For this Father’s Day, I decided we should ditch the steakhouse reservation and try something more memorable: a raclette dinner.
If you don’t already know from reading my other content, it was my parents who first introduced me to raclette meals because they saw a mini raclette grill demonstrated in a store and thought it would make a great gift for me. Not only was it a great gift – to the surprise of me and and my partner – but it was a gift that started me off integrating interactive meals in my household for over a decade after.
Now that I moved back from Los Angeles, CA to be closer to my family in Kentucky, it only makes sense to return the favor of the experience, especially since – all this time – my parents have not yet enjoyed a raclette meal for themsevels.
It makes so much sense, I can’t believe I didn’t think of this sooner. I mean, summertime is so often filled with memories of Dad cooking great food on an outdoor grill. But then, on holidays like Father’s Day, people end up treating their fathers to a meal at a busy restaurant where the wait is long and the environment is loud with voices, music and dishes clanking – almost too much for good conversation – and it feels over too soon being rushed out to clear a table for the next party.
But, since dad loves cooking meat, likes eating cheese, enjoys interactive dining, and would prefer the chance to actually hear everything said at the table instead of only catching a word here and there, a raclette meal is absolutely the way to go.
When I pitched the idea of bringing my larger raclette grill, accessories and food to their house to celebrate the day, he loved it. He said, “Don’t even get me any other gifts; the gift will just be the food and the company and we’ll try the infamous raclette dinner!”
Raclette Americanized
So, here’s the plan. Instead of going the way of a traditional Swiss style raclette grill dinner, we’re going for our personal Americanized go-to. We’ll have steak, chicken and portabello mushrooms. We’ll also include some favorite veggie staples: asparagus, zuchini, onions, carrots, potatoes. Will have toasted Italian bread slices and a collection of our favorite spices. And of course, the cheese! I don’t need actual raclette cheese, just the cheddar Gruyere blends we like. It’ll be great and we’re all looking forward to it.
Of course Mom and Dad want to contribute something to the dinner. So, they can have some cold drinks stocked for us. We usually roll with non-alcoholic beverages: lemonade, iced tea, flavored sparkling water, some ginger ale or the local fav Ale8-1 (aka “A late one” ginger citrus soda), or cream sodas.
The only thing that’ll be different with the set up at their place is that the dining room is carpeted and we’ll need to run the grill cord across the carpet to a wall outlet. No problem. We’ll work out a way to cover the cord for safe stepping.
We planned for a weekend where it’ll just be the four of us for now. But I have. Feeling that a larger two grill dinner may follow for another occassion where my siblings, spouses, nieces and nephews can also give it a go.
I’m already planning the best ways to transport the grill and my favoite accessories by suitcase and bringing a cooler of food to make the 3 hour drive. Upon arrival, we can all help cutting up food to prep and with all of us the prep should be quick and easy.
We’re especially looking forward to because, by the end of the meal, we’ll have spent about two hours actually connecting—no media devices, no lines, no rushing, just seasoning the bites to taste, watching them sizzle on the grill, and building up a food structure on our plates suitable for pouring all the melted cheese from the broiler pans onto it. There will be plenty of time for good conversation while we leisurely cook and eat each bite.
That’s the Sizzle.Melt.Social philosophy in action: the table becomes the experience.
Cheers to all the raclette enthusiast dads out there who have discovered this type of cooking indoors that is just as much fun as much as cooking outdoors!
To learn more about raclette basics, visit my FAQ page.
