Host a Raclette Party!

I'll stop the world and melt with you...

Hello my dear cheese friends! Taking a quick CCP study break to wax poetic about raclette. One of my very favorite styles of cheeses because of the traditions and hullabaloo around enjoying it. Maybe we can even experience some of this hullabaloo together… read on…

Raclette. Gorgeous raclette. This semi-soft, cow’s milk cheese hails from the Swiss and French Alps, with traditions so old that they pre-date geopolitical boundaries. The magic of this cheese starts with cows grazing on drop dead gorgeous mountain pastures. Alpine mountain meadows are wonderfully diverse, featuring a nutrient-dense mix of cold-hardy grasses, sedges, and pretty little wildflowers. This translates into milk with a robust and varied microflora, which in turn translates in a cheese with amazing flavor potential. This is one of the reasons that Alpine cheeses consistently rank among my favorites.

Raclette in particular is famous for its exceptional melting properties. My CCP study brain will tell you this is a result of cheesemaker decisions such as cooking and washing the curds, which lowers the lactose and acid levels. This puts the cheese in the pH sweet-spot where calcium continues to act as the “molecular glue” connecting cheese proteins. To be a spectacular melter, a cheese must have the right balance of calcium: just enough to maintain structure, but low enough to allow protein bonds to relax. That’s how the ooey-gooey magic happens.

Inspired by the Alps, but this wheel was made in Wisconsin by the farmstead operation, Aplinage Cheese Co.

The name for the cheese comes from the French word racler (”to scrape”), and also refers to the traditional method of enjoyment. Heating a wheel of cheese and scraping the melted top layer onto all sorts of goodies, like crusty bread, boiled potatoes, cured meats, and pickles. I love it for the spectacle and the communal nature of eating raclette… the aforementioned hullabaloo!

I recently had the pleasure of facilitating a raclette party for a great group of friends. They have their own tradition of Friday night neighborhood dinners, so layering on the tradition of a raclette party was an easy pairing. I showed up with my wheel of cheese and my melting tools, ready to scrape. I’ll never get tired of seeing people’s faces light up when a delicious glob of molten cheeses comes sliding towards their plate.

To that end! I’m looking to partner with adventurous home cooks, chefs, and other culinary creatives to offer a fun raclette add-on to their typical dinner parties. Basically, I provide the equipment, the wheel(s) of cheese, and a few hours of my scraping skills. Essentially acting as a cheese-pro subcontractor ready to ooze hot melty cheese over whatever food you can dream up.

If this sounds interesting to you, please reach out! I’d love the chance to get cheesy with you and your crew 💛

I’ll stop the world and melt with youuuuuu 💛