Raclette

What is Raclette Cheese?

Raclette is a dish of Swiss origin based on heating cheese and scraping off the melted part, then serving it with boiled potatoes. It comes historically from the canton of Valais. The cheese from Valais benefits from an AOP, and raclette cheese is also made as a Swiss-type cheese marketed specifically for this dish.

Medieval texts from Swiss convents mention dishes of melted cheese as early as 1291. Melted cheese was food for peasants in the mountainous Alpine areas of Valais and Fribourg in Switzerland and Savoie and Haute-Savoie in France. In German-speaking Switzerland it was called Bratchäs or Bratkäse, meaning roasted cheese.

Cow herders carried cheese with them when moving cows to and from mountain pastures. In the evening they set the cheese next to a campfire to soften, then scraped it onto bread. Melting raclette-type cheese in front of a fire is attested in Valais as early as 1574. The French word raclette has been the common name for the dish since 1875.

The 1909 Cantonal Exhibition of Sion promoted raclette as a national dish of Valais. National and international popularity followed the 1964 National Exhibition.

The cheese round is heated in front of a fire or by a special machine, then scraped onto the plates of the people eating. A modern version called raclonette uses an electric table-top grill with small pans, the coupelles, in which slices of the cheese melt. Raclette is also sold as street food, often with bread instead of potatoes.

In Valais the dish comes with potatoes, cornichons, pickled onions, and black tea, other warm drinks or Fendant wine. Black tea is the traditional partner because a warm drink is thought to aid digestion. In France people often pour a white wine such as Savoy wine, Riesling or pinot gris.