feminine: la raclette
a traditional Alpine winter dish of melted cheese served with potatoes and cured meats, as well as the specific melting cheese used to make it.
What is a raclette party?
When you find a french boyfriend and community in Salt Lake City, it’s inevitable that you will attend a raclette party. Or in our case, host one. For my boyfriend’s birthday, we decided to skip the traditional birthday dinner and turn our home into a tiny piece of the French Alps. There was a table full of cheese, potatoes, wine, charcuterie, friends, and most importantly, multiple raclette machines working overtime.
Raclette is a cheese that seems to be crafted by the Swiss gods, mainly enjoyed in the colder months. It’s the ultimate cold-weather comfort food and a very good excuse to gather your favorite people around a table. The cheese is traditionally melted and then scraped directly onto potatoes, vegetables, and meats. In fact, the word raclette comes from the French verb racler, meaning “to scrape.”
There is something inherently social about raclette. Instead of one person disappearing into the kitchen to cook an entire meal, everyone sits around the table, melts their own cheese, builds their own little plate, and pours another glass of wine.
It’s dinner, but make it an activity..
What you need…
Raclette machine
Raclette cheese
Boiled potatoes
Charcuterie and other meats
Roasted vegetables
Cornichons
White wine
Friends who appreciate an unhealthy amount of cheese
The star of the show is obviously the raclette machine. For a party, I highly recommend using an electric raclette grill rather than the small candlelight versions. The candle versions are adorable, but when you have a table full of hungry people waiting for melted cheese, you want something with a little more power.
Depending on the number of guests, you may even want more than one machine. We placed the raclette grills in the center of the table so everyone could easily reach them. It also meant that nobody had to interrupt the conversation every five minutes to ask, “Is the cheese ready yet?”
Setting the table
The best part about raclette is that there really isn't a strict menu.
We started with the essentials: boiled baby potatoes, plenty of cheese, charcuterie, pickles, and bread. From there, you can add roasted vegetables, mushrooms, peppers, asparagus, more bread, or pretty much anything else you think would taste good covered in melted cheese. And let's be honest, almost everything tastes better covered in melted cheese.
And obviously… wine.
Raclette is rich. Very rich. So while you could technically drink anything you want with it, a crisp white wine is a great choice. A French white wine works beautifully, but we also kept water nearby because, after several rounds of melted cheese, everyone needs a little reset.
A little bit of France in SLC
One of my favorite things about living in Salt Lake City is finding little ways to bring pieces of the places and cultures that I love into everyday life.
A raclette party might not be the first thing you picture when you think of Utah, but put a bunch of French people, cheese, wine, and friends around a table and suddenly it feels like a very small Alpine village somewhere in Europe. You don't necessarily need to travel across the world to create a memorable night. Sometimes you just need a good group of people, a table full of food, and an almost irresponsible amount of cheese.
So if you're looking for an excuse to have people over during the colder months, consider this your sign.
Buy the raclette machine. Invite your friends. Open the wine. Melt the cheese.
And don't forget the potatoes.