The Raclette grill is in the middle of the table and each person melts their own cheese in a little non stick pan which slides under the grill. The hotplate on top can be used for an indoor BBQ meal with lots of different meats and sauces. Once again each person cooking their own. That is another fun meal too.
The little pans are sitting on top getting warm. Black on black is a bit hard to see.
You need about 100 to 200 grams of Raclette Cheese (or a soft melting cheese) per person.
A bowl full of hot, boiled potatoes in their jackets. 
For side dishes the Swiss usually have Cornichons (pickled baby cucumbers) and sometimes Büdnerfliesch, for which we substituted Bruschetta. We also added a few other side dishes such as antipasto, tomatoes..........
.......pickled vegetables, savoury roasted mushrooms, olives and pickled onions. Pepper and Paprika for seasoning.
Take a hot potato and slice it on your plate, then put some cheese in your little pan and slide it under the grill. Add some pickles to your plate then pull out your melted cheese and......
...pour it over your potato. You can use a little spatula to scrape it all out. 
Sprinkle with pepper and eat...yum, yum. It is good with white wine or tea, it is supposed to help with digestion. Then you chat, laugh, keep warm and do it all over again and again until full. It is not recommended to drink water as it could solidify the cheese in your tummy. Continuing with the Swiss theme, Bill cooked a delicious Apfelkuchen for dessert. 
When we were in Switzerland we went to a restaurant in Zermatt and saw this fellow cooking Raclette, but he was using a different grill. He had a whole cheese cut in half sitting in a rack which he could swing under the grill (the black thingy) then he would swing it out and scrape off the melted cheese onto a plate and take it to the table.
When we were in Switzerland we went to a restaurant in Zermatt and saw this fellow cooking Raclette, but he was using a different grill. He had a whole cheese cut in half sitting in a rack which he could swing under the grill (the black thingy) then he would swing it out and scrape off the melted cheese onto a plate and take it to the table.
It really should be eaten at lunch time as the cheese may sit a little heavy in your tum in bed at night. But drinking a couple of glasses of a fine Semillon Blanc or Chardonay will certainly help the digestion. It was very nice.
ReplyDeleteMUUUUUUM! It's NOT FAIR! Why are we so far from home that we can't come and gate crash your dinner parties? This looks BETTER than the restaurant in Zermatt! And I can smell the Apfelkuchen from here! Was it as delicious as it looks? With a hint of almond? I have just called Dave into the room to come and see your dinner. He says "it's not fair!"
ReplyDeleteWell now that our tummies are rumbling, we'd better go and make lunch! Nothing as extravagant as this, mind.
BIG HUUUUUG
Carol & David
xxx
Today we have 16 °C (!!!) here in Belgium and it is supposed to be summer ! I had to put the heating on !
ReplyDeleteSo your raclette would be just fine for me, lol !
Diane, A delightful meal to the last detail. The Apfelkuchen looks yummy too. In Switzerland we used this Raclette oven and then we scraped the melted cheese onto the plate. Now it is much easier with the little pans.(try tea with brandy, it is wonderful and helps also with the digestion...but not brandy with tea!)
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of this before but it does look very good--and it is gluten free so I could do it. If I get to come to Australia next year, I'm coming to your house.
ReplyDeleteDiane, O My Gosh!This is the first time I have visited your blog and you are talking about Raclette...one of my favorite cheeses! The first time I tasted it was in the Alps where I had gone with my daugter, her husband and my grandkids for the day. We had gone up through the Italian Alps into France and stopped at a little cheese store out in the middle of nowhere. Wonderful post, and thank you for visiting my blog.
ReplyDeleteThis looks devine Diane...I can see my family enjoying this kind of meal as we go through an awful lot of cheese....
ReplyDeleteI love visiting your blog as the food always looks delicious...Thanks....
That looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteITS...NOT...FAIR!!!!
ReplyDelete(Son-in-law)
Hi Diane, thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment about this post on Raclette. I had read it and thought that I had also left a comment at the same time but my brain must be playing tricks. Sorry it took me a while to get back to your post but I honestly thought that I had already left a message :( I appreciate you taking the time to explain this to me. I never even knew that there was such a thing as a Raclette pan. It all looks so delicious and the kind of meal that we would enjoy.
ReplyDeleteThe meals looks really lovely and I bet it tasted really yummy.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting all the photos-- they are wonderful!
ReplyDeleteHot Tamale, I tried to comment on your post but the adds are in the way of the verification word and you don't have an email address.
ReplyDelete