FALL/WINTER2016
MLCM
133
words :: Pat McKinnon
I’ve never really been able to figure out why the word “cheesy” was
designated as an adjective that invokes somany negative connotations.
How does something as universally enjoyed and wonderfully delicious as
cheese suddenly get thrown into the same literary melting pot as soprano
saxophone solos, Celine Dion lyrics, and cringe-worthy pick-up lines? It
just doesn’t seem right.
After all, cheese has been a mouth-watering staple of our traditional
mountain diets for centuries, enriching our alpine sandwiches, filling our
charcuterie boards, and gluing together the toppings on those late-night
pizza slices we devour whilst drunkenly stumbling to the taxi loop. It is
true, however, that not all cheeses are created equal, and though one
man’s marble cheddar may be another’s Camembert, I propose that the
ultimate mountain cheese experience occurs around the sizzling confines
of the raclette grill.
Like alpenhorns, yodelling, and enormous cowbells, raclette was a gift
to humanity from the fine people of Switzerland. A semi-hard, cow’s
milk cheese possessing rich, creamy, aromatic flavours, raclette is most
commonly consumed in a magnificently molten state. Traditionally, the
cheese was used by Swiss cow-herders who would carry hearty wheels of
it on their long journeys throughmountain valleys. At night, the cheese
would be placed by the radiant warmth of the campfire, where it would
eventually achieve a sublime state of sultry softness, before being scraped
from the wheel onto a waiting piece of bread or a freshly cooked potato.
Indeed, the word raclette itself is actually derived from the French verb
racler
, meaning ‘to scrape.’ Eventually, someone figured out raclette
cheese also paired well with certain other gastronomic delights that were
able to survive the rigours of an extended expedition, and curedmeats,
pickled onions, and gherkins were added into the savoury mix.
RACLETTE
CHEESEOFTHE (MOUNTAIN)GODS
FOOD
Cheesehasbeenamouth-wateringstapleof
our traditionalmountaindiets for centuries,
enrichingour alpinesandwiches, fillingour
charcuterieboards, andgluing together the
toppingson those late-night pizzaslices.
