Reply to Raclette feast setup

Forum Index » Food, Cooking, and Restaurants

Reply to "Raclette feast setup"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]Posters on the NYE family dinner thread asked about our family's raclette tradition, which is definitely not authentically Swiss, but very fun.  Here's how we do it.

Equipment: We have two 8-person Swissmar grills, one with a non-stick aluminum top and the other with cast iron.  You can find them on the Swissmar site or sometimes on Amazon.  The grills come with 8 individual trays that go underneath for cheese melting* and bread toasting.  They also come with some silly little plastic spatulas and tongs.  You will definitely want to invest in quality tongs and mini tongs to use instead—OXO makes great ones.  You will also almost certainly need an extension cord for each machine unless you are right next to an outlet.

Food:
Cheese: We typically get a mix of cheese from Balduccis or online from Murray's Cheese shop, usually a combo of French raclette, Emmenthaler, and whatever other swiss is on hand.  Any melty cheese will do if you want to stray from the traditional.  We years ago convinced our children it was fun for them to "cut the cheese"—that's a nice tradition to start if your children are capable of slicing safely and enjoy bad jokes.

Bread:  We always try to have a dark bread and a baguette or other French bread.  Firehook has a lovely Swiss Farmer's loaf that's perfect—grab it if you ever see it!

*Garlic butter with or without herbs or spices. Not traditional at all, but it melts nicely in the trays and is delightful poured over your grilled items or for use in making individual garlic toasts.  Sometimes I will also put out hot sauce or horseradish sauce or other cold dipping condiments.

Our usual selection for the top of the grill is:
Vegetables—mushrooms, sliced peppers, broccolini, asparagus, green beans, green onions, pearl onions, and gherkins.  Virtually any vegetable will do great on the grill—you just don't want something too watery.

Protein:  Cured meats like salami, bresaola, prosciutto, etc. Scallops and steak cut thin.  The Bethesda Balduccis has hanger steak usually, and it's amazing for raclette.  We occasionally have shrimp.  Pressed firm tofu would work well too.  Or mini-veggie or bean burgers or salmon cakes—anything small and flat enough to ensure thorough cooking or warming.

Considerations:   We only have 4 or 5 people max per grill so everyone has some elbow room.  It's nice for each person to have two trays if possible so you can be making toast in one and melting cheese in the other.

Some families grill things communally and everyone take a piece of whatever is currently ready on the grill top.  I do not understand these people.  I like to use asparagus to mark the boundaries of my ¼ of the grill, and I don't care who mocks me.

We usually have sparkling water or cider out, and a crisp white wine like Gruner Veltliner.

Anyone else have raclette tips or traditions to share?
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics