You've probably read our other article with tips and tricks for hosting the perfect raclette party, but here are some more ideas to make the event even better.
Your family and friends won't stop talking about it for days...

Lactose Intolerant Guests
If your party will include people that are lactose intolerant or can't eat cheese because of dietary restrictions... don't worry there are options! There is now what's known as 'Non Dairy Cheese'. It's made out of soy beans and available at your local supermarket as 'mini col'.

Your Mixes and Recipes
If you want your guests to try some of your own mixes and recipes, you can't expect them all to be able to prepare just as you would want them to. In this case you can always prepare a few individual pans, with the mix you want, ahead of the meal. Doing this you will only leave the cheese topping and melting process to do. However, and for parties, it's always best to only make few of these pans, since the fun part of the meal is having your guests do the mixing and the work... What you can do is choose the ingredients that are your personal favourites, but leave the mixing to your friends and family.

Using The Individual Pans
The raclette individual pans (coupelles) should never hold too much food at a time, because the food won't cook evenly and the cheese will burn. If it's really piled up, the cheese will also spill out after melting. Each person should grill more times and in smaller servings.

Other Uses For The Individual Pans
Although you shouldn't use the top grill plate/stone for anything else than the main ingredients (Meat, sausage, fish, vegetables, etc), nothing says you can't be creative. You can use the individual pans to cook other types of food over the main grill plate. You can, for example, fry an egg and then top it off with other ingredients, some cheese and finish the process in the bottom layer of the raclette grill as usual. Since you won't be sticking anything on the main grill plate, you can become as inventive as you like!

Do I Serve Grated Cheese or Sliced Cheese?
Grated cheese is more practical for a meal where your hands will be doing most of the work and will be easier for each guest to make their servings. Although cheeses used for raclette meals are usually softer, you can always grate them by first putting them in the freezer for 30-60 min's. When you take it out again, it will be hard enough for the grating process. Simple, but effective. If you opt on slicing the cheese, be sure to remember that the slices should be thin and not too big... or they won't fit in the individual pans.

Leftovers
All the leftovers from a raclette party can easily be used in a number of day-to-day meals. Pizza, salads, snacks, sauces, etc... so nothing is wasted. Just wrap it up for the next day, or freeze it for later use.

House Smells
Like fondue, a raclette dinner also leaves a prolonged smell in our house. After the event is over, and besides ventilating the dinning room, you will not want the smell to spread throughout the house. To avoid this issue, you should light an oil burner with a citrus fragrance. This type of fragrance is the most effective.

For more information on raclettes and FREE RECIPES try visiting the RacletteRecipes.net website at http://www.racletterecipes.net.