Pinot, Bretzels, and Cathedrals

THE MEAL GENRE, NOT JUST CHEESE

If you ever have a little moment, complaining about food shortages, and the lack of variety on your fresh fruit and vegetable shelves, stop and think back to our ancient ancestors.  In biblical times, the residents of Jerusalem did not have individually irrigated watercress plants growing out in the desert, King Henry VIIIth had salt carried across continents to Hampton Court Palace- at great expense, the Red Indians of America ate bison probably, but I don’t imagine they sat down with a black pepper and balsamic vinaigrette over their strawberry-roquette salads.  In fact, if I have my facts straight, you and I would not be feeding our children ‘Spags Bol’* if it wasn’t for Marco Polo and his sailing to China.

No, in actual fact, depending on where you lived, you ate what God provided to you, literally.  If you lived on the ragged Greece hillside, you probably ate goat and sheep, scented with rosemary and lemons.  You cured loads of olives that grew like weeds in the stony heat.  If you happen to grow up as the son of a fisherman in the south of France, ton mamon would have been fed you Bouillabaise most evenings, and depending on where you lived in Spain, would determine if you ate Paella with rabbit, crayfish, or pimentos.

The colonies- America included, if I may be so blunt- are different, in that they have become a pot of many different cultures.  Of my homeland, we have developed the best braai’s, we have an amazing variety of Cape Malay, Indian, African and European influences, but I don’t believe there is any one aspect that is as unique to SA as Quiche Lorraine is to Alsace (and Lorraine…), as Spargele is to Germany, Bouillabaise is to Marseilles, pomme-frites to Belgium, Nicoise Salad to Nice, Brie Cheese is to the Ile-de-France, and… I could go on.

It is this concept of individuality that is quite unique to Europe especially.  Alsacienne locals value their Tarte Flambee restaurants, and occasionally people get together to do raclette dinners. (Due to our fairly close proximity to Switzerland, the Alsaciennes use this style of cooking as well.)

I stumbled upon the expression of ‘raclette evenings’ late last year, and then more recently at the end of April.  I know Raclette is cheese, and is Swiss in origon, but further to that, I needed to know what made it unique that it had a name given to its meal genre- ie, a braai is a meal genre, as is a fondue, as is a Mongolian stir-fry.  A friend who has lived in Strasbourg for the most part of her life mentioned it, and I jumped at the opportunity to ask her what the deal was with raclette meals.

Well, lucky for us, rather than try to explain the concept, she invited us to join them for a raclette dinner earlier this month.

I documented the early stages of the meal via a phone camera -after I asked permission, of course ;-)but sadly, Beth had her grubby little paws on my phone a week later, and deleted all my photo’s.  The result- I am going to have to write this out very carefully.

Essentially it is a family meal.  The object is that everyone sits at the table and helps themselves to dinner, spending time together, (as any meal should be taken).

Equipment:

Firstly, you can’t do raclette dinners if you don’t have a raclette grill.  It is a piece of equipment that is approximately the size of an electric frying pan (if you know what I’m talking about), and should fit comfortably in the centre of your dining room table.

The grill has 2 areas to it.

* The bottom level has got spaces to place small, individual non-stick pans, which are approximately 10cm in diameter.

* The second level has heating elements on it; which radiate heat downwards, and provide heat upwards to a warming plate on the surface.

Ingrediants:

The meal originated in the agricultural mountains of Switzerland, where cheese from their cows was plenty, cold meat cuts were always available, and like all good farmers know, potatoes were staple on their tables.  Lastly, as much of Afrikaans food has developed from the days of Die Groot Trek, the icy Swiss mountains meant that fresh fruit and vegetables were not easy to obtain, so pickled vegetables forms the last part of this meal.

The process:

New potatoes, in their skins will have been placed on the top of the grill, to keep warm. Crusty bread is also a variation on the farinaceous ingredients.  Some people add cooked steak strips to this grill, as an alternative meat source; we were provided a cold platter of a variety of pork cold cuts.

Alongside the cold cuts, was a platter of pre-sliced regular Raclette as well as a smoked Raclette.

In between were bowls of gherkins, pickled onions, and a (heavenly) Artichoke, Fava Bean and Caper salad.

As a guest, you are expected to peel the skin off the potato, and cut it in half lengthwise and place it on your dinner plate.

The next step is to take a slice of Raclette and place it into your own personal non-stick pan.  At this point you can add sliced onion and grind some black pepper over the cheese slice, or you can opt to leave it as is.  You then take the little pan, and put in onto the bottom level of the raclette grill, under the heating grill.

While the cheese starts to melt under the heat of the grill, you can help yourself to the variety of meat and pickles on the table.

After a minute, once the cheese will have melted to a liquid form, you remove your little pan from under the grill, and tip it over, pouring the melted cheese over your potato, which you can then begin to eat! You then return the pan to the grill with another slice of Raclette for your next taste (after peeling more boiled potatoes…)

It carries on in much the same way, melting cheese; peeling potatoes, snacking on cold cuts and pickles all the while conversing at the dinner table.  It is a really lovely style of having dinner- the host does not need to leave the table, except maybe to retrieve another bottle of Rosé wine from the câve, and when we were with S&K, we barely noticed how easily time passed us- it was well after midnight when we realised that the girls had fallen asleep on the couches.

My own opinion?

I had a stunning evening, taking into account the company and conversation, and the chance to learn something new.

However, raclette could well do with a rejuvenation- it could do with a break away from the traditional mould that is encouraged.  I was gently chided for not peeling my potatoes, and for drizzling the salad vinaigrette over the potatoes, because it is not traditional, but in all honesty, melted cheese over a plain boiled potato is not rocket science.  My attempt at variation with vinaigrette over the potatoes made it more…jooj…and I can imagine that a bowl of crushed potatoes dressed with chives and truffle oil would ensure that raclette is just not Raclette.

Regardless of the latter statement, I am wholly appreciative to S&K for enlightening us.  We really did enjoy our evening with you ;-).  Thanks!!

*Spaghetti Bolognese