I had cheese fondue only once in my life time, not alone Raclette. So when my Japanese friend who's grown up in Switzerland invited me to a Raclette dinner, I had a hard time picturing what I would be eating. Raclette is LIKE cheese fondue. Instead of melting all the cheese in a pot and dip bread and potatoes, Raclette melts a piece of cheese on a special Raclette pan and you put put the cheese on top of potatoes. Using the pan is common but certainly not traditional. They used to melt a huge piece of cheese on the surface and scrape the melting surface onto the veggies. That sounds very time consuming and probably not convenient for a group dinner. On the other hand, this Raclette pan kit is a great way to enjoy the Raclette with up to about 8 people. You can keep your own pace and eat what ever you like. Kind of similar to Shabu Shabu in that sense.
Traditionally, it's almost only with potatoes. But we had mushroom, asparagus, tomato. The lentil salad my friend made was a nice side dish to cleanse the palette from rich cheese. When we were getting groceries, we weren't sure if melting cheese with pieces of veggies would fill up our appetite. After 2 hours, we didn't event finish all the food on the table.
I LOVE this dish and Raclette cheese. And I vote for the tradition: Raclette over just-boiled potatoes is sublime.
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