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1
Scrub the potatoes and place them, whole and unpeeled, in a large pan of cold salted water. Bring to the boil and cook until a skewer meets no resistance at the centre. Drain and keep covered in a warm serving bowl or wrapped in a cloth — they must arrive at the table hot.
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2
Arrange the charcuterie — jambon sec, viande des grisons, coppa, rosette de Lyon — in thin slices on a wooden board. Set the cornichons and pickled silverskin onions in small bowls alongside. Dress the green salad lightly in vinaigrette and hold at room temperature.
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3
Preheat the tabletop raclette grill (appareil à raclette) until its upper heating element is fully hot. Each person lays a slice of Raclette de Savoie — rind edge uppermost so the rind crisps and caramelizes under the heat — in their individual coupelle and slides it under the element. The cheese is ready in 3 to 4 minutes: the surface should be a smooth, flowing, molten pool with no separation and no oiliness. This is where the dish lives or dies — beyond 4 minutes the paste turns oily and grainy and cannot be recovered.
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4
Tip the coupelle immediately and scrape the molten cheese in one fluid motion onto a warm plate already holding two or three hot potatoes. The cheese must hit a hot surface; on a cold potato it solidifies at once.
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5
Take a cornichon and a pickled onion with each scraping. The acid cuts the richness of the melted cheese; without it the palate fatigues within the first plate. Repeat the cycle — slice into coupelle, melt, scrape, eat — for the duration of the meal.