Raclette

Worthless!!! Not in English!!

This book is the perfect and necessary compliment to the actual small appliance: the "Raclette", which we purchased for our college-age granddaughter for Christmas. She will be graduating as an RN in May of 2007 - loves to entertain and cook for friends in her itsy-bitsy off campus apartment. She is especially adventurous in trying out different cuisines and methods. This fit the bill to perfection! And, she was delighted. (PS: We're patiently waiting for our invitation to dinner.... she must be practicing.)

The father of one of my closest friends is French and their family, on special occasions, has traditional raclette dinners. The dish raclette--a warm cheese dish--is thought to have originated in Switzerland where farmers and herdsman would make a meal of cheese melted by campfire or hearth, scraped over potatoes and pickles. Whenever eating with my friend's family, we would eat those same traditional foods: racelette for the cheese, several kinds of hams, boiled potatoes, cornichons, and onions. Loving the communal, largely cook-it-yourselves meals, I bought a raclette grill. But, I had never been in charge of the meal's preparations so with it, I purchased this little book sight unseen. It is fabulous. I'd give it six stars if I could. Not only does it provide useful tips, like how much food to make per person, including how much cheese you should buy for each person attending the dinner; how to care for and clean your grill; how to contain the scent of the raclette party (lots of cooking cheese) and what to do afterwards if you are unsuccessful (among other suggestions, an orange studded with cloves); what to do with the leftovers (if any!); and a simple but very valuable how-to guide for the host or hostess, but it also provides excellent recipes. The recipes are organized into categories--fruit and veggie, meat, and seafood--and suggest different kinds of cheeses to accompany each, in addition to the traditional raclette. The book also include recipes for the grill, which I had never, confessedly, used at my friend's house. One of the grill recipes that I tried was grilling some polenta on the top grill while heating tomatoes, olives, sliced garlic, and fresh basil ribbons with cheese on top in the dish underneath and then putting the melted mixture on top of the grilled polenta -- extremely tasty and a fun alternative to the traditional raclette ingredients. In fact, it's the fun-alternative-to-the-traditional that is the book's strong point and makes it valuable. It also suggests beverages (alcoholic and non-) that complement the different recipes well, and has a few interesting recipes for side dishes and sauces. This little book helped me throw one of my most successful and stress-free dinner parties. The suggested amounts were nearly perfect, I was prepared for the meal the NIGHT BEFORE (unheard of), the food was excellent (and cooked by the GUESTS!), and I could enjoy my guests without having to run in and out of the kitchen. Buy this book with any raclette grill and you'll have one of the best and simplest family meals or dinner parties around. The only downside is that the book isn't longer.