Raclette — The Melted Cheese Ritual of the Alps

Raclette is the great communal cheese ritual of the French and Swiss Alps — a preparation of primal simplicity (cheese melted by heat, scraped onto a plate with potatoes) that has become one of France's most popular winter social meals and one of the few dishes where the cooking method is the name. The word comes from racler (to scrape): traditionally, a half-wheel of raclette cheese is held face-down toward an open fire or a special heating element, and as the surface melts, it is scraped (raclée) directly onto a plate of boiled potatoes, cornichons, and pickled onions. The cheese: Raclette de Savoie (IGP) is a semi-hard, washed-rind mountain cheese (5-7kg wheels) made from raw or thermized cow's milk, aged 2-3 months, with a supple, even-textured paste that melts into a smooth, flowing pool without separating or becoming rubbery. The rind is regularly washed during affinage, giving it a distinctive orange-brown color and a slightly pungent, mushroomy aroma. The modern raclette: the tabletop raclette grill (appareil à raclette) — an electric device with a heating element above and individual small pans (coupelles or poêlons) below — has made raclette a standard French dinner-party format. Each person places a slice of cheese in their coupelle under the grill, where it melts in 3-4 minutes, then tips the molten cheese onto their plate of potatoes, charcuterie, and pickles. The accompaniments are non-negotiable: small boiled potatoes (rattes or charlottes, boiled in their skins), cornichons, pickled silverskin onions, and an assortment of dried and cured meats (jambon sec, viande des grisons, coppa, rosette de Lyon). A green salad dressed lightly in vinaigrette rounds the meal. The drink: Savoyard white wine (Apremont, Chignin) or, controversially, black tea (which the Swiss maintain aids digestion of the melted cheese better than wine).