Slow Food – its Hong Kong peaks and the Swiss cheese
By Angus Forsyth
I have been a member of the Hong Kong Chapter of Slow Food for many years. The movement developed in Italy and has spread worldwide and those of us in Hong Kong who like – sometimes, most of the time or all of the time – to eat organically reared food are attracted to the many Slow Food focusses on organic food production. Obviously, one of the leading world exponents of safe, healthy and limited production organic food is the dramatically beautiful mountainous country of Switzerland which all of us know as a ski resort par excellence but which has lesser known triumphs in its folding valleys and snow capped mountains. It was therefore with great enthusiasm that I responded to a Slow Food summons to an evening of Swiss Raclette cheese consumption some three or four years ago. The event was organized at the 3rd Floor, Private Dining Room of Monsieur Chatte, a splendid delicatessen of European food delights in Bonham Strand. I well remember attending at a long and extremely firm refectory table with a dozen of us led by Walter Kern a Swiss leader and guide in the Hong Kong Slow Food Chapter and obviously specializing in the senior culinary delights of his native land. That evening was extremely memorable.
So much so that when the opportunity came round again in mid February 2017 for another crack at a Raclette evening at Monsieur Chatte I jumped at the chance. About a dozen of us sat at the same table as I had been at the last time around. With excellent hole filled bread with a crisp brown crust we ate an excellent paté. This was swiftly followed by the Raclette. This rather odd looking process involves half of a Raclette cheese wheel being gripped in a half moon steel carriage facing up into a fire above which drills down onto the flat, defenceless surface of the half cheese wheel and melts it even to the point of a slight charring at the edges where the rind is thickest. A portion of the melted Raclette is then scraped off onto a waiting plate which is further embellished by small potatoes and sour pickles such as onion or gherkins. The result is a remarkable melding of successful landed tastes which are scrumptious.
At the same time, the richness of the Raclette is to some extent moderated by thin slices of cold meats ranging from salami through chorizo to ham and all surrounded by generous organic salad leaves. The entire evening was washed down with two white wines – Apremont Vin de Savoie 2015 and Roussette de Savoie Cuvée Gastronomie – both from the same vineyard. One was a lighter form of aperitif and the other was a more mature form of table wine to drink with the Raclette. At the same time there was an option of a very tasty Swiss red wine – Domaine des Prades, Côtes du Rhône 2013 – as an alternative to the heavier white. I found the Raclette extremely eatable and all present agreed that this terrific evening was a remarkable success. Most of those attending were strangers but by the end of the evening had turned their talents for conversation and good food into a camaraderie which was extremely memorable along with the cheese itself. I will be happy to hear about the next opportunity for Slow Food to mount such a quietly dramatic and successful evening.
Angus broke the Slow Food Hong Kong record by downing 6 dishes of raclette!