STREET FOOD AT BOROUGH MARKET LONDON, RACLETTE - MELTED CHEESE POURED OVER POTATOES

STREET FOOD AT BOROUGH MARKET LONDON, RACLETTE - MELTED CHEESE POURED OVER POTATOES WITH PICKLES, Raclette is a semi-hard cheese that is usually fashioned into a wheel of about 6 kg (13 lb). The Alpine cow milk based dairy product is most commonly used for melting, but is also consumed as a slice. Raclette is a Swiss[1][2][3] dish, also very popular in Savoie (France), based on heating the cheese and scraping off (from French: racler) the melted part. Raclette is a dish indigenous to parts of Switzerland. The raclette cheese round is heated, either in front of a fire or by a special machine, then scraped onto diners' plates.

Traditionally the melting happens in front of an open fire, with the big piece of cheese facing the heat. One then regularly scrapes off the melting side. Or by a specific oven. It is accompanied by small firm potatoes (Bintje, Charlotte or Raclette varieties), cornichons (gherkins), pickled onions, and dried meat, such as jambon cru/cuit, salami, and viande des Grisons, and to drink, Kirsch, herbal tea or white wine from a swiss vineyard a Fendant (wine from the Chasselas grape).

A modern way of serving raclette involves an electric table-top grill with small pans, known as coupelles, in which to melt slices of raclette cheese. This new way is used since the 1950s. Generally the grill is surmounted by a hot plate or griddle. In Switzerland the electrical raclette is called "raclonette". The device is put in the middle of the table. The cheese is brought to the table sliced, accompanied by platters of boiled or steamed potatoes, other vegetables and charcuterie. These are then mixed with potatoes and topped with cheese in the small wedge-shaped coupelles that are placed under the grill to melt and brown the cheese. Alternatively, slices of cheese may be melted and simply poured over food on the plate. The emphasis in raclette dining is on relaxed and sociable eating and drinking, the meal often running to several hours. French and other European supermarkets generally stock both the grill apparatus and ready-sliced cheese and charcuterie selections, especially around Christmas. Restaurants also provide raclette evenings for parties or dinners.

Raclette cheese is native from Valais and benefits from PDO. Today raclette is made in various regions and countries of the world, including Switzerland, France (Savoy, Franche-Comté, Auvergne, Brittany), Austria, Germany, Finland, Australia, Canada and the United States.

The "vercouline" is a raclette in which Bleu du Vercors-Sassenage is used. In Franche-Comté, the Bleu de Gex (or "Bleu du Haut Jura) and Morbier, both PDO are used as variants.

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