Churchill Rd Raclette - Delendale Creamery

Churchill Rd Raclette - Delendale Creamery

For this one I have one clear instruction before we begin. Pick up the cheese, step away from the cheese-board, and get thee to the kitchen. This is a cheese that needs - possibly even demands - some heat.

Now I know the kitchen is a bit of a foreign place for the cheese-lover - I mean what use is there of fry-pans or cook-pots? Bear with me though, this journey is worth it.

Before we begin, I'm going to take you on a small flight of fancy. Imagine, if you will, that an honest English Cheddar decided to take a holiday on the Continent, and found itself in Switzerland. Maybe seeking some great waterfall to encounter a perilous foe, it instead meets a sweet and charming Emmental. Romance blossoms, the Cheddar settles - foe forgotten, and the two have a child. Roll forward a dozen years and a few more, and this is Raclette. The bitter-edged teenager child - probably miffed that Cheddar failed to find and defeat that foe.

Raclette is a cheese designed for melting. Traditionally served with black bread or boiled potatoes, with an accompaniment of pickles, it would be stood in front of a fire, and the melting cheese scraped off onto the eater's plate.

By itself and cut from the block (after removing the unpleasantly bitter rind), it is both nutty and sharp, with a texture almost precisely half way between the flexibility of Emmental and the firm crack of Cheddar, and all of this with a distinctive bitter aftertaste.

But if you melt it - what a transformation! The cheese becomes a silky smooth ooze, and the bitterness decreases markedly. Add the boiled potatoes as a carrier, and top with a slice of pickle, and you have a treasure for the mouth. The tang of the pickle offsets the last of the bitterness, and the potato absorbs the oils to make a cheesy heaven far beyond the simple Cheddar toasty.

Well worth visiting the kitchen, and a remarkable eating experience. I am eagerly awaiting winter, and a chance to seek out somewhere with a log fire so that I can do it properly with a like-minded group of friends.

Delendale cheeses are available across the SW of W.A.
http://www.dellendale.com.au/find_our_cheese.html








Comments

  1. Wait, what? Are you even eating the same Delendale Raclette that we do. Sharp? Bitter aftertaste? I'll have to buy another block and check now.

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  2. Stephen Gunnell It clearly needs thorough research. I found that when it was eaten properly - that is, melted, there was no bitterness to speak of. Rob has this crazy idea that it can be eaten without heat, but that is just crazy talk.

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  3. Alicia Smith ... weird, I think you've spent too many years in hot WA summers where all your food comes hot whether you want it or not.

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  4. Stephen Gunnell perhaps you're the weird one for yearning after the unobtainable cold cheese in the WA summers...

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  5. Alicia Smith we have this modern convenince called a Coolgardie Safe that keeps our gold cool.

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  6. But then, gold is pretty cool anyway.

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  7. It isn't an entire cheese but it is a section of cheese complete with rind. To my mind people who insist on only cutting their cheeses in wedges out to be fed a diet of cheese spread.

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  8. Cutting cheese or feeding miscreants cheese spread?

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  9. If I could afford a whole wheel of cheese I would definitely cut it into blocks. Feeding miscreants cheese spread is too time consuming. I leave that to the Department of Corrective Services Justice. :)

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  10. BTW Zoey Brown ... enjoy your cheese!

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