of Switzerland is served with raclette in addition to the potatoes, gherkins, and pickled onions. Prosciutto also goes well. Today's modern tabletop raclette grills also have heated top grill plate which can be used to grill shrimp, meat, poultry, and vegetables.

The potatoes should be boiled in their skins before the meal. Keep the potatoes warm by placing them on top of the grill in a bowl covered by a small towel. There also are willow baskets with insulated covers for holding the potatoes warm.

Typically hot tea or dry white wine is served with the meal. White wines from the Alpine region are preferred with raclette, but if not available, a dry pinot grigio, pinot blanc, or riesling go well with the raclette. Usually an after-dinner cordial also is in order for the digestion after a hearty raclette dinner! Or maybe two...

The cheese itself is also called raclette. Usually raclette cheese is produced from pasteurized cow's milk and aged. It is characterized by a firmly textured, pale-yellow body with scattered small holes and a smooth, light-brown natural rind. The cheese has a mellow, distinctive aromatic flavor/taste that grows stronger when hot. Raclette cheese can be found in specialty food stores and ordered online. Unless you have a larger cradle raclette grill, described below, it will be necessary to pre-slice the cheese before the meal begins. Quarter-inch thick slices work well with the electric raclette grills.

Alpine restaurants will serve raclette (and portions will keep coming to the table until you say stop/halt). Instead of a tabletop grill, resturants use a larger cheese heating apparatus that holds a cheese wheel wedge in a cradle in front of a heat source, and the cheese is sliced off as it heats.

In Europe, raclette is often served during the winter holidays, and the meal turns into a festive evening with family and friends. The goal in raclette dining is relaxed and sociable eating and drinking, the meal often running to several hours. Many families in the United States and other parts of the world also have discovered the fun of raclette.

Readers that are searching through the web for more information about the topic of internet marketing, please make sure to check out the link which is mentioned right in this line.

Skiing and Raclette, On the Slow Glide

Danish free-ski fanatics show how slick their tricks are-- their flow like Raclette cheese sliding off the wheel.

Courtesy of Newschoolers.com

Raclette Grilling at the End of the Summer

The end of August is fast approaching, and the cooler months of fall are just around the corner. It's time to seriously think about Raclette! Here's a great idea to treat your kids to a back-to-school raclette party.

Whether the weather is balmy or starting to chill, the raclette grill instantly infuses warmth into the home. Now though, you can have raclette outdoors too! The Barbeclette allows you to melt cheese right over the barbecue. With some beers in the cooler and some Raclette cheese on the grill, what could be better!

Campfire Raclette, Who Needs Silverware or Plates?

A great video demonstrating how to eat Raclette Homer Simpson style.



Actually, melting the wheel by the fire is actually how Raclette came to be originally. It's nice to know that all you need to have a campfire Raclette picnic is some boiled potatoes, sliced meat and a wheel of Raclette cheese!

"Raclette" by Babylon System and Nibe

Edgy, distorted and deeply futuristic, comes the recent release of "Raclette" by electronica wizards, Babylon System and Nibe.



Check them out @ Terminal Dusk Records DOT com.

"Raclette" Google Search Engine Finds It

Unsurpassable, Google's Search Engine can even find "Raclette".



Still not sure?-- You can google it, or read about it here.

St. Paddy's Day Raclette

My friend, The Daily Spud, has made the most brilliant post, I have to share it here to remember myself!

In it he shares several, very curious, raw milk cheeses from Ireland... the stinky one, Bellingham Blue, is the one that really piques my interest! There are some amazing photos here.

But what really gets me going is his idea for having a Raclette for St. Patrick's Day. He uses an Irish cheese called St. Gall in place of the traditional Swiss Raclette, and green-colored fruits and vegetables rather than other random-colored ones to keep with the theme.

"The cheese is named for Irish Benedictine monk St. Gall, who, legend has it, not only brought christianity to Switzerland but also taught the Swiss how to make cheese."

Apparently, St. Gall is very similar to its more famous Swiss cousin, Emmental in that it's sweet, nutty and very meltable. That sounds like the perfect cheese to use for a St. Paddy's Raclette. Don't ya think that was so clever The Daily Spud put the two together?  I think it's absolutely brilliant!

Note to the Daily Spud:  You can be my Daily Stud anytime.

Swiss Tastings in London

A Swiss treat from London's oldest food market, Borough's Market in London.

Here we see a half round of Raclette cheese nestled in a raclonette machine, which heats the cheese, in effect roasting the open part near the heating element. The cheese then gets tilted and scraped onto a plate (rind included, mind you!) bearing a small potato with the addition of cornichons, baby dill pickles and baby onions. What looks like a gloppy mess on a plate tastes like nothing short of divine order in your mouth!

NYC's Stinky Cheese Festival 2010 (not kidding!)

NYC's hippest event right now: The Stinky Cheese Festival running from March 3-12th. Nine of the chic-est French restaurants are concocting stinky cheese creations including appetizers, entree and desserts in addition to their regular menus. Participating in this "Tour de France" are:

Cafe D'Alsace: www.cafedalsace.com
French Roast Uptown: www.frenchroastny.com/        
French Roast Downtown: www.frenchroastny.com
Le Monde: www.lemondenyc.com/

L'Express:  www.lexpressnyc.com/
Maison:  www.maisonnyc.com/

Marseille: www.marseillenyc.com/
Nice Matin:  www.nicematinnyc.com/
Pigalle: www.pigallenyc.com/

(For more information, click here)

"Try region-specific stank from each restaurant, such as l’oeuf d’Alsace (a fricassée of artichoke with a poached egg and melted Grès des Vosges raw-milk Muenster) at Café d’Alsace, or a raclette with braised pork belly and fingerling potatoes at Marseille." (source: NBC New York)

I don't know about you, but this is the kind of stink that the Big Apple should be known for!

 

4 Tons of Raclette Melted Over the Snow

In the span of the 23 days surrounding the 2010 Olympic games, 4 tons of Swiss cheese and 2 tons of Swiss chocolate were consumed by 60,000 visitors to the House of Switzerland.

“We had to order another shipment of cheese halfway through the Games because it was so popular,” said Swiss chef Beda Zingg."

Raclette and cheese fondue were the main attractions of this hugely successful open-house style event at both national headquarters, one at the Whistler ski resort and one in Vancouver. (source)

Melted raclette cheese being scraped onto some brown bread with pickled baby onions

Swiss Gold Medal for the House of Switzerland

Some of the best eats around Vancouver during the Winter Olympics are described wonderfully well here.

Not to be missed the Dim Sum, the Canadian Atlantic seafood and the Raclette.

Can you guess what this is? (this foto and more, definitely worth seeing.)  If you guessed half a wheel of Raclette cheese on a Raclonette, 10 points for you! 

This wonderful Swiss tradition, where creamy pungent cheese gets grilled until slightly browned and bubbly and then scraped (racler in French) onto a plate of potatoes with a nice contrast of pickles on the side, is being celebrated at The House of Switzerland, Swiss headquarters for the 2010 Olympics. 

If you have a chance, they're dishing up a heart-attack inducing portion, with rind included, on crusty bread instead. A must-eat experience that goes with the must-see theme of being at the Games.

Win a Raclette Grill from Ile de France!

American cheese company Ile de France is giving away a Boska Raclette Grill along with raclette cheese every week until March 12, 2010!

You'll also find an excellent source of recipes for Raclette, a "How To" guide and printable coupons.  Enter here-- Bonne chance!

2010 Olympics House of Switzerland Open to the Public

One of the few national centers open to the public during the Winter Olympics, the House of Switzerland has been dishing up Raclette in the spirit of the games. Check out the fabulous fotos.

Also, if you're in the Vancouver area, they're having an auction to benefit The Street of Home Foundation (more info here). On the block, a Swissmar Raclette Grill and a Swissmar Fondue Set!

How I Learned About Raclette in Cambodia

I never knew what Raclette cheese was until I lived in Cambodia.  I never even heard of it before.  (Wait... isn't Raclette a French cheese?  I didn't know they had cheese in Cambodia-- huh??)

Not as famous as his cousin, Emmental, Raclette cheese is from the French Alps region of Switzerland. Raclette is also the name of a wonderful Swiss traditional dish where the decadent cheese is melted over potatoes, cured meats and sausages and pickles.

Surprisingly, some of Europe's best cheeses make it to Cambodia where the well-travelled, affluent Khmer socialites have no qualms spending lavishly on many specialty food items they've tried in their travels.  There's also a significant expatriate population from western Europe in Cambodia. Since the 19th century, the French especially have had a love affair with Cambodia, even though they can no longer claim her as one of their colonies.

In Phnom Penh, there are several small grocery markets that specialize in all that foreigners and Khmer elite are hankering for whether it's Pop Tarts from the US, Marmite from New Zealand, miso soup paste from Japan or Raclette cheese from Switzerland they have it.  Not all the time, mind you... but often enough to keep the clamoring pubic happy.

They have markets with walk-in refrigerators, where you can point to whatever round of cheese they currently have chilling and get a wedge of it.  They also sell the smaller individually wrapped rounds of all varieties of cheese mostly from France.

The market where I purchased my first wedge of Raclette was more of a traditional grocery store.  I studied the pre-cut, pre-packed, pre-weighed, nameless wedge of cheese trying to determine if that small piece was worth $6. I guess I was in an adventurous mood that day, so I brought it home and to the delight of my tastebuds (and nostrils), I discovered what the Swiss and the French have known for centuries.  OH MY!!!  Raclette cheese is a little piece of gustatory heaven.

Raclette or Fondue, The Better of the Two?

Raclette and Cheese Fondue are both delicious cheese meals of Swiss-Gallic origin, perfect winter and especially nice for the holiday season. Apparently, there's some debate which is better than the other...

According to the late French food writer, Robert Courtine, 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"*. A well-known gastronome, especially in the area of French cheeses, Courtine is saying that Raclette is better than Fondue.

Cheese fondue, a conglomeration of Emmental and Gruyere, has a wonderful yet subtle creamy, nutty alcohol-infused flavor which makes a tasty appetizer. I say appetizer because it's often eaten with cubes of hearty German brown bread or French baguettes with some sides, pickled onions or baby gherkins, and perhaps some charcuterie (cured meats) as well. This dish is on the mild side of wild, with low-key monotone textures and flavors brought through the bread and the cheese mixture.

La Raclette has similar ingredients, but with the addition of some small, immature potatoes becomes a heartier meal. The raclette cheese itself has a distinctly rich, mature flavor (some say stinky ;)-- and a creamy and gooey texture. The dish's simplicity yet complexity of flavor when combined with the potatoes, sour pickles, salted meats lends itself to a very satisfying meal indeed.

With Raclette, you make a plate of food then pour the melted decadence on top on your own plate; with Fondue, you take your bread, dip it in the cheese fondue and immediately consume-- you never really see the food on your plate! I don't know about you, but for me, there's something psychologically more satisfying about having your own plate of food.

Another thing I like about Raclette is that you know exactly what you're eating-- plain potatoes, cured meats, pickles and cheese... that's it! There's something so proletarian about these ingredients, yet when put together, magically changes into a meal fit for a king. In fondue the centerpiece is the expensive blend of cheeses, with an additive of a thickener like cornstarch giving off a more sophisticated air at first... but leaving you feeling a pauper because your plate always seems empty!

For me, I prefer Raclette over Fondue... but if I'm offered either you won't see me complain!


* excellent translation by Ken Broadhurst-- check out his great blog!

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!

L'oeufs Brouillle a la Raclette

Another luscious way to eat Raclette cheese

over scrambled or poached eggs... oohh... that would make a special brunch!

The creamy saltiness of the Raclette cheese perfectly compliments

the light and delicate eggs.

Use room temperature cheese and slice thinly, microwave briefly to melt.