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Raclette is a Swiss dish long savored by inhabitants of France, Switzerland, and Germany. The word raclette means "scrape" and may be used to describe one of three things: the melting cheese used to make the dish, the technique of melting the cheese over food, or the dish itself. The concoction is a popular après-ski (a post-ski meal) and winter meal, served throughout the day. Raclette is one of the most Instagrammed foods in the world today, with thousands of restaurants across the US, UK, and Europe serving the dish in various forms. In this article, we will explore the origins of the Swiss round and how it gained the cult following it has today.
The exact origins of the preparation are unknown; that said, the earliest mentions of the dish date back to 13th-century medieval texts that were penned by Swiss monks. It wasn't until a few hundred years later, in the latter half of the 16th century, that the dish became popular, starting out as a farmer’s meal. Farmers would herd their cattle up the Swiss Alps from pasture to pasture, carrying rounds of cheese with them. The farmers consumed the cheese when they stopped to rest, using the campfire to melt the rounds before scraping generous portions onto scraps of bread. This tradition of transhumance continues to be prevalent in Switzerland today.
Fast forward to the present day, when restaurants use special apparatus to melt and serve the rounds. The most popular of the lot is the raclonette, a contraption that consists of a holder for the cheese and a heating element above it, with the holder designed to pivot in order to tip the cheese onto the plate. The machine is fairly portable, since the dish is usually prepared and served on the customer’s table. Raclette grills that are used at home have a far simpler design: a small tray with a handle that rests above a heating element or a candle. There are no set rules as to what cheese may be used or how it is prepared. Some restaurants melt the cheese over wood fires using a skewer, a tribute to the days of yore. All Swiss restaurants prepare raclette with rounds of the namesake cheese. The cheese is considered a national treasure and has been protected via an AOP (Appellation d'Origine Protégée, designation of origin) designation since 2008. True raclette cheese may only be produced in Valais, Switzerland. The cheese is semi-hard and may also be consumed raw, as part of a cheese board.
Although true raclette cheese may only be produced in the Alps, manufacturers around the world may use the raclette name for their cheeses, sans the PDO designation. Commercial and artisanal raclette produced outside Switzerland may include additions such as black truffle, mustard seeds, pepper, garlic, et al.
Raclette is more popular today than it ever was before, owing to the ease of preparing the dish and the novelty factor associated with the service. Raclette may be scraped onto just about any dish, with potatoes, pasta, charcuterie, and cooked meat being the most popular choices. Wine is a great accompaniment to the concoction, with delicate whites like Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris complementing the cheese’s mild flavor in an excellent manner.
Raclette is served all over the world in several contemporary iterations. Large chain supermarkets serve the dish in their cheese sections, on top of any base preparation you can think of. F&B outlets haven’t missed out either. Swithward, a wine bar in Australia, scrapes raclette over their "rac n mac", a delectable combination of southern style mac and cheese with an European touch. Their neighbors, the Kiwis, choose to stick to more traditional recipes, with restaurants like Le Garde Manger serving Swiss sourced raclette over various routine staples like potatoes, cooked meats, and charcuterie.
On the other side of the globe, the US has several restaurants and websites dedicated to serving and educating people about the Swiss tradition. Raclette NYC and the Bake Haus, Wisconsin, have long served the American public with several traditional and contemporary iterations of the dish, ranging from raclette over potatoes to raclette subs. The Raclette Corner, a US-based e-commerce website, has been selling rounds of cheese across the country for more than two decades. The company sells raclette cheese sourced from farmers across the Swiss Alps, in addition to several other items associated with the dish’s preparation, such as raclonettes, raclette grills, Swiss-inspired charcuterie, and a raclette scraper. The website also features recipes and detailed information about the many Swiss farmers and companies they source their cheese from.
Raclette isn't too difficult to make, even if you lack the equipment. A well-seasoned pan can produce melted cheese that is on par with that made using a raclette grill. Mild cheeses like Emmental, Gruyere, Fontina, or Appenzeller may be used as substitutes for raclette cheese.
