Raclette - Cheesy Swiss Goodness

Herr J has been finding all kinds of goodies on Amazon.de lately, including some great surprises for me.

So I was very excited to open a box and find a two-person raclette grill.

Raclette probably originated in Switzerland, but is very popular in France and Southern Germany as well. The methods and ingredients vary, but it basically is melted cheese served with meat and/or vegetables. A little like cheese fondue, but instead of dipping things in cheese, you are covering them in cheese.

In Germany, many families traditionally eat raclette on Christmas Eve, though you'll find it eaten throughout the winter, and as part of the après ski in Switzerland.  It's an easy meal, but it brings everyone together around the table. Raclette typically is a long-meal, during which friends and family eat slowly, drink white wine, and talk for hours.

The main two methods are a Raclette Oven or a Raclette Grill:
The Raclette Oven consists of a stand to hold a half wheel of cheese under a heating element (the top bar). The heat melts the top layer of the cheese and guests scrape the melted cheese onto their plates.

These are pretty cool looking, but the disadvantages are that:
- they're pricey (usually starting at over €200) 
- you need to use half wheels of cheese, so it's best for larger groups
- no grill or griddle for grilling the meats or veggies

However, they make a very impressive presentation and perfectly melted cheese. 

The Raclette Grill comes in a wide variety of shapes and sizes (and price ranges). The basic form consists of a two level appliance, with the heating element sitting under the grill/griddle and above the individual trays.

The one shown has both a stone and a grill, on which the meats are cooked. Each guest has a tray into which he or she puts a slice of cheese for melting. This makes wonderful bubbly cheese, but you have to be careful not to burn it, since the slices are thinner than the wheel. There's some debate about the correct way to make your raclette - some believe that only the cheese should be melted in the tray and then used to top the meat and veggies; others prefer to add vegetables into the cheese while it's melting (as shown here).

Cheese:
Cheese is the main ingredient in raclette, and you'll want to use one that melts evenly and smoothly. The raclette cheese from Wallis area (Valais canton) in Switzerland is the original raclette cheese, but there are a wide variety of Swiss, French, German, and Dutch raclette cheeses available - even some pepper flavored, smoked, or other varieties. The French cheese that the cheese lady recommended was excellent - in Europe you can usually just ask for a raclette cheese and they'll recommend one based on preference, and even slice it into perfect raclette slices!  Though you could use a good melting cheese such as Gouda, Emmental, Tilsit, Edam, or even Camembert if you live somewhere that raclette cheese isn't available, but it really is best to get raclette cheese. A good rule of thumb is to have 200-300g cheese per person, and it should be cut into half centimeter thick slices. Leave the rind on - it softens up and provides nice texture.

Potatoes:
After the cheese come the veggies and meat. Originally, the meal consisted of cheese, potatoes, and pickles. Today, tradition has expanded to include other items, especially meat.  In Switzerland, they often serve jacket potatoes, and in Germany sliced boiled potatoes. Obviously they need to be cooked beforehand, but you could also brown them up on the grill to get a little more texture.

Meat and Veggies:
Now that we have the cheese and potatoes comes the fun part. You can put anything on the grill - common ingredients are chicken, pork, kebabs, shrimp, sausages, steak, dried meats, peppers, onions, and so on.

Condiments:
Usually there are paprika and fresh ground pepper on the table for seasoning, as well as small or sliced pickles.

Our Raclette Dinner:
The one Herr J got me is a really good Swiss brand, with trays for 2 people. I don't actually have a formal dining table, so it's great to have a small one.

Here's our setup - cheese, shrimp, tomatoes, onions, and small pieces of marinated filet (we skipped the potatoes):
  

Here you'll see the cheese melting below and the shrimp grilling on top.

The process is simple...grill your meats and veggies and put them (or potatoes) on your plate. Then remove the cheese tray from the heat. Using your raclette spatula (plastic or wooden angled scrapers, as in the photo above), slide the molten cheese atop your meat and veggies. You'll end up with a tasty, gooey treat like this:    

In addition to the shrimp, we grilled onions and steak. As much as I'd love to post a picture of the finished product, it was just too delicious - we were too lost in eating it to stop and take a photo!

I'm really not sure why raclette isn't popular in the US.  With the potatoes, it's a lot like European cheese fries or potato skins! What's not to love?

We'll be experimenting in the future with ideas for modern raclette - onions, steak, and bell peppers would make a great cheesesteak; with some spicier peppers we could go the Mexican route; and with some meatballs, we could have Italian raclette. Though cheese is not normally part of Asian cuisines, my favorite Yakitori restaurant (Nanbantei in Far East Plaza in Singapore) has an out-of-this-world beef wrapped cheese skewer. Perhaps we can make some Yakitori-inspired dished with the beef, prosciutto-wrapped baby asparagus, and others. Yum, my mouth is watering just thinking about Nanbantei!

Even More Krapfen

For a couple weeks, we'd seen the tasty and unique krapfen in the window of the Woerner's on Marienplatz. Woerner's is one of my favorite places in Munich for a cup of coffee and a slice of cake, though I usually go to the smaller one by Sendlinger Tor.

The Bailey's Krapfen in particular called to us...  

 

Bailey's KrapfenI picked up a Bailey's and a couple of the donut hole looking ones to take to dinner at Herr J's. Strangely, we both had the same thought that day and he had gotten one of each! We had a great little krapfen tasting

The Bailey's, as expected, were amazing! And instead of powdered sugar or glaze, they had chocolate flakes topping the krapfen.

Overally, Woerner's has the best krapfen - their dough is perfectly airy and not greasy, and the fillings unusually good.  All of theirs are whole krapfen, filled with some filling. The Rischart were unique in that they were sliced in half with the filling sandwiched in between the layers.

Both the Bailey's and the Eierlikör ("egg liquor") had tasty liquid fillings. The Prosecco krapfen had a small but strongly flavored core that was like the center of a champagne truffle. Excellent, and just the right amount. The Kirchwasser (a cherry schnaps drink) Krapfen was filled with a sweet and dense filling, somewhere between a custard and a truffle filling. Good, but not as perfect as the Bailey's.

Nutella-filled WörniesBut the huge surprise of the night were the Wörnies, the little round things in the left of the top photo that appear as donut holes dipped in chocolate. Oh, they were soooooo much better. These are a unique creation of Woerner's. Basically they are like a little circle of (probably fried) cake, filled with Nutella. The Nutella seeps into the little caverns inside the dough. They really don't need to be dipped in chocolate, but otherwise they are little mini bites of heaven.

Yu Sheng - Uniquely Singaporean

There are so many wonderful things about Singapore, most notably the food and the people..  I was blessed to spend quite a bit of time there while doing my MBA, and to have friends who really know what and where to eat (and who are willing to explain the significance of much of it)! In a society with heavy Cantonese influence, eating is one of the most important parts of life…a couple of my friends joke that you know you have some Cantonese blood when you’re in the middle of eating dinner and are planning what to eat for your meal.  Then again, this can be said of some other cultures too….One of the first things I learned living in Thailand was that the question “gin khao lau ruu yang?” is literally translated as “have you eaten rice yet?” but really means “hi, how are you?”. Food – especially rice – is an integral part of the culture.

Though the general Chinese culture is the most dominant (including Malaysians, Indonesians, and others of Chinese heritage), you’ll also find traditions and food from Muslim, Hindu, Indian, Thai, Christian, and a variety of smaller, more specific groups.  It’s a great place to have the chance to experience so many different festivals and celebrations – the decorations put up for Diwali and Christmas are absolutely gorgeous!

My favorite Singaporean tradition is also one of the ones that is uniquely Singaporean – tossing and eating Yu Sheng during Chinese New Year.  Also called "Yu Sahng" (Cantonese), and the action of tossing it is “lo hei.”

(As a disclaimer, I’m no expert on this topic, just someone who really enjoyed it and wants to share with others….If you are an expert, feel free to comment and correct anything I missed!)

There’s some debate as to where the dish historically originated, but it definitely gained popularity in Singapore in the 1960’s thanks to the chefs at the Lai Wah restaurant.  It’s usually served as the appetizer in one of those wonderful many-course Chinese feasts, as eating it is said to bring luck for the coming year. While you’ll find it throughout Singapore (take home packs are now conveniently available from many supermarkets) and parts of Malaysia, most in China have never heard of it. So, wherever it first began, it’s now a uniquely Singaporean tradition.

All of the ingredients have meanings behind them, some due to appearance, others related to the characters in the words. As the words for “abundance” and “fish” sound very similar (both “yu”), the dish called “raw fish” also is seen as symbolizing “abundance.” I’ll leave the more detailed linguistic analysis to someone who actually knows the language…

Every family and restaurant does it slightly differently in terms of ingredients and order. And though traditionally Yu Sheng is eaten on the 7^th day of the New Year, these days many people will have it on any day during the 15 day holiday. It can get difficult to get reservations at a good restaurant on the most popular days!

I decided to give it try this year and make Yu Sheng for Herr J, and was pleasantly surprised that almost all ingredients were available (feel free to ask me where things are in Munich - I've spent a lot of time at the Asian stores).

Here we have all the ingredients laid out, ready to mix:

If you’re interested in the specific greeting to say for each ingredient, or some possible substitutions, Noob Cook has a great article on Yu Sheng, as does the National Library of Singapore. In fact, Noob Cook's article was indispensible in figuring out how to make this!

To begin, everyone exchanges wishes of good luck and other traditional New Years greetings. Then you assemble the ingredients (or in a restaurant this is done for you):

The ingredients (and their meanings) in our Yu Sheng were, in this order:

•       Raw Salmon (symbolizing abundance and excess) (usually squeeze lime over it for extra luck)
•       Pomelo (symbolizing an abundance of luck)
•       White Pepper (sprinkled over the salmon and pomelo to attract more money and valuables)
•       Olive Oil (poured in a circle around the ingredients to increase profits 10,000 times and bring in money from all directions)
•       Carrots (bringing blessings of good luck)
•       Green Radish¹ (symbolizing eternal youth)
•       White (Daikon) Radish (bringing prosperity in business and promotion at work)
•       Crushed Roasted Peanuts (symbolizing your house being filled with gold and silver; also peanuts symbolize eternal youth)
•       Roasted Sesame Seeds (symbolizing a flourishing business)
•       Red Pickled Ginger (bringing blessings of good luck)
•       Cucumber (I think similar to green radish)
•       Cinnamon (bringing blessings of good luck)
•       Chinese 5-Spice Powder (bringing 5 kinds of blessings)
•       Crackers² (they should resemble bags of gold, symbolizing your floor being covered with gold)
•       Plum Sauce Dressing (plum sauce, mixed with sesame oil and hot water to thin it) (symbolizes your halls flowing with gold).

^{Julienne Veggie Peeler1}The Green Radish is made by dyeing the White Radish with food coloring (same process for the green or red Yam).
² The correct kind of crackers are the Pok Chui crackers (fried flour crackers that sort of resemble bags of money), but forget about finding them here! You can substitute crackers made of fried wonton skins. I just thought the fish were cute and thought the shape symbolically fit well into the spirit of the dish.
³ The carrots, radish, and cucumber all should be shredded. The easiest way is to use a mandoline or a julienne peeler (see pic to the right).  You should wrap each (separately) in paper towels until you’re ready to assemble, as this will soak up some moisture and keep your Yu Sheng crisp and fresh.

While it may vary slightly from family to family, there are certain greetings you say as you add each ingredient. But given my history of not getting the tones right in Thai, I was not going to risk pronouncing the Cantonese (or Mandarin) wrong and bringing bad luck upon us! Too often, saying something positive and something horribly offensive are just one wrong tone away from each other...

After greeting and assembling the ingredients, we get something like this:

Then pour on the Plum Sauce mixture. Check out how cute these fish crackers are!

And then comes the fun part...everyone picks up their chopsticks and tosses the ingredients to mix them, saying "Lo hei!" or other blessings of good luck. Traditionally, the higher you toss, the better the luck, but laws of physics do play a part, as you'd like to keep some of it on the plate so you can eat it...

After a good tossing and improvising with some English words of good luck for the coming year, we ended up with this:

Yu Sheng, after tossing

I was very happy it turned out so well...it was suprisingly tasty, too! I had expected it might not be so good, but that we'd eat a little to ensure good luck. We ate it all! I know they're an emergency substitution, but the fishie crackers really added something great. Not only are they cute, but they taste like buttery Ritz crackers! The fun of Goldfish, with the taste of Ritz. I won't lie: The jar did not last long in my house.

If you want see an actual tossing, one family put theirs on You Tube. They wisely covered the table in plastic....it can get messy, but that's half the fun!  It's just a really nice tradition - it's usually very tasty, but it's a dish with meaning, and one that requires you to come together with family or friends around a table.

Thanks to my wonderful friends in Singapore for introducing me to such a great tradition, and to so many other things....

Valentine's Day - Part III: Tiki Drinks and Chocolate

After Saturday's Bavarian-Cuban fusion concert and Sunday's trip to the World Cup Women's Downhill Skiing event, Herr J wrapped up the Valentine's weekend with a delightful dinner at Davvero, the restaurant at the Charles Hotel.

We arrived early and had a drink in the bar. This guy was fun - he reminds me of the Brady Bunch episode where they go to Hawaii.

The dinner itself was wonderful - very light and delicate, but flavorful. We started with a seared scallop in a light beet sauce, followed by a sort of deconstructed ceviche with mango. The pasta course was black truffle-topped ravioli filled with quail, followed by a main of dover sole.

Given that everything was delicious and light, we were shocked by what followed for dessert. In addition to a sampler plate of little deserts, came this wonderful monstrosity. A very large flourless chocolate cake, topped with berries, chunks of white chocolate, a truffle, and a white chocolate heart. WOW! We did our best, but were not able to finish it all. But it was a wonderful end to a great meal. And I love their philosophy of serving a relatively light dinner, saving the power for dessert.  

In good German style, we topped off the meal with a glass of schnapps. We tried something new, a Hazelnut schnapps. It tasted good (though strong), but let me just say that the smell of is like crack for your sense of smell. This stuff smells amazing. intoxicating, actually. One one hand, it reminds me of the good smells of a sawmill - very woody. On the other, it's the smell of hazelnut, which is the smell of nutella and other good things. It's not so much that I want to drink it, but that I want to carry around a vial of it and just smell it. It's the Gansloser Haselnussgeist from the Swabian distillery Gansloser. I guess it's not so surprising, now that I learn one of their main focuses is on having the true aroma of the fruit (though through natural methods, not artificial). I'm interested in trying their other flavors!

For my part, I decided to make a homemade Valentine's card. I'll let Herr J discuss his gift another time and tell you the story behind it.

It was a wonderful weekend of unique activities. I'm wondering what unusual event he comes up with next year! 

More Krapfen

With 3 more weeks until Fasching (Germany's version of Carnival or Mardi Gras), Krapfen Season is still in full swing.

Krapfen are more than just jelly donuts. Most are not fried and greasy - instead they are soft fluffy pillows of lightly sweetened dough, with subtly flavored fillings.  Usually the custard filled ones are filled with a custard that is more of a super light mousse. Those filled with something stronger (jam, chocolate, nutella, etc) have a small amount of filling. Just the perfect amount to give you the taste but not overpower the delicacy of the dough. A good krapfen is really special!

We were lucky to find a krapfen version of Herr J's favorite German dessert, bienenstich, at a Rischart bakery! It's their new flavor for 2011 and we wholeheartedly approve!

So tasty...a creamy light custard in the middle, topped with a light glaze and toasted almond slivers...

This

quickly became this!

Herr J also brought home some more festive krapfen from San Francisco Coffee Company (seriously, these little guys are everywhere from New Years to Lent!).  Really great dough part, with a small bit of nougat inside. Gorgeous and tasty, but really sweet...these would be best to share.

Mmmm....Mexican Food

Food in Munich has been a pleasant surprise - Not only is Bavarian food quite tasty, but Munich also has an incredible variety of cuisines available. There is great Thai, Afghan, Persian, Italian, French, Vegetarian, Spanish, and even some good old American burgers and ribs.  There is not, however, much good Mexican. There are some Mexican restaurants here, but they are most loved for their cocktails - the food is only a side to help absorb the sugar and alcohol.

El Gordo Loco has always been pretty good and authentic, and if you ask nicely, they'll make frozen margaritas from scratch. Luckily, we have a new Mexican restaurant in the neighborhood - Milagros, between the Viktualienmarkt and Isartor. It's great food and very authentic Mexican - and the margarita menu is impressive. Both restaurants are Mexican, not Tex-Mex. And I recommend reservations....they're small, and fill up quickly.

For the most part, however, you just have to cook Mexican or Tex Mex yourself. Finding the ingredients, however, is not easy....we have many Asian markets carrying almost everything you could want, but I've only found two Mexican stores: Mercado de Mexico near Donnersbergerbrücke and La Tortilla out in Unterschleißheim. I asked the lady at the cheese counter if she could suggest a cheese that I could use in cooking Mexican food or for quesadillas. She just looked at me, frowned, and said there are none. I highly doubt that, but I got a similar reaction from the butcher when I asked what cut of beef he would recommend for satay. He informed me that you cannot make satay with beef, only with chicken.  Much of Thailand and Indonesia would disagree, but...he's the expert, right????

Herr J gave me a great cocktail shaker at Christmas, so margaritas were a good first test.

I came home from Mercado de Mexico overjoyed at finding queso blanco, tomatillo sauce, canned and dried chiles, and homemade (frozen) white corn tortillas. Using some rotisserie chicken, white cheddar, and tomatillo sauce, i threw together some tasty enchiladas verde, topped with queso blanco. Yum, and so easy! Using some extra chicken and cheeses (we had some yellow cheddar left from cheeseburgers last week and some chips from turkey taco salad), I threw together some chicken nachos as a snack. A tasty treat, and very cute served in cazuelas.

We started with the classic margarita recipe of 3 parts lime juice, 2 parts tequila, and 1 part Cointreau. Perfect! Using up the last of the lime juice, the second ones were a little too limey and tequila-y, so we added a splash of Licor 43 (the secret ingredient to our traditional Dallas Easter Sangria). A very tasty twist on the classic margarita! And it will sweeten it and cut the tequila taste.

Another Tex-Mex fave of mine is Brisket Tacos. I have to order them every time I go to Taco Diner or Manny's in Dallas - no point in even looking at the menu.... 

So, a couple days later, I decided to use some more of the tortillas and give brisket tacos a try. Homesick Texan recently published a great recipe on her site, and it looked pretty good. Surprisingly, it worked perfectly! I still hadn't found fresh chiles to roast, so we just went with the meat, gravy, and queso blanco. They were soooo good! I'm definitely going to make them again. No changes needed to this recipe - for those of you in Germany, the tafelspitz cut of beef is the closest match to brisket. I used a hunk of tafelspitz and a hunk of rinderbrust. Both cooked perfectly, but the rinderbrust has too much fat running through it.

The cooked meat will also freeze well, to pull out for a very easy impressive dinner.

After the empandas, tacos, and enchiladas, I'm inspired to try some other new dishes. Borracho beans (in the crockpot) are high on the list, and I'd like to experiment with some other taco fillings and make some homemade tortillas.  There is a defintely a Cinco de Mayo party on the horizon this year!

A Menu Mystery

Last night we had a tasty dinner at my neighborhood Mongolian barbeque spot.

We ordered Vegetarian Wontons as a starter.

They were not bad.

However, instead of an appetizer, it was four small wontons atop a large salad....and the wontons were samosas....other than that, the description was spot on!