Monday, December 29, 2008

Swiss raclette club...

Santa/Papai Noel/Weihnachtsmann got B a raclette grill for Christmas. I'm not sure if it's because it actually isn't well known in the States or if I just didn't get out much, but I wasn't introduced to the raclette style of eating until I was in my late thirties.
Raclette is a bit like fondue in that it is a communal dining experience with food being cooked at the table. In this case, meat (beef in my experience) and cheese are cooked on a multi-level raclette grill. Once the meat is ready and the cheese is melted, we serve it on backed potatoes with champignons, capers etc.
Each person gets a little skillet that they stick in a preformed cubby beneath the heated grill. I'm not sure why, but this ritual is mildly entertaining.
Apparently raclette got its start in Switzerland. I don't know if our approach is traditional, but when accompanied with the right wine and/or Hefeweizen (in copious amounts), it all goes down quite nicely. The kids had fun as well. I'm not sure if I can highly recommend investing in such a grill, but if you can get your hands on one, there are worse ways to spend an evening.

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