Half-wheels of Raclette du Valais cheese melted under a heat lamp and scraped onto boiled potatoes with cornichons, pickled onions and dried meats.

Raclette comes from the verb racler, to scrape, and was first recorded as a shepherd's meal in the Valais Alps in the medieval period. The cheese was melted by the fire and scraped onto bread. Zurich's old-town raclette cellars adopted the dish in the twentieth century with the same canonical sides: boiled potatoes, cornichons, pickled silverskin onions, sometimes Buendnerfleisch on the side. The half-wheel under a vertical heat lamp is the classic restaurant service. A Valais AOP designation has protected the cheese since 2003; outside the region it is sold simply as raclette cheese.

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Make it at home

Serves 445 minEasy

Ingredients

  • 800g raclette cheese (Raclette du Valais AOP if you can find it; otherwise a Swiss raclette or French raclette de Savoie). Slice into 5mm thick slabs of about 60g each.
  • 1.2kg small waxy potatoes (Charlotte, Ratte or new potatoes), unpeeled
  • 1 tbsp coarse sea salt for the cooking water
  • 200g cornichons (small French gherkins)
  • 200g silverskin pickled onions
  • 200g Buendnerfleisch (Swiss air-dried beef) or thinly sliced cured ham
  • Freshly cracked black pepper, sweet paprika, ground nutmeg to taste
  • 1 small loaf country bread, sliced

Method

  1. Boil the potatoes whole in the salted water for 18 to 20 minutes until just tender when pierced with a knife. Drain and tip into a covered bowl to keep warm.
  2. If you have a raclette grill: preheat the top heater for 5 minutes. If using a domestic grill: lay the raclette slices on a heatproof plate or in individual paddle pans.
  3. For the domestic-grill method: position one slab per pan, set under a high grill for 90 seconds to 2 minutes until the cheese is fully melted, bubbling at the edges and just starting to brown.
  4. Cut each potato in half on each diner's plate, lay the molten raclette slice over the cut potato so the cheese drapes over the top.
  5. Grind black pepper or sprinkle a pinch of paprika or nutmeg over the melted cheese.
  6. Eat immediately with cornichons, pickled onions, sliced Buendnerfleisch and country bread on the side; the second slab can go under the grill while you eat the first.
  7. Repeat until cheese, breath and diners are exhausted.

Editor tip. Raclette is most authentic with the dedicated table grill (small paddles per diner that slide under a vertical heater); a domestic grill works as a substitute. Do not let the cheese sit melted on the plate; it should still be flowing when eaten.

Common allergens: Milk.