interesting!

This is so good! The modern way is to make it on a raclette machine, basically a heated surface with little holders for the slices of cheese. People also eat it with little onions, tomatoes, and other kinds of vegetables.

well now i know!

I agree with meggyb. This definition of raclette is not as good as what Raclette Australia has written in their cookbook "The Insider's Guide to Raclette". According to them raclette is, yes, a cheese originally from Switzerland and now mainly produced in France, Switzerland and Germany. It is also the meal which is eaten with boiled potatoes, pickled onions and cornichons (but not with dark bread), then it is the cooking appliance used to prepare this meal (the raclette grill meggyb is writing about) and finally the cooking style using this raclette grill.

The Raclette cheese (or Tilsit or Gruyere if you can't find Raclette) is melted in little pans that are placed underneath the heating element while you can use the top to keep potatoes warm or grill some vegetables. As meggyb points out, many Europeans like to eat plenty of vegetables with it that they sometimes add to the little pans, making "au gratin".

I hope this comment helps those that want to know more about raclette. There is a great site from Raclette Australia that teaches you a lot more than I could ever do. My knowledge is out of their book and personal experience.

Just in case you'd like to know how a proper raclette grill looks like:

It is great fun!

I never knew!!