Talk:Raclette

AOC for Raclette no longer valid
Since June 2006 the AOC for Raclette is not valid anymore.

Medieval concepts of nutritious meal
"Raclette was mentioned in medieval writings as a particularly nutritious meal.." Even one genuine early mention would actually provide information. Medieval concepts of nutrition were actually based on the four humours: the "nutritiousness" of the meal "in medieval writings" sounds spurious to me. Is this sentence all babble, "babblicious' or just demi-babble? --Wetman 08:59, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Pronounciation
How do you say this, both in English and French? A little IPA would help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.224.226.1 (talk) 17:30, 26 July 2008 (UTC)


 * I added to the article the first pronunciation found in the OED. Carl.bunderson (talk) 22:52, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

Cheese came after dish
The article currently reads "Raclette is both a type of cheese and, informally, a dish featuring the cheese." Surely this is absurd. "Racler" in French means to scrape. Why would a cheese be named "scrape"? Preparing the dish involves scraping melting cheese off the wheel. Many cheeses will work for this. I suspect (but will check and come back with sources) that naming a specific cheese "raclette" is a relatively recent innovation. --Macrakis (talk) 23:02, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure you're right. The same cheese seems to be marketed as Tome de Savoie when in smaller discs. I think there's a widespread and fairly fluid tradition of melting cheese over potatoes in eastern France and neighbouring countries, using all sorts of cheeses and techniques. in the Jura I've been presented with whole small cheeses, bakes liquid in their box, and eaten by breaking the crust and dipping pieces of steamed potato. This is always preceded in the restaurants that serve it by a ham salad. Then, of course, there's tartiflette, apparently a modern invention or codification, and similar dishes in the Limousin. The whole idea of a cheese/potato combination seems pretty obvious, and similar practices are common all over Westen Europe at least, including England: Lancashire cheeses were traditionally eaten by spit roasting and scraping, just like raclette. I think it's hard to get worked up about this and pretend that some ways of doing it are canonical and others not. Tradition and authenticity usually just mean the stuff we encountered as kids, or at some impressionable time in our lives, and so did not see as historical and developing.Sjwells53 (talk) 19:54, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

In Germany and Switzerland, you call the dish "Raclette" and the typical cheese "Raclette Cheese" (in German Raclettekäse). This can also be read in German Ingenpedia. FAThomssen (talk) 23:28, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps the cheese was renamed due to modern convention but I can say that you buy "Raclette" cheese in France and it's labeled "Raclette" and pretty much most popularly known as "Raclette". Maybe it's the kind of thing like Swiss cheese (actually called Emmental). While there might be another historical name for it, it's very much called Raclette cheese today. Fozzyuw (talk) 22:23, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

I think the name of the cheese is actually "Fromage a Raclette", and simply called "raclette" for short.. "Raclette" would mean "a little scrape".. so "fromage a Raclette" is "the cheese to be used for the little scrape".. or something to that effect — Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.225.185.163 (talk) 07:36, 1 June 2013 (UTC)

All The Trimmings? There's No Charcuterie in Raclette!
This article is accompanied by two photographs, one of classic raclette — a dish of melted cheese served simply with potatoes, cornichons and onions — and another which appears to be a charcuterie table with cheese. I lived my teenaged years in la Suisse Romande and attended boarding school in Fribourg, the heart of raclette (and fondue) country:  So far as I know this charcuterie concept is entirely bogus, having nothing to do with authentic raclette. Perhaps the charcuterie version is a recent repackaging to commercialize raclette for foreign tastes, or maybe an exotic derivative which sprang-up far from raclette's native cantons Vaud, Fribourg and Genève. Either way, the photo, along with the body text describing accompaniments other than classic potatoes, cornichons and onions, is no more raclette than swirling pineapple bits in chocolate is fondue. —Preceding unsigned comment added by SteveMacIntyre (talk • contribs) 04:06, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

The table grills are obviously a recent innovation and so, no doubt, are the charcuterie collations for raclette you can readily buy in most French supermarkets. These are obviously just a way of marketing pork products effectively, like the packages you can buy for garnishing choucroute. Whether this is "inauthentic" is another matter. Food does evolve. Somebody, somewhere must have developed the charcuterie-eating tradition, otherwise there would be no foothold for the marketers. A collation of sausages, ham, pickles, potatoes and salads is exactly what you will get at a "raclette evening" in a provincial French restaurant, like it or not. I'm told by German friends that such evenings were already popular in parts of Germany by the 1980's at latest, so there are plenty of people who will regard them as authentic and traditional by now.Sjwells53 (talk) 19:41, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Add to that the point that, from the French point of view, the "heart of raclette country" is actually Savoy. It's Savoy white wine which is recommended for drinking with raclette in France. The truth is that melting cheese and eating with pickles, veg and/or pork products is hardly a great leap of the imagination. Rural people used to do exactly the same in Lancashire, UK, using fresh, mild white Lancashire cheeses, and washing it down with beer, but they never gave it a name and aren't too precious about "authenticity". My mother used to heat Derby or mild Cheddar in front of the fire, before eating bread, pickles or veg with it in Derbyshire in the 1950's.Sjwells53 (talk) 12:17, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

It may be a modern tradition but it's become a tradition - at least in Limoges and les Ardennes in France to serve 'raclette' with charcuterie. When dining with friends, at their home, who are French and whose families have lived in France for a very long time - the charcuterie, green salad, potatoes and even some veggies were the standard spread. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.196.140.209 (talk) 00:47, 28 January 2012 (UTC)


 * I confirm this. Having grown up in both France during the eighties raclette was often served with charcuterie. The dish that uses cheese exclusively is the fondue which is also present in Switzerland. --JamesPoulson (talk) 01:28, 15 January 2016 (UTC)

"medieval writings"
Raclette was mentioned in medieval writings as a particularly nutritious meal consumed by peasants in mountainous Switzerland. Oh dear. This would be more interesting if any specific "medieval writings" could be mentioned. Culinary history claiming ancient origins (cf. Neapolitan cuisine) is a commonplace and often unfounded. Specific context renders such a statement creditable and informative.--Wetman (talk) 23:35, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

Is the dish Swiss or French or both?
The last few edits have been rather counter-productive. Either it is a French dish or it isn't, is what needs to be sorted out. It looks like The Swiss camp would disagree, but then they must provide some kind of proof, as must the French camp.--JeR (talk) 01:53, 7 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I think it is French. Raclette is a French Word. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.246.206.133 (talk) 23:26, 6 January 2014 (UTC)


 * It exists in France but part of the Swiss population speaks French so some traditions would naturally cross from one to the other. Perhaps both views should be presented. --JamesPoulson (talk) 01:30, 15 January 2016 (UTC)

It is definitely a Swiss dish. Just because it was first seen in the French-speaking part of Switzerland doesn't make it French. So please, I see many uninformed Americans saying that it is a French dish, probably because of this wiki page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.58.142.6 (talk) 21:44, 19 May 2016 (UTC)

It is Swiss. Raclette is a swiss cheese and its origin is Swiss. It may be popular in France too, but nevertheless, it is a swiss dish. Saying that raclette might be French because it's a French word is nonsense, therefore a hamburger should be German because it's a German name. I've added sources (BBC Food, Britannica, etc - I didn't add the dictionary.com source though it also states it's a Swiss dish: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/raclette?s=t) that states it's from Switzerland. You will find no proof nowhere it's French, besides websites that have copy-pasted the false information this page stated before update. Ngagnebin (talk) 03:50, 25 September 2017 (UTC)

The answer from Ngagnebin is a nonsense and ridiculous. I'm from that area, I know well. It's neither Swiss or French, you should have some geography and history basic knowledges to answer. It's from the Alps. And the Alps is our culture, we are a same people. The Alp culture didn't know the borders, that changed so many times. It's as well Swiss than French, and the ones saying the opposite doesn't know our cultural heritage. In Savoie, it's the same culture than in Swiss, if you are so clever, tell me the difference...

Cheese/dish
In the text I think you mix the chees and the dish. The german word Bratchäs refers to the dish and not the chees. (2A02:120B:2C17:5550:7568:2565:40FC:CFF5 (talk) 15:29, 28 June 2017 (UTC))