Raclette - The only answer to all the cheesy dreams you haveFrance…land of all things delightfully indulgent about food; rich sauces, decadent deserts, hearty regional delights guaranteed to make your tastebuds sing and your heart stop! This great country presents a unique culinary hurdle for my wife being a vegetarian. Throughout our time on the road, she has become accustomed to the universal misconception that certain meats ‘don’t count’ and is often required to remove unwanted animal additions from meals. However, in France it appears that the idea of being a vegetarian is about as comprehensible as complex astrophysics or the offside rule! How and indeed why would you opt to eat a meal without meat…?! This attitude on the surface would appear to be almost prohibitively problematic for a vegetarian visiting France were it not for one very significant saving grace…cheese! This countrywide obsession continually provides my darling wife with ample sustenance and very little chance of monotonous repetition as this country boasts over 1000 varieties of the stuff!
One of her favourite types of cheese actually originated in Switzerland but is widely enjoyed by the French and is called raclette. Raclette refers to both the variety of the cheese and the dish in which it is used as a whole. Since discovering this dish some three years ago on her first visit to France it has been right up there on the top of her list of favourites. Unfortunately our ability to recreate it outside of France is distinctly hindered by the limited accessibility of both the right equipment for preparation and the right cheese! As a result of this notably sporadic enjoyment of one of her favourites it became of primary importance to acquire as soon as possible after arriving in France. And so it was done… In and of itself raclette is a fairly uninspiring and plain cheese compared to some of the weird and wonderful varieties available in France, however, it’s not so much about the cheese on it’s own but the method of preparation and consumption. Traditionally the cheese would be hung in front of an open fire to slowly soften, and as it did so, strips would be cut off and then eaten with potatoes, cured meats, breads and pickles. The accompaniments to the melted cheese have remained the same, however modern culture has developed the rather more practical cheese melting method in the form of an electric hotplate. Nowadays you can simply slice small squares of raclette and then place them on a small tray under the heating elements to slowly and dreamily liquefy. Once it is sufficiently melted the cheese is then added to your side dish of choice and voila! It may sound uninspiringly simply but the result is something pretty special. I’m not sure it would have exactly the same appeal with a slice of melted cheddar on a piece of supermarket sliced white bread and a piece of luncheon meat, but with a nice fresh crusty baguette and some delicately cured ham or locally grown heirloom French tomatoes it definitely takes on a more delectable form! I don’t think this can be described as being an example of one of France’s top dishes, nor would it make the list of most nutritionally valuable, however, it is certainly delicious and something which should definitely be tried on a visit to France. Bon appetit!
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Follow us on Instagram or send us a messageAbout Foodie FridaysWe love food, as most people do! And when we are on the road this doesn't change. We, like many people, believe that food is one of the best ways to really get to know a culture and it's people, as so much about the way people live their lives around the world is centred around food. This means that when we travel we actively seek out the local foods and delicacies. Sometimes that comes in the form of unusual and exotic produce from markets and sometimes from street food vendors serving an array of barbecued, fried, steamed or entirely indistinguishable goodies. Having tried and tested these goodies for some time now, on our adventures around Asia, Europe, North and South America we have discovered some pretty wonderful treats that we have decided should earn a bit of publicity. So, as the working week drifts away and the weekend winks at you like a naughty temptress we will share with you one of the delights that we have encountered from around the world! We hope you enjoy reading about these as much as we enjoyed eating them! Archives
October 2017
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