A few years ago (it might actually be quite a few) having company over on Saturday night for fondues was done quite often at our house. The usual were two fondues, sometimes even three, set up. One was a terrific cheese fondue made with Swiss Cheese, Gruyere, White Wine and Kirsch Brandy, the other one strictly hot oil and if my wife added a third it was a decadent chocolate fondue for desert. We really used to enjoy these evenings with food and friends engaging in good conversations in front of the fireplace.

Why did we stop these events?   We have no idea, but at one point it seemed, it was not “fashionable” anymore!

Raclette, our first try

Along comes the Raclette.

We “racletted” again last night, our second try, with close friends as our “guinea pigs”. During a discussion at the end of the evening all four of us concluded that it was a great and also fun  experience.

Let’s first talk about the limitations of a fondue. The traditional cheese fondue, one great taste experience as a hot dip for French bread. Oil fondue: Unseasoned meat pieces and any solid vegetable fried out in vegetable oil and served with dipping sauces. By the way, back then, when we did these fondues we were never told that fat was bad for us and if, we probably wouldn’t have cared about it anyways, those were the days!

Raclette: Anything you grill on top can be seasoned to your liking. The variety of vegetables and seasonings you can use is extensive. The assortment of cheeses which are good for melting is limited to the taste of you and your guests.

So to sum it up:

Raclette:

• The variety of food choices for a Raclette evening is a lot greater
• With that your taste experience increases by multiples
• Healthier cooking without oil, of course the fat intake from the cheese might counteract this if you are not careful
• You eat for two hours not realizing how fast the time goes by
• Any complains about seasoning is quickly taken care of, as you season your own stuff and ergo it is your own problem
• As you use the little pans for your individual servings you create, you can assemble any combination of the different ingredients at the table

Now, to get the most out of this you have to be willing to experiment and have a little bit of imagination, if you lack the first, just try the potatoes and fry out a piece of meat, if you lack the second, look around and copy from the other people at the table, just omit the things you refuse to eat or try.

The part of splurging on melted cheeses is definitely not part of a diet for those of us on a health kick. On the other hand, as you can include all kinds of veggies and also potatoes you are able to even accommodate a vegetarian at your table without cooking separate meals.

Overall we can see why this type of entertaining friends became popular in Europe and might even catch on over here.

Our rating:

Delicious, Fun, Entertaining, Gemütlich, Creative and Sociable, if using a star rating we give it 5 stars out of 5