Description
Raclette Cheese
About Raclette
Some cheeses are made for a cheeseboard.
Raclette is made for a party.
This wonderfully melty Alpine cheese is at the heart of one of my favourite ways to eat cheese: gather everyone around a table, melt the Raclette and scrape it over hot potatoes. Add a few cornichons, some charcuterie and a glass of something lovely and you’ve got dinner.
The name comes from the French word racler, meaning to scrape, which tells you pretty much everything you need to know.
Traditionally, a large piece of cheese would be placed close to the fire until the surface began to bubble and melt. That glorious molten layer was then scraped onto potatoes, bread or whatever else was available.
Simple. Sociable. And absolutely delicious.
From the Mountains to the Table
Raclette belongs to the Alpine cheesemaking tradition shared across parts of Switzerland and France, where mountain communities needed food that was nourishing, practical and capable of lasting.
On the French side of the Alps, Raclette is particularly associated with Savoie, where cheesemaking and mountain farming have gone hand in hand for generations.
The cheese itself is semi-hard when cold, with a smooth, supple paste and a natural rind. But eating it cold rather misses the point.
Apply heat and that’s when the magic happens.
Rather than becoming oily or excessively stringy, Raclette softens into a beautifully smooth, creamy blanket of melted cheese.
Which is precisely why generations of people have been scraping it over potatoes.
Après Ski Anyone?
There’s something wonderfully communal about Raclette.
These days, lots of us use tabletop Raclette grills, with everyone melting their own slices of cheese in little pans. Nobody has to disappear into the kitchen and everyone eats at their own pace.
It’s the complete opposite of a rushed meal.
You sit. You talk. You melt another bit of cheese. You decide you couldn’t possibly eat another potato.
Then you melt another bit of cheese.
I think we should all eat like this more often.
Raclette – Jen’s Tasting Notes
Cold Raclette is actually quite gentle. The texture is smooth and supple, with milky, buttery flavours, a little nuttiness and sometimes a slightly earthy note towards the rind.
But warm it up and everything changes.
The aroma becomes much more pronounced and those gentle flavours become richer, deeper and more savoury. The paste becomes beautifully creamy and molten without losing its character.
There’s butter, toasted nuts and a lovely savoury depth, with enough acidity to stop all that melted cheese becoming too much.
Although I’m not entirely convinced there’s such a thing as too much melted cheese.
How to Serve and Pair Raclette
- The traditional way: Melt the cut surface of a large piece of Raclette and scrape it directly over hot boiled potatoes.
- Around the table: A tabletop Raclette grill makes things wonderfully easy. Give everyone some cheese and let them melt their own.
- Alongside: Cornichons and pickled onions are essential as far as I’m concerned. Their acidity cuts beautifully through all that rich cheese. Add jambon cru, saucisson or other charcuterie and you’ve got a feast.
- In your glass: Keep things Alpine with a crisp, dry white wine. Something fresh and acidic is exactly what you want alongside all that melted cheese.
- Don’t rush: Raclette isn’t really a meal to get through. Put everything in the middle of the table and settle in for the evening.
Jen’s note: We have a Raclette grill that we hire out to customers — and there’s no charge. We just ask that you buy the quarter of Raclette needed for the machine from us and bring the grill back as clean as you found it! It’s a brilliant centrepiece for a gathering and, once you’ve watched that first layer of cheese bubbling before you scrape it onto your plate, you’ll understand why people have been eating Raclette this way for generations.
Buying Raclette
- Brand or Producer: Société Fromagère du Livradois
- Product name: Raclette
- Milk: Cow
- Country: France
- Region: Savoie
- Strength: Medium
- Vegetarian: No
- Suitable for pregnancy: Yes
- Allergens: MILK
Sizes and Prices
- 100g wedge, £2.45
- 500g wedge, £12.25
- 1/4 wheel (approx, 1.8kg), £44.00
- Whole cheese (approx. 7kg), available to pre-order
Storage Advice
- Keep refrigerated
- Wrap in waxed paper or cling film
- Remove from the fridge before serving
- Consume within 10 to 14 days of opening
Delivery and Collection
- UK wide courier delivery
- Click and collect from our Pangbourne shop
- Free local delivery available for selected postcodes
Ingredients (Allergens are listed in capitals)
MILK, salt, starter cultures, rennet. rind: natamycin (E235)
