SC - raclette

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Robert Beaulieu wrote:
> 
> Unto all gentle cooks Lord Robert de QuelQuePart sends greetings,
> 
>         Being from Latin decent rather than Saxon I do not know for sure that
> this dish is caled "raclette" in English (that is the french spelling);
> being from Swiss origin (I belive), or somewhere close, it consist,
> originally as it is now served in fancy setting in restaurants, of a
> block of cheese with one end facing toward and close, more or less, to
> the "pit" fire; in such a fashion that it melts (becomes smooth), in
> turn each and every one whi has teir heart for it, or the munchys, srape
> that end with a piece of bread...
> 
>         The question is ...(drums)... Is this dish period, if so can any one
> document it for me please?

In English we call that dish "toasted cheese", more or less. In the
French-speaking parts of Switzerland, the dish is called raclette
because, as I understand it, it is the name of the type of cheese
traditionally used for toasting in Switzerland. So, you go to the cheese
shop and buy a wheel or wedge of raclette, and you can either use it to
make sandwiches, or eat with bread and wine, or you could use it to
make...(drums)...raclette.

Honestly don't know how old the cheese variety is, but the concept of
toasting cheese and eating it with bread must date back to, at least,
the fifteenth or sixteenth century. I believe there are literary
references to Welsh dishes of toasted cheese being of superior quality
to their English equivalents. Just think: Owen Glendower may have died
to protect toasted cheese!

See C. Anne Wilson's "Food and Drink In Britain", for a start at
documenting toasted cheese in the British style, apparently developed
sometime during the latter half of our period. The basic dish involves
placing a slice of fat cheese (no, not a fat slice of cheese) on a clean
fire shovel or smooth board, such as are sometimes used for baking
flatbreads near a hearth. You prop up the board, or hold the shovel, on
an incline, facing the fire. When it is done, it will be brown and
bubbly, and will begin to slide down the shovel or board, on its little
built-in lubricating buffer of butterfat. The goal is for the browning,
and the sliding, to occur at more or less the same time, which will
ultimately be a function of experience in this fine art. Anyway, you pop
your slice of toasted cheese onto a slice of toasted bread, and chomp.
It appears that some heretics will spread mustard, as well as butter, on
their toast prior to the application of the cheese.

Some consider the ne plus ultra of the toasted cheese experience to be
Digby's recipe for Savoury Toasted Cheese, which is a sort of melted
cheese casserole, with added butter and the occasional bit of what my
son calls greenfood. Commonly known on this list as cheese goo.

Personally, I prefer the simpler Welsh method, which I believe Digby's
recipe to be a citified imitation of. By way of compromise, I'll say
that I have had excellent results in mass-producing a variant on the
Welsh method for feast use. I use large round loaves of bread, which I
slice horizontally into discs. These get toasted, buttered (sometimes
with a REALLY tiny amount of plain Coleman's-type mustard) and topped
with a smooth mixture of grated white Cheddar and some cream cheese,
whizzed up in a food processor. Digby recommends Cheshire or Brie, but
I've found that the mixture I mention can be quickly spread, before the
toast gets cold, and when melted, appears to be a perfectly homogeneous
cheese, rather than a mixture. Finish these in a broiler, at which point
they rather resemble pizzas, and if they are the right size, you can
send out one per table, cut into wedges.

This is good in cases where the Digby cheese goo, in combination with
other dishes, is just a bit too much. Of course, some claim that this
case could never arise, but still, there it is.

Adamantius 
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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